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I want to cook for myself more these days, but one thing that really *frosts* my attempts is defrosting. If I fail to plan ahead for the evening or the week, I am stuck with frozen chicken packages or frozen ground beef/turkey or the like. Now, I realize this is a stupid/lazy question because ultimately it doesn't take that long to defrost any or all of the above. But, somehow, someway, I've managed to screw it up and defrosting annoys me. Just last night I was trying to defrost a package of chicken breasts. Put it in a pot with hot water coming down on the packet, for about 15 minutes... Came back and found the top of my chicken had turned white, disgustingly so. Frustrating. Here are my questions:

What are your quick and easy defrosting methods? Does anyone actually use the microwave? Do you run the packages under cold/warm/hot water? I know it would also be easier to defrost things if I removed them from the original packages and placed them in ziplock bags, but I don't always do that.

If the top of your chicken/meat turns white/brown while defrosting, is that bad or can you still use it?

Anyway, apologies if this has already been discussed somewhere or belongs within another thread. Thanks for the help in advance!

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I want to cook for myself more these days, but one thing that really *frosts* my attempts is defrosting. If I fail to plan ahead for the evening or the week, I am stuck with frozen chicken packages or frozen ground beef/turkey or the like. Now, I realize this is a stupid/lazy question because ultimately it doesn't take that long to defrost any or all of the above. But, somehow, someway, I've managed to screw it up and defrosting annoys me. Just last night I was trying to defrost a package of chicken breasts. Put it in a pot with hot water coming down on the packet, for about 15 minutes... Came back and found the top of my chicken had turned white, disgustingly so. Frustrating. Here are my questions:

What are your quick and easy defrosting methods? Does anyone actually use the microwave? Do you run the packages under cold/warm/hot water? I know it would also be easier to defrost things if I removed them from the original packages and placed them in ziplock bags, but I don't always do that.

If the top of your chicken/meat turns white/brown while defrosting, is that bad or can you still use it?

Anyway, apologies if this has already been discussed somewhere or belongs within another thread. Thanks for the help in advance!

If you are putting it in hot water then you are going to cook the chicken. The best way to defrost quickly is place the items in a bowl full of cool water and slowly trickle cool water in it until defrosted. The warmer the water the higher chances of cooking the meat. I don't like using the mic for defrosting, or much else for that matter, as you are certianly going to end up cooking to some degree.

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This is great, thanks all. I've heard the cold water theory, but didn't know if that would take longer than running warm water while making sure not to cook it. Yes, my microwave does have a low setting, and I believe different defrosting settings depending on the food/weight.

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I defrost in cool water in my sink. I change the water a couple times, depending. My best defrosting friend however is my vacuum sealer. I have a bunch of frozen shrimp and scallops defrosting this way now. I placed the amount I needed in a vacuum bag.

I've also defrosted in warm water and chicken will turn white while meat will turn gray. It browns up perfectly still.

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I will always vacuum seal any meat I plan on freezing, if I have a couple of hours I will place the meat (still in the bag) on a cast iron pan. The pan transfers heat better than a counter ever could. If I am a little more rushed I go with the cold water method.

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A trick that works surprisingly quickly for frozen meats that are relatively flat, like chicken breasts, is to put them in a heavy aluminum skillet. Flip occasionally and conduction does its thing. Learned that one from Robert Wolke, who used to write the Post column on food science.

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Be sure to keep food out of the temperature danger zone (TDZ) which is 40°F-140°F. Bacteria grows to unsafe levels in an extremely short period of time in this temperature range. Keep thawing foods below 40°. Never leave food in the TDZ for more than 2 hours; 1 hour in temperatures above 80 °F ( if you do have to use the microwave method or have to defrost under warm water because of time constraints).

The suggestion by mdt is the safest method for defrosting and also conserves water by only drizzling water into the bowl to keep cold water circulating into the bowl. You could also fill a bowl with cold water, submerge your frozen meat and change the water every 30 minutes or so as well.

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Alton Brown recommends cold running water as the safest, fastest way to defrost. I have tried the method in the past with good results.

