Want to cook lunch or dinner for the whole family, but forgot to defrost the meat?
Almost every kitchen has a microwave, so you probably wondered more than once whether it can be used not only for heating, but also for defrosting.
And if yes, how to do it? Are there other ways? Which one is the best and why? Here are the advantages and disadvantages of each method.
Defrosting in the microwave
Thanks to the microwave oven, you can defrost minced meat in just 5 minutes, but be aware that the quality of the meat will suffer. Why? This method can be considered unnatural, due to which the meat dish may turn out to be too dry.
• However, if you decide to choose this method, the information provided by the device manufacturer is important. For 500 g of minced meat, set the power to the defrost level. The combination of snowflake and water drop symbols may indicate this way of working.
• Food to be defrosted can be placed in the microwave oven either closed or open. For example, the recommendation for 250 g of frozen minced meat would be: at 180 W, first 8-10 minutes, then turn over and another 5-10 minutes.
• The thawing process can be accelerated by adding salt to the minced meat according to the recipe. Then wait 30-45 minutes until the minced meat settles in the microwave.
• During the defrosting process in the microwave oven, you can also take out the softened minced meat and crumble the remaining frozen mass well.
Defrosting in the fridge and in the air
Defrosting in the fridge is considered the best. To do this, you need to get the minced meat from the freezer in time and leave it in the fridge. It will take you about 5 hours for 0.5 kg of meat.
For large items, this may take up to 24 hours. Therefore, this is not the fastest procedure. However, the fridge prevents unwanted growth of bacteria.
However, leaving minced meat on the kitchen table “just like that” is definitely not worth it. Of course, it will defrost much faster, it would take about 3 hours for the mentioned 0.5 kg.
However, at higher temperatures there is a risk of uncontrolled reproduction of harmful bacteria.
Thaw in a bowl of water
If you need to defrost a future meal a little faster than in the refrigerator, you can use a bowl of water. You must completely submerge the meat in it. In the same way, you can defrost fish.
The reason this method works is that water conducts heat much faster than air. In this way, you can defrost small pieces of meat or half-kilogram bags of minced meat in about an hour. Large pieces will take 2 to 3 hours. However, make sure that the packaging containing the meat does not leak.
Defrosting in the oven
The classic oven can also defrost meat. Many household appliances have the same special function as the mentioned microwave ovens. If your oven does not have this convenient option, set the temperature to between 40 and 50 C.
Warm air is a more natural defrosting option. However, minced meat will have to be monitored more and take into account a higher temporary load, the whole process will take from 30 minutes to an hour.
