How to thaw frozen meat

Frozen meat is better

The meat and seafood we sell on Crowd Cow has been frozen at peak freshness and quality and shipped to you using dry ice to lock in that quality, freshness and food safety.

Contrast this with grocery store meat and seafood, which has been degrading for days (if not weeks) while transporting to the store, and while waiting in the meat case, and later in your fridge at home before you cook it. Ironically, there is nothing "fresh" about fresh meat.

Frozen meat is also supremely convenient. Just reach in the freezer and select whatever you're in the mood for. In this post, we'll explain how to safely, thaw and prepare your meat for cooking.

The Quickest Way to Thaw Meat: Large Bowl of Water

By far the quickest way to thaw meat is place the frozen meat (still in it's packaging) into an extra large bowl or large cooking pot and fill it with lukewarm water.

The frozen temperature of the meat will quickly find equalibrium with the temperature of the water, and very soon (5 to 10 minutes), you'll have a perfectly thawed piece of meat.

Tip: You'll want a very large pot if you're defrosting more than a couple of pieces. In fact, if the pot is full of meat, you may want to put the pot in the sink and allow lukewarm water to run gently overflowing the pot for the duration of the thawing. This ensures the water doesn't get cold and end the heat transfer equilibrium process.

An Even Quicker Way: Cook Directly from Frozen

Would you like to go from freezer to perfect steakhouse quality steak in 15 minutes or less? Well, for a limited set of cuts, like a New York Steak, a Ribeye or a Denver steak or even hamburgers, my favorite method -- by far -- is cooking directly from frozen. It's easy!

Here is my recipe for cooking steaks from frozen and grilling burger patties from frozen.

The Most Common Method for Thawing

By far the most common way to thaw is by placing the meat in your fridge overnight. Be sure to place the meats in a bowl or on a plate just in case the packaging has leaks and to capture any condensation.

And remember, according to USDA food safety experts, it is not recommended to keep ground meats in your fridge more than 1 or 2 days, and other meats should not be keep for more than 3 to 5 days. This is because at refridgerator temperature, bad things happen to meat, whereas at freezer temperatures, meats do no break down.

Tip: would you like your meat to be juicy, tender and incredible? Then before you cook it, take it out of your fridge and let it come to room temperature before your cook it. This step is absolutely essential for cooking A5 Wagyu, as the key to "melts in your mouth" is searing the exterior meat while warming up and melting the interior fats. Yum!

Also, the USDA has things to say about how to safely thaw, so check that out too: USDA Guidelines on Thawing Meat.