That is the way we would defrost big blocks of frozen seafood (shrimp/octopus/seaweed salad) every day at BlackSalt Market. If I have a frozen steak I want to defrost, I put it into a ziplock bag, then into a bowl and run a light drizzle of cold water on it, turning occasionally. Steaks that are to be grilled can be incompletely defrosted--then you can get a nice char on the outside and still have it rare/medium rare in the center.

If you defrost a frozen salmon fillet in the refridgerator, in a ziploc or sealed container, how long can it be left in the fridge, un cooked?

I would say for best quality, no more than one day after it has completely defrosted.

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If I fail to plan ahead for the evening or the week, I am stuck with frozen chicken packages or frozen ground beef/turkey or the like....Just last night I was trying to defrost a package of chicken breasts... Frustrating.
Excellent responses thus far about putting unthawed meat in bowl of cool water. Let me explicate what is implied by the vacuum sealers in our midst.

Don't throw the meat you buy into the freezer in its original package if you want it to thaw quickly.

For example, while I rarely buy chicken breasts (I'm a thigh girl) anymore, I used to stock up on the boneless type that come split into halves or cutlets. Take them out of the package. (Be sanitary about using clean, non porous surface and tools and clean everything up afterwards.)

Pound each piece individually and mercilessly in between a sheet of waxed paper or what have you. (A rubber mallet, $1 from a hardware store 3 years ago, is just as good as a fancy metal tool; just don't hit the meat directly w the rubber. Rolling pins work, too.) Your aim is to make the meat thin, thin, thin and as it thins, it will broaden to gain a greater circumference. Simple physics. Now you've got something like veal scalloppine only the slaughter of pale baby cows isn't part of its legacy. Continue doing this with all the remaining pieces of chicken, stacking them with a sheet of plastic or waxed paper in between each, and then wrap the bundle in something else. Freeze.

If you peel one of these thin chicken breasts off of the stack, you can do like McDonald's does with its thin, frozen meat patties. Just plop into a brutally hot pan to sear as is, or better yet, take it of freezer as soon as you get home.

Alternatives:

*Freeze pieces separately no matter what. A chop or thigh thaws more rapidly when all surfaces are engulfed by cold water. A frosty chunk of five thighs frozen to each other as if the tongues of four young tykes to a metal pole in winter takes a longer time to thaw.

*Don't flatten your chicken breast half, but cut it into individual chunks and freeze them so that the pieces aren't touching one another. Use for stir fry, stews, etc.

N.B. Boneless chicken, cut up especially, need not be thawed when destined for soup. A quick weeknight dinner is a bowl of gingery-lemony-garlicky chicken soup with scallions or spinach with thin noodles, a little red chili sauce and sesame oil drizzled for extra flavor. Dump strips or chunks of unfrozen, boneless chicken directly into simmering broth or stock.

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If you defrost a frozen salmon fillet in the refridgerator, in a ziploc or sealed container, how long can it be left in the fridge, un cooked?

It depends on how old the fish was when it was frozen. It will take 12-24 hours to defrost in the fridge and with a filet that was fresh when it was originally frozen, I wouldn't let it stay out for more than 2 days after completely thawed.

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Defrosting is one of the main tasks that a microwave oven does pretty well. I find that the pre-defined "defrost" setting is usually way too high, like 50%. I usually defrost at 20% power (which merely means the microwave cycles on and off, being off 80% of the time). I don't think it works very well if your microwave has no turntable. I do this all the time, and have developed a feel for how to avoid letting the defrosting meat start to cook in the microwave. Once, though, I carefully set the thing to 20% for four or five minutes to thaw out a steak, or at least I thought that's what I was doing, and zapped it at full power the whole time. It was totally disgusting and I threw it away.

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I don't use the microwave for defrosting. Best answer is planning a head (night before or the morning of). The best trick is cold running water but that still doesn't get immediate gratification. The second best is putting the meat of a good conductor (e.g., cast iron skillet) also speeds the process. I think microwave and hot water are not good alternatives.

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Planning ahead is the best method, as is stopping to get what's for dinner on the way home at the grocery store. On nights where we forget, we opt for something easier to deal with. One staple for us on such nights is frozen shrimp, they take just a few minutes to defrost using the running cool water method....

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