what is your defrosting method?
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Anonymous
growing up, my italian mother would always defrost her meat on the counter. I never knew this was taboo until I started cooking myself...and I continued to do it (cue shocked and disgusted gasp, please)!  Thawing meat in the fridge always takes waaaaay too long, and as I don't plan my meals several days in advance unless it's a special occasion, I generally pull out what I want from the freezer before work in the AM and leave it out to defrost (I am a teacher, so I get home easily before it reaches room temp...most times it actually is still somewhat frozen when I return home).
I'd like to better my ways, so I'm curious-do most of you defrost meat in the fridge? Doesn't that take a lot of planning ahead? Or do some of you also naughtily defrost on the counter? Any other method I'm missing? TIA! |
Anonymous
| I also defrost on the counter. I've never gotten sick. Defrosting in the fridge can take days. |
Anonymous
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I also grew up with my mom defrosting food at room temp (in the sink so any drips went down the drain). I think she still does it. But she wasn't away from home from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM. <sigh>
Here's what the USDA recommends for food safety: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Big_Thaw/ The few times I pull stuff out of the freezer, I try to move it to the fridge at least 24 hours ahead. Often it will still be a bit frosty in spots. We'll either adjust cooking time to compensate, or throw it in cold water when we get home from work. The whole defrosting issue is one reason why things that go in the freezer rarely make it to the dinner table. My real solution is menu planning such that we buy fresh on Sunday and never have to defrost. Well, except that the garage fridge is really cold and the meat is often semi-frozen when we take it out. |
Anonymous
This is OP...so you buy meat on Sunday and keep it in the fridge all week to serve Friday? Not trying to be snarky, honestly asking. I was under the impression that it would not be good after that amount of time... |
Anonymous
| On the counter. |
Anonymous
| I amd similar to the 10:15 poster, I buy my meat for the week on Sunday and cook it all week. We don't cook on Friday or we do leftovers or kielbasa or hot dogs or burgers (those meats can easily be cooked from frozen.) We usually only buy 3 different kinds of meat that last us for 5 days. Plus our refrigerator is so cold that depending on where we store the meat and how long it is in there, it going to partially freeze or at least be really really cold. |
Anonymous
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Always in the fridge! The only thing I do cold water for sometimes is shrimp. Never on the counter, that is really gross. I plan ahead, take the meat out of the freezer the night before I want to cook it. Sometimes it's still a little frozen but it works out. You can always use the defrost setting on your microwave as well, something no one here mentioned yet.
I mostly do the same as 10:15 though, I order through Peapod so they come Monday evenings and I get the meat for Mon-Thurs dinners. Friday is take out and the weekends are play by ear. Some meat last longer such as ground turkey or chicken, and even chicken breasts have a longer expiration date than beef. Just use the beef first. And not every night has to be a meat meal! There are plenty of good pasta and veggie options too. |
Anonymous
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Does no one else defrost in the microwave? It has a special setting for that, you know. Defrosting and making "baked" potatoes are two of the microwave's best features. And popcorn.
If I plan far enough in advance, I'll defrost in the refrigerator. |
Anonymous
| I always end up with rubbery spots on the meat whenever I defrost in the microwave, although I still sometimes use it to defrost in a jam. But depending on time constraints, I do the counter or fridge. Counter is fine as long as you don't let the room temp meat sit out for hours. |
Anonymous
| I defrost vaccum sealed meats in a large bowl of cold water in the sink (enough water that the package is completely submerged). I change the water a couple of times, and this method seems to work very quickly. |
Anonymous
| If I can, I put it in the fridge a day or two prior. If I need to defrost it quick, I put it in a pan in the sink and run cold water and let it sit in the water. It may not be as fast as on the counter but it stays cool and still defrosts this way. When i separate and freeze my meat, I try to keep this in mind and make the packages thinner so this method doesn't take as long. |
Anonymous
| I use the defrost setting on the microwave. Invariably, I take something out of the freezer then don't want to cook it and it goes bad. Never had a problem. |
Anonymous
| I defrost in the fridge. It doesn't take tons of advanced planning -usually 36 hours is long enough to defrost. If I do have frozen spots, I also do the cold water drip thing. I only defrost in the microwave if I'm desperate, as I hate having to keep checking the meat to make sure it doesn't cook. |
Anonymous
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I defrost in a large bowl of water. I've even defrosted a whole frozen chicken this way pretty quickly - too quickly for bacteria to get going. A package of chicken breasts takes about half an hour if you take all the packaging off then put it in a plastic bag (get all the air out). If you can, come back in fifteen minutes and break the pieces of meat apart so they defrost even faster.
I'm lucky and get home at 4:30 or so, so this is feasible for a 6:30 dinner time. |
Anonymous
| Defrost on the counter on a plate clearly to catch the drippings. I don't work however and am able to catch it before it reaches room temp. I have tried that defrost button and agree with the pp that things like chicken come out with some questionable rubbery spots my husband is grossed out by. |