Quick and safe ways to defrost frozen food.

Most of the time, you’ll put your frozen food in the fridge overnight or all day, and let it defrost that way. But sometimes you don’t have that kind of time. (Like when I need to get at MagicKitchen.com’s Sirloin in Peppercorn Sauce and just can’t wait! Here are a few safe ways to defrost food a little faster.

1. Put the food into a ziplock bag with all the air pressed out, and put it into a bowl of cold water. You can use a clothespin to make sure that no water gets into the bag(Clip it to the edge of the bowl), and just change the water now and then (every 30 minutes) to make sure it stays cold. This works surprisingly quickly, a small portion could be done in an hour.

2. Microwave- difficult, because parts of the food may start to cook while others remain frozen. I like to give it a minute , then let it thaw normally, giving it another minute in a half hour or so. This speeds up the process without cooking the food. In this method, the food never defrosts in the microwave, it just gets a head start. But if you go for the full defrost, you have to cook and eat (or just eat if it’s cooked) the food immediately. Otherwise bacteria could grow. Bad stuff.

3.  Under running cool water- this method will work quite quickly (More quickly than the cool water in a bowl method). Set the food in the sink under a slow stream of cold water, again in a zip-lock bag with all the air pressed out.  Monitor the food to be sure  you put it in the fridge once it’s thawed.

In any method you use, food shouldn’t be left at room temperature for more than 2 hours, so keep a close eye on it!  Here’s a wonderful episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown explains all!