Defrosting Mince: The Ultimate Guide to Safe Defrosting
April 10, 2017
by Trisha
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Why is it important to defrost properly?
Whether you’re defrosting mince or another cut of meat or even veggies, there is bacteria that could be harmful in food that’s not defrosted properly. In order to make sure your food is safe, you should always defrost properly. Food poisoning is awful and can be seriously dangerous.
Some people argue that the meat will defrost as you cook it, however, if only the outside is defrosted, the inside will take longer to cook. So the inside of your meat may not be cooked properly even if the outside is. The inside will then have harmful bacteria in it.
How do you defrost meat?
The long term plan: If you’re organised and you can remember to, take your meat out of the freezer the night before you’ll be cooking it and place it in the fridge ideally for 24 hours. It’ll have time to defrost nice and slowly and equally.
The short term plan: If you need to defrost quickly – that’s not really possible if you want to do it properly. But there is a way to reduce the defrosting time from 24 hours to around six hours. Here’s how: take a sealable sandwich bag, put your meat in it, then remove as much air as possible and then seal. Place it in a big bowl full of cold water in the sink, and then place a weight of somekind (maybe another bowl) on top of the meat to keep it underneath the water. Leave it for at least 6 hours and check that the meat is until it is completely thawed. Every meat is different, so they require different times to defrost, so just check the middle is not still frozen.
Our Favourite Mince Meat Recipes
Once you’re confident in defrosting mince meat, instead of the normal spaghetti bolognese or shepherd’s pie, give one of these recipes a try – they’re delicious, nutritious and they all take just 30 minutes to whip up. For everything you need to know about cooking mince meat so it’s full of flavour every time, check out how to cook minced beef and spice up your dinnertime!
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Love Shepherd’s Pie?
Why not spice things up by trying a different kind of mash on your shepherd’s pie? We’ve got celeriac mash and a bunch of other lower calories, absolutely delicious vegetable mashes.
