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The "danger zone" for bacterial growth in food is between40°F and140°F (5°C and60°C), and sitting right in the middle of that is "room temperature," around68°-70°F (20°-22°C). A couple of hours at room temperature will certainly make sure that the meat is thawed, but it's a field day for bacterial growth as well, especially as the deeper parts of your cut begin to come up to temp while the outsides have been room temperature for hours.
The most common thawing technique, and one of the safest, is to take your frozen food out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator. This takes longer than any other process, but you are assured that since it is confined to the cold environment of your fridge, it won't develop bacteria.
The other benefit is that a fridge's temperature is controlled, so your thawing process is more even. You do need to make sure that the temperature is40°F or below. Of course, the closer you are to40 Fahrenheit, the faster the meat will thaw, but35-40 is the best zone. Additionally, there isn't a rapid cool-down from the freezing temperature so again, you get some uniformity.
After thawing in the refrigerator, items such as ground meat, stew meat, poultry, seafood, should remain safe and good quality for an additional day or two before cooking; red meat cuts (such as beef, pork or lamb roasts, chops and steaks)3 to5 days. Food thawed in the refrigerator can be refrozen without cooking, although there may be some loss of quality.
If you plan on cooking the food immediately and need to thaw it quickly, a cold water bath is a good option. It does take attention though, so it's not going to be as simple as "put it and forget it" that you get in the fridge.
You will need to wrap your food in a sealed plastic bag. Make sure there are no leaks. If your frozen food already came in a plastic bag, just for precaution, throw it into a Ziploc bag. Since we are going to submerge this in water, you're better to be safe than sorry.
Grab a bowl in which your frozen food can fit and fill it with cold tap water. Submerge your sealed food into this water. You will need to change the water whenever it comes to room temperature—on average, this is about30 minutes, but it could vary depending on your climate, so pay attention.
If that seems like too much trouble, The Kitchn says that you can also keep it running under a rapidly dripping faucet as long as the water is cool to the touch. But that'll use up a lot more water.
Depending on the size and nature of your food, it will defrost in an hour or lesser, but larger frozen foods (like a whole turkey) can take up to3 hours.
The hot water bath is meant for thin cuts only though, so your large roasts and whole turkeys are still left best in the fridge. But for a quick steak, it's a great last-minute solution.
In the tests, the beef thawed in11 minutes at102 degrees, while the chicken thawed in8.5 minutes at140 degrees.
The hot water bath is meant for thin cuts only though, so your large roasts and whole turkeys are still left best in the fridge. But for a quick steak, it's a great last-minute solution.
In the tests, the beef thawed in11 minutes at102 degrees, while the chicken thawed in8.5 minutes at140 degrees.
