Defrosting mince in water

BhoscaCapall

One of the methods of defrosting mince I've read is to submerge the packet in cold water.

This puzzles me a bit. Cold water is colder than room temperature, so surely this takes even longer than just leaving the packet out, or even submerging it in hot water?

Faith

It's a health and safety thing. Meat should not be defrosted at temperatures any higher than a few of degrees above 0 because of bacterial growth from the heat. Hot water will both begin cooking the meat while encouraging bacterial growth; room temperature will really encourage bacterial growth. Cold water is warmer than the fridge, so will defrost an item quicker, but still cold enough to prevent significant bacterial growth.

the beer revolu

Water is a much better conductor of heat than air so cold water will defrost quicker (and safer) than room temp air afaik.

rubadub

Your cold water is typically 10C, even if your fridge/room was also 10C it would still defrost faster in the water. This is due to better heat transfer properties with the water vs air, the air is a good insulator and doesn't readily transfer heat.

If you stick cans of beer at 20C in a large cooler box full of icy water (about 0C), it will usually chill the cans faster to 5C than if you put them in a freezer at -18C. The surrounding air around the cans in the freezer does not readily take away the heat from the can, while the water does. If you stick a pack of cold peas on the cans in the freezer they cool quicker as it transfers the heat/cold to them better. In wine shops they have vats of salty liquid well below freezing which chills a bottle in no time.

Same idea with a deep fat fryer, food is surrounded with oil at 200C which readily transfers heat to it, while it takes usually longer to cook in an oven at 250C.

BhoscaCapall

Aha I had figured it was something sciency

In regards to the bacterial growth when defrosting in warm water - if I am going to be cooking it as soon as it's defrosted it should be ok should it not?

the beer revolu

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

Aha I had figured it was something sciency

In regards to the bacterial growth when defrosting in warm water - if I am going to be cooking it as soon as it's defrosted it should be ok should it not?

I would say yes but the food safety police will go mad!

Also, it doesn't have to be fully defrosted before cooking - just as long as it is cooked through fully.

rubadub

the beer revolu wrote: »

Also, it doesn't have to be fully defrosted before cooking - just as long as it is cooked through fully.

+1 and some supermarket packet mince comes minced very loosely. i.e. it is not squished together in a bag like a butcher usually does. So when it is semi defrosted it can be ruffled up and it breaks apart into tiny bits, they are defrosted & cooked pretty quickly in a pan. Sometimes I separate the mince up even more before freezing it, in the packets it is in straight lines and it sticks together where it is contacting

A big grapefruit size ball of mince could take ages to defrost.

Mellor

rubadub wrote: »

Your cold water is typically 10C, even if your fridge/room was also 10C it would still defrost faster in the water. This is due to better heat transfer properties with the water vs air, the air is a good insulator and doesn't readily transfer heat.

Pretty much this.
The reason being it the density of water. It holds more heat energy for a fixed volume of water compare to air, as there is physically more mass. So it passes more energy on to the mince, but it also keeps the defrosted mince at at an suitable temperature.

The Lovely Muffin

Sorry for hijacking your thread OP, but I just wanted to ask, is it safe to defrost pork chops (or any chops) in cold water?

I've defrosed chicken fillets, rashers, sausages, mince meat, steak etc, but any time I've asked about defrosting chops (especially pork) in cold water I'm told not to do it, it will cause food poisoning. Is that true, would it cause food poisoning?

Also, how safe or dangerous is it to defrost meat in sunlight?

My mother and granny regularly take meat out of the freezer and leave it to defrost in the kitchen (meat just sits on a place on the counter top or window, never in the fridge) and sometimes if it is sunny the sunlight is directly on the meat, would this be safe? I would have thought that it would cause/encourage bacterial growth and therefore wouldn't be safe.

Carawaystick

If you cook the meat well through, the bacteria will be killed.

Jezek

Cold water is generally the best way to defrost all kinds of meats e.g. chicken, pork chops, mince. A bit of Mammy's wisdom that I questioned at first but has been proven correct by science!

vibe666

i actually read a study a while ago that showed no appreciable difference in foods defrosted in warm water than in cold water due to the reduction in the amount of time it took to do the defrosting not giving the bacteria enough time to grow.

ever since i read that, i've been defrosting in hot water and haven't had any problems at all, but obviously that's my own decision and i'd encourage everyone to think for themselves and make up their own minds. (i.e. i'm not recommending it, just putting it out there for the info!).

here is an article about it, although it's not the same one that i read: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/dining/a-hot-water-bath-for-thawing-meats-the-curious-cook.html

also, as a scuba diver, you're taught that water conducts heat 4 times more efficiently than air, so you will get colder much faster in the water and i imagine it works just as well the other way too.

the beer revolu

vibe666 wrote: »

i actually read a study a while ago that showed no appreciable difference in foods defrosted in warm water than in cold water due to the reduction in the amount of time it took to do the defrosting not giving the bacteria enough time to grow.

ever since i read that, i've been defrosting in hot water and haven't had any problems at all, but obviously that's my own decision and i'd encourage everyone to think for themselves and make up their own minds. (i.e. i'm not recommending it, just putting it out there for the info!).

here is an article about it, although it's not the same one that i read: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/dining/a-hot-water-bath-for-thawing-meats-the-curious-cook.html

also, as a scuba diver, you're taught that water conducts heat 4 times more efficiently than air, so you will get colder much faster in the water and i imagine it works just as well the other way too.

I still think about the person on here who threw out a whole chicken because boardsies were freaking out that she tried to defrost it in warm water:eek::eek: