Learn how to thaw meat quicky, defrost steaks, chicken breasts, fish and other smaller pieces of meat with this simple method. No longer does one have to defrost meat in the fridge overnight. No when you get home from work, you can thaw meat quickly and have it for dinner that night.
The information presented here was first published in the NY Times in a article by our favorite food science writer, Harold McGee.
The science behind how to thaw meat quickly
Liquids transfer heat more efficiently than air, so if you want to change the temperature of an object, putting it in a liquid instead of the fridge will cause the objects temperature to change faster. Putting a frozen steak in the fridge overnight, the steak is surrounded by slightly warmer air, and over time, an equalization of temperature happens.
Putting that same frozen meat in a warmer tray of water, the temperature equalization will happen much faster. The warmer water will cause the meat to warm up, and the water will lose of of its warmth, both the water and steak come to an equilibrium eventually.
For a long time, we’ve been taught that you can run cold water over a piece of frozen meat to thaw it. But this still takes some time and lots of water, despite the water running at a trickle. Now we’ve learned that you can use warm water – I use about 100F water – to defrost meat quickly.
A few rules here:
- One must cook the meat right after defrosting it
- This works only for small pieces of meat- steaks, fillets, breasts, etc.
- The meat must be fully submerged in the water, weigh it down with something heavy.
An alternative to the hot water running over the meat is to fill pot with 125F water, and put the meat in it. Stir the water occasionally, and the meat will defrost. Its important to stir the water. This method saves water too.
Chicken Breasts can be thawed quickly with this method
What do you all think? Let us know below:
Tonia Moxley
I always knew I was right about this, buy my picky spouse was totally against it. Thanks for helping me say, “I was right, dear!”
I have a tip for you on cooking the bacon. Frying it in a pan smokes up the kitchen and takes a long time. Instead, use a restaurant method — a heavy duty rimmed baking sheet (half hotel size) and a large cooling rack (it should just fit inside the baking sheet) are all you need. Heat the oven to 400 degrees f, lay the bacon slices on the rack (they can touch or even overlap slightly with no problem) and put them in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until they are cooked to your desired crispness. Carefully remove the pan — all the grease will be in the bottom and moving around. Let the bacon cool to the touch and remove it from the cooling rack. Bam — a whole pound of bacon cooked at once, no turning required, no grease splatters on the stove and no smoke in the kitchen.
Stephen Delaney
Another quality video, thanks.
I do my thawing in much the same fashion, but instead of the trickling water, I will fill the whole sink and stir it a few times.
tip 1: if you can’t find a heavy object to hold down the meat that wants to float, a burner grate from a gas range works beautifully.
tip 2: I put one pound portions of hamburger into quart freezer bags and mush them flat inside the bag. The expanded surface area makes for real quick thawing.