8.03.2007

QUESTION...

How do you thaw frozen meat (any chicken, beef, pork, etc)? I used to put it in a bowl with water in the sink to thaw, but then I heard you should thaw in the fridge. However, I have tried thawing the meat in the fridge two days in a row now and both times the meat has been COMPETELY frozen still. I put the meat in the fridge in the morning and wanted to use it that night for dinner. Does that mean I now need to know what I am making for dinner a few nights before??? HELP!

8 comments:

Dani said...

This is really bad that I'm telling you this but I just leave it on the counter for a few hours and let it thaw. Works like a charm.

McKenna Gordon said...

I got invited to my 1,000,000th Pampered Chef party a couple weeks ago and the consultant was demoing their pans by placing a piece of ice on the counter and another in the room-temperature pan. She then proceeded to tell us why we should buy the pans for about 30 seconds. Then she showed us the pan and the ice was 100% water, while the piece of ice on the counter hadn't even started melting.

So... while I don't have Pampered Chef pans, I found out the reason they did that is because our pans are "hard-adonized" which evenly distributes the heat throughout the pan, regardless of what temperature it is.

So I started testing it and sure enough, it brings super cold butter to the perfect softness for cookies in 2 minutes, just sitting on the counter. A frozen salmon filet took about 10 minutes on each side (I left it in the wrapper)

So, do the ice-cube test on your skillets and if it melts instantly, try it with your meat and butter!

Before discovering this, I let it sit on the counter for a few hours. I guess I'm essentially doing the same thing now, but the pan speeds things up a ton.

Skipper said...

That is so cool! I've never heard about anything like that. I've just been using the "auto defrost" on my microwave.

Unknown said...

yeah, I have been using the defrost on my micro, but I am going to have to try the pan thing!!

Unknown said...

yeah, I have been using the defrost on my micro, but I am going to have to try the pan thing!!

McKenna Gordon said...

Okay so any tips on auto-defrost on the microwave? I'm either too impatient so I turn it on too hot or... something, because my chicken does defrost, but parts of it are cooked when it comes out of auto defrost.

Sandra said...

Be sure that you are taking it out and turning it over or moving it to another spot on the plate when the auto defrost "beeps" for you to check it. If you can pull it apart, you should do that. And with chicken, you don't have to wait for it to totally defrost unless you are doing something that requires you to pound it flat, like in cordon blue.
You can cube partly froze chicken, in fact it is easier if it is partly frozen. And baking takes just a couple of minutes more when it is partly frozen, same with frying.

Skipper said...

Agreed. You should always turn your meat in the microwave. Mine's pretty good about beeping to remind me to turn 4-5 times during the defrost. I never fully defrost anything either. It just doesn't take that much longer to cook something that's a little frosty in the core.