What kind of microwaves do you all have that don’t defrost well?
The last 3-4 microwaves I’ve owned all do fine on the “defrost” setting. And I’m not buying high end pricey microwaves. I’d say defrosting is probably one of the most common things I do with a microwave, and if it didn’t do it right, I’d bring it back and get one that does.
There are a few tricks. Here’s what I do:
lie a little bit about the weight of the meat. If I’m thawing 1.5 pounds of chicken, for example, I’ll tell it 1.2 pounds. I’d rather have things a little less defrosted and have to let it sit for 30 minutes or so than have them cooked on the edges.
Watch the microwave and turn things over when it says to
rearrange them if there’s more than once piece. Break up the pieces as soon as it’s thaw enough to pull apart, and periodically check and put the pieces on the outside on the inside as the meat defrosts. If any individual pieces are totally defrosted, remove them from the microwave.
That’s about it. I defrost pork tenderloins all the time - in fact, I did one last night. Chicken also works fine. Big roasts take longer, and they’re often cooked a little bit on the corners, but that’s usually fine for a long braise or something.
This is not always the case. Exotoxins produced by bacteria are still present after cooking. Botulism or a Staph infection can arise from food that has been fully cooked through-out .
I worked myself through college while cooking in a restaurant. If food was defrosted in anyway other then under refrigeration, someone was getting fired. I’m also pretty sure defrosting under water was against our local health code.
I forgot to mention in the OP that we have a 3 year old daughter.
Although I am fairly confident that my and my husband’s immune systems could successfully handle any bacteria that might be lingering in our meat, I worry about her little body trying to fight some nasty meat bugs. (Sorry to get so technical.)
I always want her meat cooked thoroughly - no pink, except maybe a bit in steak, but even so, I still worry about the botulism, staph etc that RetroVertigo mentions.
Sorry y’all, I’m STILL not convinced that thawing all day at room temp is okay.
I feel that the outside edges would thaw more quickly, and then would sit at room temperature for several hours, allowing bacteria to happily multiply in those areas. (We are gone for 8.5-9 hours on a regular work day).
I get food poisoning VERY easily - hit the ER 2-3 times in an average year. This, I’m told, is due to weak spots in my intestinal lining resulting from ulcers in my teenage years. 'nuff said.
Soooooo, I’m extremely careful about these things. I also keep my fridge very cold.
My approach is to use two ziplock-type bags. One around the meat, with as much air pushed out as possible. I place this package into a second, larger bag, and fill that up with ice. Then I leave the whole thing in the sink when I leave for work in the morning.
I’ve always come home to water with a few shavings of ice still floating around, and perfectly defrosted meat. And my meat never tastes washed out because it doesn’t soak in the water all day.
For a tenderloin, it’s also good to put some cheap Italian dressing in the inner bag - or whatever marinade you like. . .
I’ve never had problems thawing meat at room temperature…
Another “trick” that I sometimes employ that will most assuredly retard bacterial growth and help to thaw the meat is to apply a salty/sweet/acidic marinade while it is thawing in a ziploc bag on the counter or on a plate under saran. For example, I might partially thaw pork chops, chicken breasts, or cheap cut sandwich steaks in the microwave, just to the point that they can be unstuck from one another. Then I apply my own special “refrigerator marinade” which usually consists of a bit of coarse prepared mustard, vinegary hot sauce, salt and pepper, a bit of melted jam and/or salad dressing (Italian or Greek), and a bit of veg oil. Then I just let it sit covered until thawed and at room temperature for grilling.
I would advise against this and also against microwave thawing, as both methods “cook the meat” before you’re ready to actually cook it, and can render it tough or affect the flavor.
Either use the cold water method, or plan ahead enough to put it into the fridge a couple days before use.
I have set frozen meat into the sink in the morning and let it thaw at room temp before without ill effects, cooking it for dinner that evening, but generally, I think filling a sink with cold water and placing the wrapped meat into it to thaw is best.
Sometimes you need to weigh it down with a plate or something to keep it from floating though.
Neither method allows the meat to get warm enough to cook it. It’s obviously quite raw when it comes out of the microwave. Never had issues with toughness or flavor.
Maybe I should say “risks cooking the meat”, because if you have a particularly big hunk of it, or if you don’t get the temperature just right, you will most certainly brown the edges, thereby cooking it.
I’ve never had any luck in the microwave. Ours doesn’t seem to have much middle ground between “nuke” and “off”, though.
By far the best way I’ve found (other than a few days in the fridge) is to put it under cold running water. My usual rig is a big bowl with the meat in the bottom in a Ziplock bag, weighed down by a smaller bowl. I run a trickle of water into the small bowl so that it overflows into the big bowl. (That part isn’t necessary, but it seems to be the best way to do it with my particular bowls.)
It really only needs to be a trickle, just enough to circulate the water. It’s really important to get all of the air out of your Ziplock–if there’s any between the meat and the water, it will insulate the meat and it won’t thaw any faster than it would on the counter. (Probably slower.)
The trouble is that a microwave won’t heat things consistently if they’re not in themselves consistent. Fat layers, including skin, will cook much faster than the meat itself, removing their ability to keep the meat moist through the cooking process. Not to mention every heated piece of fat being connected to a bit of meat which is also going to be warmed, to not-good temperatures.
For large cuts of meat, I think letting it thaw at room temp works best. Microwave thawing is inconsistent at best and there really isn’t any danger to letting it thaw at room temp as long as you don’t let it sit too long after it’s thawed.
You speed things up slightly by running it under cold water, but McDeath’s method is the same one I use. Take it out in the morning and either cook it or refrigerate it once it’s thawed. I haven’t killed anybody yet.
Yeah, I have the same problem with my microwave. No matter what setting I use, it seems the outside becomes slightly cooked before the inside has a chance to thaw. You could see it–chicken starts turning white on the surface, while the interior is still icy. I’ve never gotten any of my microwaves to do a good job with defrosting, so I don’t bother.
My degree is in microbiology, and I agree wholeheartedly with your husband. That’s how I thaw meat. I do it all the time. It’s all about risk management. Firstly, domestic farm-raised meat is overwhelmingly safe, the occasional media frenzy aside. Secondly, bacteria don’t live inside meat - only on the surface. So if the surface is cooked, bacteria are dead. Yes, it is possible for bacteria to have left behind toxins, but again, that just doesn’t happen very often. See point #1. As long as your meat is intact (ie, not ground), there’s nothing going on in the interior. (Barring trichinosis, which is vanishingly rare these days)
See, a lot of the food safety guidelines were originally developed for the restaurant business, where if you screw something up, you could end up poisoning dozens or hundreds or thousands of people, including little kids and the immune compromised. Yes, they certainly have to be very very careful. At home, well, in my opinion, not so much, unless you have concrete reason to believe someone in your family is unusually at risk. It’s like the difference between the hospital, where everyone washes their hands in alcohol thirty times a day, and your backyard, where you slap on a bandage and maybe some neosporin if the cut looks nasty. In my opinion, people worry about food safety too much in this country. YMM, by all means, V.
