Defrosting beef?

Getting there

I have some diced beef in the freezer. I'm really stuck today and cant get out and I was gonna do a nice warming beef casserole. But its frozen?

Can I just leave it out until I use it later and hope for the best? Or am I better off leaving it in the fridge until tomorrow?

Also any secret ingredients for a yummy stew? Im thinking I might add a bit of paprika to 'goulash' it up a bit.

harvester of sorrow

You could chance leaving it out untill later but i doubt it will be defrosted by the time you want to use it......as for the stew a bit of tomato puree and a dash of woschester sauce(i think the spelling is wrong!)adds a nice flavour.
Made a stew recently with a tiny bit of diced chilli.....gave it a nice kick...not to much tho.
Hope this helps...

Lornen

Usually takes atleast 12 hours of defrosting in a fridge for meat so I doubt you'll get the casserole done today.

A little glug of guiness/dark ale in a casserole is lovely as well as some chilli as was already mentioned. Make sure to leave out the seeds though!

olaola

I make sure it's water tight and then immerse it in cold water. Speeds it up a good bit.

Rockfish

Can you not just defrost in the microwave?

Lornen

I was always told to allow meat to defrost at a cold temp.. Something about heat promoting bad bacteria and that potenially hanging around even after it's cooked..

I don't know how true that is but hey, better safe than sorry!

olaola

With the microwave - depends, if it's mince, and you're going to cook it straight away, then yes. If it's cubed meat, something that you might have to slow cook, then no.

With the water - tap water is at about the same temperature as the fridge. You're getting a quicker result as the water is in contact with the meat and so the defrosting is faster.

unkel

olaola wrote: »

tap water is at about the same temperature as the fridge.

Tap water is a lot warmer! A fridge is typically between 0-6c (mines at 2c) and tap water is typically between 10-15c

And if you put it in a waterproof container and keep it under running tap water, it will defrost a lot quicker again compared to immersing it in still tap water

If I were keen like the OP, I'd go the running tap water route. Might take an hour or so to defrost if the total weight is not too much (and the beef is already cubed). Then cook it straight away. Not ideal but it should be fine healthwise and all that.

Minder

unkel wrote: »

Tap water is a lot warmer! A fridge is typically between 0-6c (mines at 2c) and tap water is typically between 10-15c.

Not that I didn't believe you, but I just ran a pint of water from the tap, allowing it to run for a minute. Then I stuck a digi thermometer in it. 10c.

It didn't feel like 10c last night when I was cleaning 2kg of mussels.

Getting there

I went down the submerging route and all was good and defrosted for 6. Thanks everyone!