11 hours Ago By [email protected] (Nikki Munoz)
There's nothing worse than getting ready to cook dinner only to realize that you forgot to thaw the meat. Suddenly, your dinner of grilled skirt steak or the baked BBQ pork chops you had planned is ruined. Or is it? To find out the best ways to thaw steak and pork — including in those moments when you don't have much time — Daily Meal spoke with an expert: Ryan "Tuck" Tuchscherer, a fifth generation rancher and the owner of Rugby Scott .
Tuchscherer says, "My tried and true best way to thaw a frozen steak is to put it in the refrigerator for 24 hours and let it slowly thaw. Slow thawing helps maintain the steak's texture and quality. This ensures the most amount of fluid and moisture is retained for the cooking process.
" This method also works for pork, as well as most other meats. However, sometimes we forget to plan ahead and need to resort to other thawing methods. So, which ones are best? The answer is thawing the meat in cold water.
Thawing in cold water is the next best option If you forgot to thaw your steak or pork overnight, then it's time to submerge it in a container of cold water instead, which will thaw it in about 30 minutes to one hour, depending on how thick the cut of meat is. Whether or not the steak has a bone will also affect the timing, as the bone "acts like a barrier," Ryan Tuchscherer says, leading to a longer thawing time. Tuchscherer adds, "If you are in a major hurry, let the faucet continue to run into the container.
This will circulate the cold water faster, thus speeding up the thawing process." There are a couple common mistakes that you want to make sure to avoid with this method. Firstly, make sure to use cold water — not warm or hot.
That mistake may start the cooking process. Tuchscherer warns, "When you go to cook your steak, it will become dry and stringy because you actually double cooked it." Secondly, the meat needs to be in a vacuum-sealed bag (or air-tight plastic bag), so no water seeps through and into the meat.
Are there any differences to know about when thawing steak versus pork? Tuchscherer explains, "The only real difference will be making sure that the pork chop does not sit out on the counter at room temperature for more than two hours. You don't want to run [the] risk [of] bacteria multiplying and becoming sick." Are there any other good back-ups besides cold water? Since it's completely safe to thaw meat in the microwave, you may think that this is your best bet if you're in a rush.
However, Ryan Tuchscherer recommends against this: "[Microwaving] will dry out the steak, unevenly cook thinner areas and the outside of the steak, making for a tough and dry steak." With this in mind, it's probably best to skip the microwave altogether — even if it is much quicker than the water submerging method and, unlike the fridge method, requires no prep time. Instead, it turns out that the fastest way to thaw a steak is to not thaw it at all.
Tuchscherer explains that you should use the reverse sear method and start by "setting your oven to its lowest temperature and placing your steak on a rack on a baking sheet. Once your steak reaches 115 [degrees Fahrenheit], pull and place in a cast iron skillet to sear and form a crust for 60-90 seconds on each side." Overall, it's pretty similar to a typical reverse seared steak recipe, so once you know what to do, you can cook from a thawed steak anytime you need to.
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