Defrosting any meat outside of the refrigerator.
Why does granite defrost meat.
We ll leave a frozen chicken breast out in a plastic bag for all of you ready to wave your disinfecting wipes in protest and it ll be soft and pliable in half the time it would take sitting in the sink or on another surface.
We know granite isn t everyone s cup of tea around here but it does have a remarkable ability to defrost things.
Thawing in cold water.
If you have a granite countertop you might already know that it stands up to a lot.
Be sure to thaw meat in a leak proof package or bag.
The bottom always thaws first so i have to flip over the food to get it to thaw evenly.
You should never leave meat on the counter to defrost.
Smaller cuts of meat poultry or seafood about a pound can thaw in an hour or less larger quantities 3 to 4 pounds may take 2 3 hours.
Meat defrosted in the refrigerator can be re frozen without cooking although some quality may be lost.
Working with raw meat on granite won t necessarily hurt the stone but it might hurt you if it ends up on another food item.
The rules are a bit different if you defrost the meat outside of the fridge or with cold water.
Is there a problem with defrosting meat on the counter.
So just do yourself a favor and stick to working with meat on a cutting board.
This applies to any cold items.
When i place a bag of lunch meat on the counter the bottom of it feels room temperature after just a minute or so of sitting there while the meat at the top of the bag remains chilled.
We recently upgraded our kitchen countertops from laminate to granite and i ve noticed that frozen foods defrost very fast on granite.
Thawing meat in cold water.
The issue with granite is that it s not great to use harsh chemicals to clean and this is what most people tend to do after using raw meat.
Meat can be safely thawed in cold not hot water.
When i place a bag of lunch meat on the counter the bottom of it feels room temperature after just a minute or so of sitting there while.
The bottom always thaws first so i have to flip over the food to get it to thaw evenly.
If you want to defrost frozen meat quickly you can do so by putting the meat in cold water which can remain running or which you change out every 30 minutes.
Estimate about 30 minutes per pound for whole frozen.
When the temperature of the meat rises to room temperature bacteria start to grow mainly due to the presence of the natural juices.
Granite can tolerate being in contact with a dish hot out of the oven and it s also known to help foods thaw faster it takes a lot of energy either heat or chill to change the core temperature of the stone so when you place something frozen on a granite countertop the heat of the countertop will transfer.
The usda recommends that meat defrosted by other methods be cooked before refreezing.