defrosting trick

[nosrednayduj]

I'm making a dish that contains meatballs tonight. I forgot to get the ground turkey out of the freezer this morning. I don't like doing it in the microwave because it ends up cooking part of it and leaving part still frozen. But, it's a hot day. So, I put the frozen brick of meat on a plate, and put the plate in the back of the car. 2 hours later it is soft and perfect!

Comments

[apparentparadox]

That isn't great from a food safety standpoint! The general rule is that food should spend less than 4 hours in the "not safe" zone" (and that includes the time it was taken from the cooler to get into the truck, from the truck to the refrigerated section in the store, the walk around the store in your cart, and the drive home). Bacteria growing can produce toxins which aren't destroyed by heat, so even subsequently cooking the food won't necessarily make it safe to eat.

The safest way to thaw things quickly is under running water, or by submerging in cool water and changing the water every so often.