I’m supposed to be bringing ham to dinner tomorrow, but at this point it’s still frozen solid and in the freezer. I won’t be able to get it out for another couple of hours. A ten pound ham should be able to thaw in time for dinner at 1 pm tomorrow right? Or will I need to get another one from the store? Thanks.
You can thaw it more quickly by putting in a sink filled with warm water to make the heat transfer faster. Replace the water every hour or so.
If you’re worried about food safety (I’m not terribly paranoid about it) use a cold-water-thaw method. Immerse ham in cold tap water. Change water every 20 minutes. Should take about 20 minutes per pound.
And no, on its own it probably won’t thaw before 1pm tomorrow.
I think so, but if you do it use a small steady stream of cool water.
Unlike turkey, your ham should not be harboring harmful contaminates because it is probably already cooked and/or smoked. If your ham is indeed the fully cooked type, you can either thaw it in the microwave, or on the counter. Although this method is bound to skeeve out a certain segment of the population, it is perfectly safe. If you happen to be part of that segment of the population can put in a sink full of cold water, and swap out the cold water every 30 minutes. Be careful though if the ham is cooked, it’s going to get soggy by this method, and you will most certainly ruin the quality of the meat.
If the ham is not cooked, thaw in the cold water/sink method only.
Speaking as someone who does this regularly, your best bet is going to be to put it in your sink and just run cold water over it. If you double sink, close one side (so it fills) and let the water run off into the other side. If you don’t find a big pot or a bucket and put that in the sink and let the water run over it. The water can be going fairly slowly, it just needs to be enough to keep it moving.
Thanks all. I’ve got it soaking in the water now, and it’s coming along pretty well.