Meat defrosting tip

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I had forgotten about this until recently (having to do with my Beef Jerky experiments).

Years ago on TV someone was advertising some kind of magical defrosting board that would defrost meats much faster than just putting them on the counter. My dad bought one. It did indeed work, but I don't know if it was worth the whatever they charged for it.

Anyway, since then I found out that placing frozen meats on heat conductive material (metal) defrosts faster than meats just put on a plate. I thought about this for my last batch of jerky.

I want to have the jerky partially frozen (because I'm using formed meat, not steak slices, and it's easier to cut properly when properly frozen). I don't feel like hanging out, at least not at the experimental stage, until it's properly "partially" frozen, so I just fully freeze it and then defrost and pull it when I think it's right.

Last time I just defrosted on a plate. It took hours to defrost - even partially - a half-inch slab of hamburger.

This time I put it on a metal pan. It was just a regular frying pan. The more conductive, the better. I checked it after two hours and it was FULLY defrosted. I had to put it back into the freezer.

Anyway, long story short, metal conducts the heat (or cold), better metal (like a Le Creuset, which I didn't use this time) works even better, and if you put your meat in a frying pan, or anything with any heft to it (I used a non-stick pan, not very thick), it works VERY well. Meat defrosts in at least half the time of normal, if not more, than just putting it on a plate or board or anything that doesn't have the ability to conduct the temp away (or in).

[NMDemDist2]

1. very cool idea! n/t

[Duer 157099]

2. I have one of those metal things - "Miracle" something

Yet another thrift store find for a buck or so, figured I'd try it to see if it really worked, which it does really well, as you discovered. It's become one of my kitchen gadgets that I use regularly.

Not surprised that a pan works well too, good thinking to try that. I wonder what metal this tray is made of, it's relatively heavy, with a teflon-ish coating. Maybe cast iron even.

[yy4me]

3. We'll see how it works, I just took a frozen boneless pork

roast out, placed it on a cast iron skillet and put a cast iron pan on top. I hope you are right because I need to cook this roast tonight and it would never defrost sitting on the counter on a plate.

Thanks...and now if I could only find my recipe for rolled stuffed pork roast that has chopped prunes and minced garlic in it, I'd be a happy camper. I can't remember what else goes in the roll.

[flamin lib]

4. The item you're talking about is called a heat sink. Industry uses them

a lot and there are several in your computer, particularly on the processor. They are made of extruded aluminum and have fins on one side--viewed from the end they look like a comb. The fins maximize the surface area available to the air. Bought from the extruder (Thermolloy or Aavid) they're a few $$ a foot for something 8" wide. From a kitchen store they're $40.

They would work even better if the fins were submerged in running water--water is a much better conductor than air.

It's like the micro-plane which is nothing more than a rasp used in automotive body work.

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5. Yes, it does act as a heat sink

and the heavier metal is what collects it.

The comb part is for distributing (radiating) the heat, so it cools off as quickly as possible - this is how you cool off processors and other heat generating devices.

For defrosting, you don't really need the comb/heat distribution, just the heavier metal, so a skillet, even a medium weight non-stick pan works. The heavier the better - for instance, if I used my Le Creuset skillet or some cast iron skillet it would have been better.

But yes, usually heat sinks are for absorbing and redistributing heat as quickly as possible, but in this case we can skip the comb part.

My dad did buy one of those things, it was combed not so much for redistribution of heat, if I recall, but to collect juices that would be released upon defrosting. And it did work better than just putting the stuff on a plate. Of course, at that time we didn't know that a halfway decent pan would work as well (for that matter, I'm not convinced my parents owned any halfway decent pans).