Beef Rapid Defrost Best Practices?

[Pacman]

So I'm receiving another brisket today that will presumably show up as a meat rock. I am planning to cook it overnight Saturday night. Since I won't have the time to just let it defrost slowly in my garage fridge, I am thinking about trying to expedite the defrost by double sealing (as I've had cryovac bags leak in the past) and submerging in cold water. Once thawed, it'll go in the fridge until Saturday.

So does anyone see any issues with this or have better ideas? TIA

 

[ericsl2363]

Thats what i do and it works fine. I use room temp tap water and let it sit. Just don’t use scalding hot water.

 

[Greg Jones]

Thawing a brisket, or a turkey, other than letting it chill in the refrigerator is tough. Same for a pork butt-I bought a fresh PB today because I need one for Saturday even though I have one in the freezer now.

Sorry for taking this slightly off topic, but I have found that for smaller cuts the copper range diffusers as well as the GrilGrates aluminum griddle panels are excellent. I have two chicken thighs sandwiched between two copper plates right now.

 

[Jim6820]

I frequently use the cold-water thaw method, but understand that it will still take quite a while to thaw a large, thick cut of meat. I don’t recommend trying to speed things up by using even warm water. You don’t want to encourage the growth of bacteria.

My tap water runs about 55-57 degrees, according to my ThermoPen One. We’re on a well and the pressure tank is in the garage, so the cold temp varies a bit, but not much.

I use water straight from the cold tap for defrosting. It is important to submerge the meat as much as possible to get maximum heat transfer. And, every few hours, I change the water out, refilling with cold tap water.

Using that method, I think it will take at least 24 hours to defrost your brisket; maybe more. I’d start as soon as you can; you can always hold the meat in the refrigerator if it is defrosted early. Good luck.

 

[Gonefishin]

Same as Jim, cold water soak. Supposed to use no more then 40 degree water, changing as needed.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

Use your themometers and keep the water pretty cold on average. Initially the water will chill down quickly with all the frozen surface. Later it might take adding some ice, if you're using an ice chest to do this. I think the thinnest part of the flat will thaw very quickly, maybe a few hours. But that thick point will take quite a while. The more water you use, the less often you have to change it out. But if you use too much, the tap water will never get down below the safe limit.

I haven't defrosted a whole brisket this way, but I have done some tri-tips this way.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

I was curious. So I looked for cooking frozen brisket....

 

[Pacman]

Let the games begin! Never thought I'd use my Thermoworks Signals for this, but it's doing the job!

Thanks for all of the suggestions. They pretty much confirmed what I had in mind. I submerged in an ice water bath and the tap water is cooling down nicely. I've got alarms set to watch once I get the tap water cooled down to where it needs to be.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

Just keep in mind that it needs to be closer to 40 than 32 to defrost. If you keep it packed in 32.5F water, we could be waiting til spring for this thread to end.

 

[Greg Jones]

Just keep in mind that it needs to be closer to 40 than 32 to defrost. If you keep it packed in 32.5F water, we could be waiting til spring for this thread to end.

What needs to be avoided is the 40°-140° zone.

 

[Dwight Smokem]

I would take the fitted sheet off your bed, put the brisket under it, replace fitted sheet and sleep as normal but on top of brisket. Idea derived as reverse version of how cowboys in Westerns would bury hot rocks from the fire in dirt to make a bed. Problem...solved.

 

[Pacman]

So far hovering around 40. Discovered something new...and obvious. Opening a smoker to peek drops the pit temperature. Apparently if you open an ice chest to check to see if all of the ice had melted, the temperature climbs.

If you're looking, you're not defrosting!

 

[Jim6820]

Same as Jim, cold water soak. Supposed to use no more then 40 degree water, changing as needed.

Yes, I should have mentioned in my post that as the meat warms, it will require the addition of ice to the water to keep meat temperature below 40F.

 

[Pacman]

Haha! Just threw another bag of ice in after decanting some of the water. Temp is still dropping a bit. I may have to relocate to the fridge before calling it a night. It's going faster than I expected, but my original tap water started off at a steamy 67 degrees before adding ice.

 

[SmokeZilla]

All good suggestions. I would use ice lightly on the bottom surface of the cooler and let it come up to ~42 consistently. If properly vacuum sealed, bacterial growth will be minimal. Just remember to rotate the protein periodically so no external surface gets overly or unevenly warm versus the rest of the packer. You can supplement the ice with water but I wouldn’t let it go more that half way above the diameter of the thickest part. You will save on ice and thaw it quicker. Just my thoughts.

 

[Pacman]

Ok, full disclosure, I just chickened out. Things are defrosting nicely and my water temp remained right below 40 degrees. Then the "second opinion" entered the picture. She poked at the meat, saw that it was getting thawed, and the ice bath temp was at 40 degrees and proclaimed in her unofficial food scientist words, "If you let it go over 41 degrees, I'm not eating it."

I have 36 hours before I have to think about cooking. It is now in the garage fridge until game day.

"Yes dear!"

Oh, ran into the new neighbor next door taking out the trash. "Do you BBQ? I thought I smelled smoke the other day. Mind if you show me what you're doing?" I guess we will have a few extra guests this weekend.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

Haha! Just threw another bag of ice in after decanting some of the water. Temp is still dropping a bit. I may have to relocate to the fridge before calling it a night. It's going faster than I expected, but my original tap water started off at a steamy 67 degrees before adding ice.

Reminds me, I should decant a bottle.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

Ok, full disclosure, I just chickened out. Things are defrosting nicely and my water temp remained right below 40 degrees. Then the "second opinion" entered the picture. She poked at the meat, saw that it was getting thawed, and the ice bath temp was at 40 degrees and proclaimed in her unofficial food scientist words, "If you let it go over 41 degrees, I'm not eating it."

I have 36 hours before I have to think about cooking. It is now in the garage fridge until game day.

"Yes dear!"

Oh, ran into the new neighbor next door taking out the trash. "Do you BBQ? I thought I smelled smoke the other day. Mind if you show me what you're doing?" I guess we will have a few extra guests this weekend.

So....you gonna pull an all nighter watching the temp and adding ice? Kinda like a reverse bbq.

 

[SmokeZilla]

Roanie,

That’s funny. Maybe it will be called a cold-B-Q. If he keeps it in the cooler, it probably won’t need tending (unless he’s in Yuma in the daytime. Amongst the many things I have been in my life, one was a fish monger during college. I never thought I’d say that out loud. You’d be surprised how often you would see the term “ocean fresh” on seafood packages and behind the curtain, we would receive 50lb boxes of freshly-frozen, packaged product. You could get 50lbs of shark steaks thawed in 5 hours if you did it properly. Not saying anyone should rush the process but if you (or your customer) are hungry, fresh seafood can be a vague and ambiguous term. hehe.

Just my thawed out thoughts.

 

[NBK]

Wow - you guys are getting way to Alton Brown on this.

And before I get myself in trouble, I will leave it at that. Unless I am coaxed into a healthy debate.