How to defrost meat

It is generally accepted that fresh meat is better than frozen meat. It is difficult to argue with this, and there is no need to. The truth is that if you cook and serve properly thawed meat, in 9 cases out of 10 you will never guess that it was frozen. All the defects that are usually attributed to defrosted meat – lack of juiciness, loose fibers, and so on – arise from either improper storage or improper defrosting. So how do you defrost meat properly?

There are not many nuances, but you need to know about them, otherwise the frozen meat will turn into a piece of nutritious, but not very tasty biomass. Of course, no one forbids you to defrost meat under running hot water or in the microwave, but if you want frozen meat after defrosting to be indistinguishable from fresh (at least after heat treatment), follow a couple of simple rules. But first – about what frozen meat is and in what cases you cannot do without it.

Frozen Meat

Of course, a piece of the freshest meat, and even from a trustworthy butcher, is the best you can imagine, but the opportunity to buy such meat is not always there. What to do? One of the options that many housewives practice is to buy a lot of meat at once, cook something, and put the rest in the freezer. I believe that this should only be used as a last resort: after all, the freezer of a household refrigerator does not compare with industrial methods of quick freezing. During such “home” freezing, irreversible changes occur inside the meat – relatively speaking, microscopic tears appear, as a result of which, during defrosting, most of the liquid, which is supposed to remain inside, will flow out of the meat, keeping the defrosted meat juicy and tasty.

And if you can’t do without freezing meat at home, I strongly recommend getting a vacuum sealer and freezing the meat already in bags: this will prevent excessive loss of the juices it contains, as well as a possible burn of its surface caused by rapid cooling. Meat packed in a vacuum bag has a significantly longer shelf life than frozen meat; however, it is preferable to buy meat that has been industrially frozen. Despite the fact that fresh meat, as we have already found out, is more valuable, frozen meat also has its advantages:

• Frozen meat tends to be cheaper, and if you’re looking for a way to save money, frozen meat may be the trade-off you need.
• When frozen, it is often easier to find something that is difficult or impossible to find fresh. Say, quail, duck breasts, a whole goose – all this is found in the average supermarket or on the market only in the freezer.
• Finally, frozen meat has a longer shelf life. It is obvious.

However, buying frozen meat is not enough, you also need to be able to defrost it so that it does not hurt excruciatingly – first of all, for you, due to the fact that a good product has been spoiled.

How to defrost meat

It’s very simple: The main Culinary Secret fits into one sentence – freezing should be as fast as possible, and defrosting as slow as possible. We have already talked about the advantages of instant industrial freezing, and you are quite capable of providing competent defrosting on your own. To do this, simply move the meat from the freezer to the refrigerator – where the temperature is as close to zero as possible, but still higher. Put it on a plate (liquid leakage is usually inevitable) and leave it alone for a day.

You may need more time depending on the size of the piece – for example, a whole duck or a large cut in my refrigerator thaws for about two days. You do not need to force defrost, just wait until the meat is completely tender and cook it as you like. The amount of liquid that nevertheless leaked out of the defrosted piece will be your estimate for how you defrosted the meat (of course, if it was correctly frozen). By the way, frozen fish, whole or fillet, must be defrosted in the same way. And of course, as far-sighted manufacturers write on the packages – re-freezing is not allowed!