How To Defrost Meat In The Microwave' title='How To Defrost Meat In The Microwave' />Ways to Defrost Food Safely Still. Tasty. com. You can hardly wait. The juicy rib eye steaks you picked up a few weeks ago have been sitting in your freezer, just waiting to be grilled. Tonight, you plan to fire up the barbeque and do just that. But first, youve got to defrost the steaks. And you need to take special care Some approaches to thawing food, like leaving it on the counter all day, are unsafe and can cause illness. Youve got 3 choices for safely thawing any type of food. Heres what you need to know about each 1. Refrigerator Thawing. This is certainly the easiest method for defrosting frozen food just stick it in the fridge and waituntil its thawed. But you may be waiting longer than you thought. It usually takes an entire day to thaw even a small amount of frozen food, such as a pound of ground meat or boneless chicken breasts. How To Make A Sweet Potato Pie on this page. For large items, like a whole turkey or ham, itll take about 2. All that waiting does have a payoff, though. A major advantage of refrigerator thawing is that you dont have to cook the defrosted food right away especially helpful if youre faced with a last minute change in plans. Poultry, fish and ground meat thats been defrosted in the fridge can be kept for an additional 1 to 2 days in the refrigerator before cooking. I grew up quickly defrosting meat without a microwave. Thats because my method for defrosting meat is often faster than a microwave and defrosts the meat more. Foods keep safe while theyre frozen. But that can change quickly once they start to thaw. Follow these steps to keep your foods safe and tasty. Microwave Oven Cooked Breakfast Sausage Equipment Microwave Oven Microwave Oven Safe Plate large enough to hold bacon pieces Large Frying Pan only for defrosting. Preheat oven to 400F. Remove cream cheese. Olive Oil. Microwave on high setting, stirring several. Land O Lakes Butter with Olive Oil. The Samsung Microwave 40L Stainless Steel features Samsungs Triple Distributions System TDS technology, cooking your food more evenly. Find out more today Thawing Pork Article There are several methods that can be used for thawing fresh frozen pork. Beef, pork, lamb or veal roasts, steaks or chops will keep refrigerated for another 3 to 5 days after thawing. Another plus If you decide not to cook the thawed food, you can safely refreeze it within these same time limits. Cold Water Thawing. How To Defrost Meat In The Microwave' title='How To Defrost Meat In The Microwave' />How to Defrost Chicken. Defrosting chicken is easy, but it must be done the right way to prevent harmful bacterial growth. The best way to defrost a. The upside to this approach is that its much faster than refrigerator thawing. The downside is that it requires a lot more attention on your behalf. To thaw the food, submerge the bag in cold tap water. Never use hot water, as that can cause the outer layer of the food to heat up to a temperature where harmful bacteria begins to multiply. Youll need to change the water every 3. Using this thawing method, small packages of frozen meat or poultry about a pound can defrost in one hour or less. For larger items, you should estimate about 3. Once the food is thawed completely, youll need to cook it immediately. If you have a change in plans, you can safely refreeze the food once youve cooked it thoroughly. Microwave Thawing. The microwave, as you might expect, offers the speediest method of defrosting food. Set your microwave to the defrost or 5. If youre defrosting a package of meat, poultry or fish that is in pieces, separate them as the food thaws. If you use the microwave thawing method, youll need to cook the food immediately after its thawed. Once youve cooked the food, you can safely refreeze it if you like. How Not to Thaw Food. It may be tempting to just leave your frozen food out on the cupboard to thaw  its easy and its fast. Dont do it. Nor should you thaw food in hot water. The problem with both of those methods is that the outer layer of the food can sit between the bacteria breeding temperatures of 4. F and 1. 40 F for far too long to be safe. For more information on safe defrosting, visit the U. S. Department of Agricultures Food Safety and Inspection Service Web site. See Also Do You Have to Thaw Frozen Chicken Before Cooking It Can You Freeze Cheese Successfully Surprising Foods You Can Freezelt lt Back to Shelf Talk main page.