iv myths about defrosting nutrient and what you should do instead

salmon counter

Don't let your dinner sit out on the counter for too long.
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  • Never leave whatever food — frozen or otherwise — at room temperature for more than two hours, according to the USDA.
  • Thawing in your refrigerator is the safest way to go — but it's also the slowest.
  • You lot tin can speed up your fridge thaw fourth dimension by putting your frozen nutrient on an aluminum pan, co-ordinate to the Kitchn.
  • Running warm or hot water over frozen nutrient to thaw it is unsafe — but modest amounts of food can safely be thawed in 140-degree h2o on your stovetop in only 10 to 12 minutes, according to America'southward Test Kitchen.

The ability to freeze and store food for afterward is wonderful — especially if yous beloved home-cooked meals, just also have a busy life outside your kitchen.

Unfortunately, sometimes getting nutrient safely from a frozen land to one where you can melt or reheat it can exist a challenge — specially when you lot're brusque on fourth dimension.

Hither are some unsafe food defrosting pitfalls you probably idea were OK — equally well equally USDA-approved food safe methods to use when yous're thawing out your frozen food bounty.

Warm or hot water is usually not a safe fashion to defrost food speedily.

Letting your food soak in warm water might not be the all-time idea.
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It's happened to anybody: You lot had every intention of moving that craven from the freezer to the refrigerator before y'all went to work — but you forgot.

Now information technology's late, you lot're tired after a long day, and you merely want to pull dinner together quickly so you tin can relax.

You might think yous can speed up the thawing process by sticking that chicken in a sink total of warm or hot h2o and get on with your meal plans — but don't do it.

According to the USDA's rules governing nutrient safety , the longer any food spends in the temperature danger zone — located betwixt forty and 140 degrees Fahrenheit — the more likely it is to make yous sick.

If y'all're in a big hurry to defrost something, never fright — that'south why microwaves have defrost settings. They're a much safer bet next fourth dimension yous're in a blitz.

All the same, if you heat water in a pot on the stove to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, at that place is one safe way to use hot water to defrost small-scale amounts of nutrient.

Only thaw your nutrient in humid h2o for x-12 minutes.
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According to America's Exam Kitchen, you lot tin utilize a properly calibrated thermometer to rut a pot of water to 140 degrees Fahrenheit on your stove elevation.

Side by side, place your small cuts of meat within zip-top bags — such every bit a chicken chest or 2 — or a baggie of frozen soup in the water to thaw.

Don't go out the meat unattended — it should thaw in 10 to 12 minutes. That's quicker than leaving information technology in your fridge, and it also doesn't allow enough time for harmful bacteria to showtime to grow.

Unfortunately, this method won't work with larger pieces of meat — like a whole bird or a leg of lamb. Larger items like those would withal take as well long to thaw for good nutrient temperature safe using this method.

Refreezing food left out of the fridge isn't a safe bet.

There are some things you should know about refreezing nutrient.
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Allow'south say, for example, you take out chicken to defrost it then, after an hour or two goes by, you decide to cook something else instead. At this point, despite what you might remember, it's not safe to refreeze that chicken.

According to the USDA, you should non refreeze any food left exterior the fridge for longer than 2 hours. Farther, if it'due south a hot 24-hour interval, specifically over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, your food will be dangerous to refreeze afterwards just one hour.

Thawing food on your countertop at room temperature is a dangerous thought — don't do it.

Don't thaw food on your counter, specially raw meat.
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Leaving your nutrient — whatever food, not just meat — at room temperature for over 2 hours makes it a bully place for unsafe bacteria to proliferate and brand your loved ones miserable.

For this reason, the USDA advises that you should never thaw your food on your counter — generally speaking, you'd have to get out most frozen foods out much longer than two hours to defrost them all the way if yous simply used this method to do it.

Yous may have heard about the aluminum pan defrosting trick — it definitely speeds things up, just here's how to use this hack safely.

Although it will speed upwards defrosting time, it opens upwards your food to bacteria.
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As J. Kenji López-Alt of Serious Eats noted in this handy video, thawing meat or anything else on an aluminum surface noticeably speeds up the defrosting process .

Just co-ordinate to the USDA, leaner can double in number in as petty equally xx minutes if your food is left at room temperature. Obviously, y'all desire to keep your food in a safety temperature range equally much equally possible.

Christine Gallary from the Kitchn ran an experiment to see just how much faster the aluminum pan pull a fast one on made defrosting 2.5-inch thick pork chops. She constitute that the chop defrosted on an aluminum pan took i hour to defrost, while the chop defrosted on a regular dinner plate took an hour and 45 minutes — nearly double the aluminum pan fourth dimension .

While she stressed that she didn't eat the pork chops later performing this test because they would no longer have been rubber, her experiment definitely documented the sizeable speed increment.

If you but stick your food to be defrosted on an aluminum pan and store it in the fridge instead of on your counter, you lot tin have both skilful food condom and a speedier result in your defrosting.

When possible, program ahead and utilise ane of these tried-and-true methods for all your safe food defrosting needs.

Plan alee of time and put your frozen nutrient in the refrigerator.
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Business concern Insider spoke to Cornell University food scientific discipline professor Robert Gravani, who took them through the 4 safest means to defrost your food in this curt, helpful video.

If yous're planning on cooking that frozen salmon fillet for dinner tomorrow, stick information technology in your fridge to thaw tonight earlier you go to bed. That way, it'll be ready to go when you lot get home — and you won't accept to even worry about it when you're rushing effectually tomorrow forenoon.


Visit INSIDER'southward homepage for more.

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