Knowing how to quickly defrost a chicken, you can even prepare a tasty and mouth-watering meat dish even with an unexpected arrival of guests. The main thing is to know how to do it right. Too quick defrosting of chicken reduces the nutritional value of the product, since during this process a lot of juice rich in vitamins and proteins flows from it.
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How to quickly defrost a chicken in the microwave
A microwave is a convenient kitchen appliance that helps to heat food in a matter of seconds. Frozen meat is no exception. It is simply transferred to a suitable container, set the mode "Defrost" and wait 5-30 minutes. depending on weight. During this time, the meat becomes quite soft and suitable for any processing, but its taste is deteriorating from this, the juiciness is lost. Chicken is often thawed unevenly, and some parts remain solid.
To make the carcass completely soft, it is turned over every couple of minutes to avoid overheating. This method requires constant monitoring, because otherwise the meat will be baked from above, and inside it will be icy.
This method is recommended to be used only in the most extreme cases, if you need to urgently cook food. If you have at least 1-2 hours in stock, you can try other options.
It is best to hold the frozen piece of meat in the microwave for only a couple of minutes, and then lower it into water at room temperature. So the process of natural defrosting will go faster.
Technology in a water bath
Many are interested in how to quickly defrost a chicken without a microwave.In such cases, a water bath is often used. The product is laid out in a container of a suitable size. A heat-resistant bowl with chicken is placed in a large pot filled with hot water, put the whole structure on the stove and includes a small fire. The meat is thawing quite quickly.
Defrost in a warm place
It is easiest to defrost meat in warm water. To do this, take a large container where the chicken is placed completely, and fill it with warm water. It is better to defrost the bird right in the bag to minimize the loss of meat juice. As soon as the water becomes cold, it is poured and replaced with warm.
The use of hot water is not recommended, it greatly affects the quality of the product, since a large amount of nutrients is washed out of it. A piece of carcass thawed in hot water will only resemble meat in appearance, and all its nutritional value will be lost.
Also, meat can be quickly thawed by putting it in a warm place for 1.5-2 hours, for example, on the surface of the stove when something is cooking in the oven.
Quick defrost with running water
A bag of frozen carcass is sometimes simply laid out under running tap water. The jet should not be strong, the main thing is that the water constantly and evenly flows down the meat. The warmer the water, the faster the defrosting process will go, but it is not recommended to use hot liquid. This method is not suitable for everyone, since few people are willing to spend a large amount of water to defrost chicken.
Defrosting minced chicken
Defrosting minced chicken is much easier than a whole carcass. It is best to remove the stuffing from the freezer in a timely manner and leave it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. This is convenient to do at night: in the morning the stuffing will be soft.
If it is urgently necessary to make cutlets, meatballs or meatballs from minced meat, it is thawed in the microwave or in a water bath. It is not recommended to place chopped meat in water, as it will turn into an incomprehensible mess.
In a slow cooker or in the oven
A slow cooker and an oven are also good helpers in emergency defrosting of products. The frozen carcass is placed in the oven, setting the temperature at about 30 ° C. No need to rush and set the heat: this will only ruin the product.
Thawing meat in a multicooker is most convenient when using the "Steaming" mode. Parts of the carcass are laid out on a plastic grill and exposed to steam for a couple of minutes. Then the meat is turned on the other side and steamed for another 3-4 minutes.
Can I cook or bake frozen chicken
Heat is not recommended for frozen meat, as this negatively affects the taste. For example, a broth made from frozen chicken will be cloudy, and meat will be tough. Sometimes, in the absence of time, they even do this. But you always need to be prepared for the fact that the meat inside can remain damp. Therefore, the question of whether it is possible to cook frozen chicken disappears on its own.
At the same time, thawing meat can be combined with pickling to save time. This not only does not worsen the taste, but also improves it.
Useful Tips
You can take such useful tips for a note:
- It is best to defrost meat in the refrigerator. So the chicken, as far as possible, will retain its taste and the maximum amount of meat juices, however it takes a lot of time - from 12 to 30 hours, depending on the weight of the bird. A standard carcass weighing 1800 g on the lower shelf of the refrigerator is thawed for a day.
- To speed up the process, the frozen carcass can be left on the kitchen table for 2 hours, and then transferred to the lower shelf of the refrigerator. It is impossible to keep meat in the room for longer than 2 hours, as it can deteriorate due to the activity of harmful microorganisms.
- Before the initial freezing, it is better to divide the bird into parts and pack it in separate bags so that it then defrosts more quickly.
- Naturally thawed meat can be stored for a maximum of 3-4 days, minced meat - 48 hours. When using other accelerated methods of defrosting, meat must be cooked immediately.
It is not recommended to re-freeze the bird. So the product loses most of the useful substances, it becomes tasteless and useless. Each protein molecule is surrounded by water, which easily damages them when frozen. Therefore, with a single freeze, the product loses half the protein mass, and with a double freeze, almost everything else.
Thawing a chicken properly is a snap. The main thing is to know all the subtleties of this process.
