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I have a technical question about defrosting meat in a scenario where every second matters.

I have been defrosting steaks by sealing them in a ziplock, then putting them in a pot on the stove, then putting a heavy bowl on top of the steak in the pot so it sinks. I usually put the stove flame on highest setting, then when the water barely starts to boil I lower the flame to the lowest setting. This usually defrosts a 1lb T-bone in about 8-10 mins, but sometimes I notice that it starts to actually cook the steak.

My question is, does anyone know the ideal exact temp I should heat the water to in order to keep the time it takes to defrost around the same? I know water boils at 212°F and as soon as I see the water start to form tiny bubbles I lower the flame all the way to try to maintain the temp but not have it raise higher, so I'm assuming that the temp I'm trying to hold it at is 190-200°F.

Also does anybody know if this process would be faster in a microwave assuming I had a special type of microwave that could detect the water temp and lower the heat to maintain that temp until the meat was defrosted?

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  • This might be one of those cases where you want to use a microwave. But you could also try a broiler pan in the oven (top heat) and cook from frozen Commented Aug 10, 2024 at 22:41
  • defrosting meat in a senereo [...] when the water barley starts to boil Commented Aug 11, 2024 at 20:49

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If you absolutely need to defrost things as quickly as possible, my suggestion would be to get an immersion circulator (a.k.a. a sous vide machine).

The problems with defrosting food in a pot of hot water are several. First, as you say, it's easy to start cooking the food before it's fully defrosted (which isn't necessarily undesirable, but I will assume you don't want this). Second, if you don't keep adding heat, the water will cool as fast as the food warms which makes the whole process take longer. A third issue that is less obvious is that water in contact with the food will cool much more quickly and form a sort of insulating layer, so if the water isn't frequently disturbed, the whole process takes even longer still.

An immersion circulator solves all of these problems:

  1. You can set the temperature of the water to a temperature where it will defrost as quickly as possible without actually cooking (say, 110°F/45°C).
  2. The immersion circulator will keep the water at the set temperature counteracting the cooling effect of the frozen food.
  3. As the name suggests, the immersion circulator will constantly circulate the water, preventing any insulating cold spots from forming around the food.

The added bonus to this is that you could even use the immersion circulator to intentionally start cooking the steaks. Using sous vide to precook steaks to a desired internal temperature is a common technique, and you can start the process from frozen. Just throw the steak-cicle into a water bath, set the temperature to around 7-8°F/4-5°C below your desired doneness level, then let it run for an hour or two (depending on the cut and thickness of the steak). When its done, simply pull the steaks out of the bath, pat dry, quickly sear on a ripping hot pan on all sides, and throw on a plate to rest. Not only will you have a perfectly cooked steak, but the active cooking time is only a couple of minutes per steak.

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  • Thank you. This is exactly what I was looking for. Now my question is how long does that device take to heat the water first. My end goal is to go from a frozen steak to cooked and ready to eat as fast as possible. Right now it takes me around 25 minutes in total. 15 min for defrosting and 10 min for cooking to medium rare. So i guess another question would be what method of heating heats water the fastest to 110°F or whatever the perfect defrosting temp is. Would it be fastest via microwave, flame, or mayber other non conventional ways of heating. Commented Aug 9, 2024 at 22:13
  • just fill the immersion bath from the hot tap. Commented Aug 11, 2024 at 15:16
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    @Bradley Like ths said, you can just put hot water from the tap into the water bath. You don't need to worry about the temperature starting off hotter than you set the immersion circulator because the frozen steak will cool the water as it defrosts while the immersion circulator won't let the water get colder than its set temperature. Commented Aug 12, 2024 at 12:41
  • @Bradley And again, if time is a concern, you can always start the process sooner by just throwing the meat into the circulation bath and sous vide-ing it. The meat can stay in the bath for up to 4 hours (it won't overcook, but unless you're shooting for medium-well it will start to spend an undesirable amount of time in the danger zone past that point), so you can just set it and forget it around lunch time and at dinner time it will be ready for that 2-3 minute last step. Commented Aug 12, 2024 at 12:54
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Most meats like steaks/chops can be be cooked/fried from frozen state. So defrosting is not needed.

It will depend on what you want done to the steak/chop before cooking, but just simple frying should only take a few extra minutes to get to safe temperature.

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    A steak which is pan broiled from frozen will have burnt and pale spots from where it made/didn’t make contact with the pan while still frozen. Fine in an emergency, but not a good result. Commented Aug 9, 2024 at 21:31
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    @Sneftel in fairness, “I want to go from a frozen solid steak to a cooked one in 25 mins or less” would seem to be closer to an emergency. If that’s the regular manner with which someone is cooking a steak, they might want to consider prior planning. Commented Aug 9, 2024 at 23:46
  • @Sneftel : a grill pan might be better for this, due to how it makes contact with the meat. (And would allow more moisture to evaporate away, if there is any ice buildup) Commented Aug 10, 2024 at 22:40
  • @Joe I think a grill pan would be much worse at this, as it would reduce contact area and therefore heat flux even further. It also wouldn’t help with getting rid of moisture, which once boiled is going to escape no matter how you try and stop it. (I personally think grill pans are utterly useless for anything beyond putting grill marks on food.) Commented Aug 11, 2024 at 10:47
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I think there are two things you can do to alter your procedure to increase the speed while reducing the time:

  • Start with hot water and let it cool, rather than starting with cold water and heating it up.
    • The meat starts frozen, so will not cook at the beginning. Once the outside has melted then there is risk of cooking, but by then a lot of the "cold" has been removed and the water will have cooled.
  • Not use the ziplock bag
    • Anything between the water and the meat will insulate the meat. The heat will be transferred quicker without the bag with the meat directly in contact with the water.

The way I do it is run water from the hot tap into a basin or bath and put the meat in that. It depends on the amount of meat to water, but starting with water that is a bit over body temperature is pretty safe from cooking. I have not done this with steaks, it is usually "lumps" of meat.

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  • putting the meat directly into the water will make soup. ie, it looses nutrients into the water. Commented Aug 11, 2024 at 15:19
  • It really does not seem to lose too much, but as I say I do not usually cook steaks. I do not know if it is significant, but any myoglobin that leaches out should make it more healthy. Commented Aug 11, 2024 at 16:16
  • I for one would be greatly concerned with the health risks associated in defrosting meat (or poultry, fish, or anything that directly came from an animal) in a luke-warm water bath with nothing separating the meat from the water. That bath would very quickly become a potential vector for contamination both from the meat getting affected or it affecting something else. Commented Aug 12, 2024 at 12:47

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