Nowadays, housewives often have a habit of storing various types of meat in the refrigerator for later use. Freezing meat helps preserve it for a longer time and is convenient to use. However, the thawing process can be quite time-consuming. If you thaw naturally (meaning transfer from the freezer to the refrigerator), it will take you the whole day to soften the meat. If you use a microwave or soak in water, the meat often loses its taste. Sometimes, when you’re in a hurry and need to cook immediately, the meat taken out from the refrigerator is still as hard as a rock and cannot be processed.
To thaw meat faster, you can use the following method. With just 2 available ingredients in the kitchen, you can speed up the thawing process.
First, to speed up the thawing process, you need to divide the meat into pieces that you can use once when you buy it. Absolutely do not freeze the whole large piece of meat. Doing so will require a lot of effort to cut a piece of meat suitable for a meal. If you thaw the entire large piece just to take a portion, the remaining part can easily be contaminated, lose nutrients, and lose flavor.
Prepare a small bowl of water. Add white vinegar and a little salt to the bowl and stir well. Then, put the frozen meat into the bowl of water.
White vinegar contains a lot of acid. Acetic acid can lower the freezing point of water and help speed up the thawing process. With a piece of meat weighing about 300-400 grams, it takes about 8 minutes to soften the meat using this method.
Meanwhile, salt has the ability to kill bacteria and also acts as a catalyst to help the meat thaw faster.
In addition, you can refer to some other ways to thaw meat below.
Thaw meat with just salt
Prepare some warm water around 40 degrees and add 2 spoons of salt to stir well. Then, put the meat into the saltwater. Thawing this way not only makes the meat tender quickly but also prevents the development of bacteria.
Note that the water should not be too hot (above 50 degrees Celsius) because it will make the meat overcooked on the outside. The temperature of the water should not be lower than 30 degrees Celsius, as this can easily promote bacterial growth.
Thaw with cool water
Keep the meat in its original packaging and put it into a pot. Pour cool water into the pot (8-10 degrees Celsius). Soak the meat in it for about 30 minutes. The meat will thaw faster and still maintain its freshness and flavor.
Thaw meat with 2 pots
Prepare 2 stainless steel pots (bowls or containers can also be used). First, place one pot upside down on the table and place the piece of meat on the bottom of the pot. Then, pour water into the second pot and place this pot on top of the meat. Wait for 5-10 minutes and the meat will become tender (the thawing time depends on the size of the meat).
According to scientific explanation, a flat and heavy metal plate is a very good heat conductor. When placing the piece of meat on the metal pot, the pot will transfer the temperature from the meat to the outside environment and thaw the ice faster.
Source: Xe và thể thao