Defrosting meat sous vide?

[Hassouni]

Can frozen raw meat be defrosted more quickly in a water bath? Is it safe to do that? What time and temperature are recommended? Thanks!

 

(I did a search and couldn't quickly find anything on this subject, but if there is, feel free to point me towards it)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Can frozen raw meat be defrosted more quickly in a water bath? Is it safe to do that? What time and temperature are recommended? Thanks!

 

(I did a search and couldn't quickly find anything on this subject, but if there is, feel free to point me towards it)

 

http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html

 

Table 2.3.

[Shalmanese]

Are you defrosting to cook later using conventional means or sous vide? If sous vide, set the bath to the final temperature and put the frozen product in. This will bring the core up to temp the fastest, minimizing food safety issues.

If cooking conventionally, set the circulator to 100F and circulate for no more than 1 hour or set to 40F and circulate until the bath temperature exceeds 40F (up to several hours potentially for something like a whole pork shoulder).

Edited February 20, 2015 by Shalmanese (log)

[scubadoo97]

Can frozen raw meat be defrosted more quickly in a water bath? Is it safe to do that? What time and temperature are recommended? Thanks!

(I did a search and couldn't quickly find anything on this subject, but if there is, feel free to point me towards it)

I use my Anova to defrost frozen meats.

As Shalmanese mentioned you can cook directly from frozen or set the temp to the lowest setting an use it to just circulate the water which does defrost a bit faster than in a static bath

With the new Anova I have even just clipped it on the divider of my double sink using the small side to defrost meats without having to pull out my Cambros and still have use of the sink

[Anna N]

I use my Anova to defrost frozen meats.

As Shalmanese mentioned you can cook directly from frozen or set the temp to the lowest setting an use it to just circulate the water which does defrost a bit faster than in a static bath

With the new Anova I have even just clipped it on the divider of my double sink using the small side to defrost meats without having to pull out my Cambros and still have use of the sink

I use mine as much for defrosting as for cooking. Like scubadoo I set the temperature as low as it will go and it rarely takes more than an hour for most things to defrost. Whole ducks or chickens naturally take longer and depending on size could take up to four hours. I believe you could increase the water temperature and accomplish the task much faster. I think Harold McGee wrote about rapid, safe defrosting without a sous vide device. You might want to Google that.

[scubadoo97]

Anna I have done faster defrosting setting the temp to 70F. Not uncommon for our cold water to come out of the tap at near 70+ in the summer. I would try to keep it at the coldest setting if it was going to take a long time to thaw but for an hour not much risk

[nickrey]

I have many sous vide machines but unless I'm cooking the protein sous vide I use the sink with water at around 55C (I say around as I dunk my hand in it to check the temperature). I don't know why you'd go lower in temperature as this is around what you'd cook it at sous vide anyway. Takes a lot less than an hour and it doesn't affect the texture for cooking. The meat is not in the danger zone for significant periods of time. 

[Anna N]

I have many sous vide machines but unless I'm cooking the protein sous vide I use the sink with water at around 55C (I say around as I dunk my hand in it to check the temperature). I don't know why you'd go lower in temperature as this is around what you'd cook it at sous vide anyway. Takes a lot less than an hour and it doesn't affect the texture for cooking. The meat is not in the danger zone for significant periods of time.

If I intend to cook it Sous Vide then I don't bother to thaw it. I just give it extra time. I have never attempted a roast or a whole chicken so I know I'm within the safety zones. If I plan on cooking it conventionally then I rarely find the need to thaw it any faster than an hour or so and being somewhat easily distracted I feel more comfortable at the lower temperatures in case it takes me a while to get to it.

[btbyrd]

I cook SV from frozen all the time but I don't thaw in the circulator; a container of water in the sink works well enough for my purposes. It takes less water and I don't have to wait for a water bath to come up to temperature.

 

I think there will affect the quality of the meat

 

Rapid thawing of meat in warm water does not compromise texture or appearance and actually reduces drip loss, resulting in meat that may be perceived as juicier. Chicken breasts lose slightly more juice when rapidly thawed, but the texture doesn't suffer and tasters could not tell the difference between rapid/slow thawed chicken after it was cooked.

Edited February 23, 2015 by btbyrd (log)

[Shalmanese]

I cook SV from frozen all the time but I don't thaw in the circulator; a container of water in the sink works well enough for my purposes. It takes less water and I don't have to wait for a water bath to come up to temperature.

I don't understand, you're using the same water to thaw and circulate so there's no extra water. Also, you don't have to wait for it to come up to temp before starting to thaw, just drop the frozen meat in room temp water and let it come up to temp along with the bath.

[btbyrd]

I meant I don't "just" thaw with the circulator. If I'm going to cook frozen food sous vide, I drop it directly in the bath from frozen. But if I just need to thaw something, I use a smaller amount of water in the sink.

Edited June 11, 2020 by btbyrd (log)