How to quickly defrost minced meat: tips

Often it happens that guests may suddenly come out suddenly or you, having forgotten yourself, did not pull out the stuffing in time to cook dinner for the family, and there is very little time left for one of these events. If so, now you have in your hands a large piece of frozen minced meat, which will independently thaw for two or three hours. But we remember that time is not infinite, but it is necessary to feed the guests and / or family.

What to do in this case? It’s not possible to wait until the meat thaws itself. Therefore, it is necessary to resort to methods of quick defrosting of the product, which in this case will not spoil it.

Available options

There are several ways to help defrost minced meat quickly and not turn it into a liquid tasteless mass, from which it will be useless to cook something.

1. The fastest and most effective way to defrost: the microwave. Modern technologies allow a person not only to heat food in it, but also to cook and thaw food.If your oven has a “quick defrost” mode, then you should remove the stuffing from the bag, put it in a special (usually ceramic) dish and put it in the microwave for the indicated mode. However, you should not relax: be sure to follow the process, do not overheat the stuffing, otherwise it may burn or deteriorate altogether.
2. In the absence of a microwave, you can use the water bath. To do this, save the stuffing from packing, place it in a ceramic dish. Pour water into a saucepan and put it on a slow fire. Place the bowl with minced meat over the water (the edge of the pot should lie on the edge of the pan, so choose the right diameter). Control the process by constantly turning the meat over and removing the already thawed layers from it.
3. Pretty rough, but effective way for those who do not want to heat the stuffing, afraid to overdo it and spoil it: split it into small pieces and salt it. In this case, the meat product is chopped into pieces with a large sharp knife or an ax and salted. Salt "eats away" the ice, and in twenty minutes it will be possible to use minced meat for cooking.
4. If there is a possibility and a little more time and patience, then the stuffing in a pot can be placed in a warm place: near a hot battery or above a preheated oven.Meat will defrost more slowly than in previous cases, but is more likely to retain its taste.
5. A good option for quick defrosting can be running water. To do this, you need to tightly roll the stuffing into polyethylene so that the moisture does not penetrate inside and it does not become very liquid. Leave the bag of meat under the tap with running cool water for 15-20 minutes. Periodically check the package for its integrity.

Useful tips

1. Of course, resorting to such emergency measures, it should be understood that they can spoil the product. Therefore, doing any of the proposed manipulations, do not be distracted by anything else. Be careful, otherwise there will be nothing to cook.
2. If, after a quick defrost, you feel an unpleasant smell from the meat or it has acquired an unpresentable appearance (it has spread out or has become too colorless), in no case begin to cook from such a product! You run the risk of severe food poisoning.
3. The most ideal defrost option is slow defrosting. Therefore, always make sure that the minced meat is pulled out in advance, and you would not have to subject it to strong heat treatment before you start cooking.Slow defrosting is a guarantee that the product will retain its taste and beneficial properties.
4. In order to force the meat to be defrosted faster, do this: divide the piece of meat you buy into such portions so that each has enough for exactly one cooking process. Spread the pieces into individual plastic bags and roll out with a rolling pin into a thin layer so that there is no air between the polyethylene and the meat. Tie and clean in the freezer. Then you make sure that a thin layer is thawed several times faster than one large piece. And you save yourself from having to freeze / thaw minced meat several times, which also affects its beneficial properties.

Rapid defrosting is a good thing in emergency situations, but you should not use it all the time. Make sure that by the time you start cooking food, the stuffing is thawed. Use our tips to make your life easier!

Video: how to defrost meat