You Would possibly Not Be Defrosting Your Meals Safely

More often than not, shortcuts might be nice. No time to slice, cube, or grate veggies for a recipe? You possibly can throw them in a meals processor. Don’t really feel like proofing a pizza dough for a number of days? You will discover a recipe utilizing store-bought yeast with a strong pizza prepared inside a few hours. However typically, once we don’t absolutely perceive the shortcuts we’re taking within the kitchen, we are able to inadvertently put ourselves and our company at risk — which is why whenever you come throughout a too-good-to-be-true gadget, it will probably repay to study as a lot as you possibly can about it earlier than diving in.

Certainly one of Amazon’s prime sellers is the latest hyper-popular kitchen instrument, the Cuisinart defrosting tray. It purportedly makes use of food-safe aluminum to carry meals to room temperature rapidly. 

Cuisinart Defrosting Tray

One buyer referred to as the tray “a tremendous product” that they need was extra broadly used; one other stated it’s “positively vital in any kitchen” and that it places an finish to utilizing one’s sink or microwave to defrost meals. A third reviewer claimed the tray “does reduce the defrosting time by 30% to 40%.” Inquisitive about whether or not this tray was value choosing up or whether or not I ought to hold doing issues the old school approach, I contacted Richard LaMarita, a chef and teacher on the Institute of Culinary Schooling’s New York Metropolis campus.

“I do see potential hazards with having proteins come to room temperature on this approach,” LaMarita stated, stating that trays like this should not utilized in skilled or industrial kitchens. In his view, there are solely three acceptable methods to defrost meals: “Underneath refrigeration, underneath chilly operating water, or as a part of the cooking course of.” He added that the microwave might be used so long as the meals is totally cooked instantly after.

LaMarita stated that one of the simplest ways to defrost meals is in a fridge in a single day, particularly whenever you’ve acquired a bigger protein like a complete hen or a turkey, which might take a full day or longer to defrost. Doing this can hold it out of what he calls the temperature hazard zone. “The temperature hazard zone is between 40 and 135℉, and also you wish to keep away from being in that vary for an extended time period.” [Editor’s note: The CDC similarly cites the “danger zone” when thawing food being 40 to 140℉.] Cooks usually danger leaving meals on this temperature vary too lengthy when  sitting out, as a result of bigger cuts of meat don’t defrost evenly. “The skin of the protein could have defrosted, however the inside can be frozen, and this may create an surroundings for bacterial development,” he stated.

In the long run, LaMarita isn’t completely in opposition to this tray, speculating that some meals might be secure if it’s defrosted inside about 4 hours, however careworn that cooks ought to monitor the meals’s temperature with a thermometer. (The Kizen digital thermometer, a Meals & Wine favourite thermometer, is at present on sale for $14.)

If you wish to take a look at out the Cuisinart defrosting tray for your self and see what the hype is about, choose one up because it’s solely $22 proper now. Simply be sure to learn the instructions and use it safely by keeping track of your meals’s temperature all through the method.

On the time of publication, the tray was $22.

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