Meat defrosting question

[Holly S]

Beth,
I buy all of our meat in bulk and since my husband and I live in the smallest house on the planet, we do not have a microwave, but somehow have a full size freezer.

I place whatever I need to make in a ziplock bag, trying to remove as much air as possible and then place it in maybe room temp water. You could use cold water too, but I would avoid anything warmer. The meat should defrost very quickly, say within an hour. Plenty of time to do all of your prep work. Since I have used this method I do not miss that Microwave at all.

[Vanessa]

I place meats in zip lock bags when defrosting I use COLD water and sumerge this bag inside lets say a stock pot pan filled with water. I cover it and change the water @ 30 mins after. You don't want the water to get warm and the meat which might create bacteria problems.

[Beth Y]

One of the things that makes cooking a little harder for me is that I do not have a good understanding of the concept of defrosting. That is, I do not freeze meat to use in meals, because I am scared that the meat will go bad during defrosting. I have heard you can defrost in the fridge, but I pull something out in the am and it is stil rock hard in the pm. I have also heard to defrost out of the fridge, but I worry that it will go bad. Then I try the microwave and the ends start to cook while the center is still frozen. I am left using only flash frozen chicken and buying everything else fresh the day I cook it.

Help!! What do ya'll do?

[MrsReber]

Beth, you can defrost meat rather quickly by placing frozen meat in a pot full of cold water. I have done it a couple of times or my husband will place the frozen meat in water before I get home. I know that Holly does this quite often so I am hoping she'll post the particulars for you. I know what you mean about placing meat in the fridge only to come home and have it still frozen. And I also know about meat getting cooked in the microwave on the defrost cycle! Not fun at all.

Also, a neighbor who works in the meat department of a local store mentioned that it is good to cook meat while it is still frozen so as not to lose any of the juices, you would just need to increase the cooking time. I imagine it would work well in some instances, like if you were just baking a whole chicken. When my husband butchers his deer, he'll place a venison steak in a bag with a marinade and then freeze it. I suppose he could simply cook that frozen as well. I have never tried this method myself.

[This message has been edited by MrsReber (edited 08-21-2000).]

[food girl]

Vanessa is exactly right. You should defrost meat in cold water changed at least every 30 minutes. See http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/qa-top.html
for more food safety tips.

I usually put frozen chicken in the refrigerator the night before I plan to cook it. If it is still a little frozen I run it under cold water.