"Ian Stirling" wrote in message
news:4173bd47$0$47999$ed2e19e4@ptn-nntp- For small

snip long winded stuff

This works very, very well for stuff like stews, you just keep it on
full power, stirring every minute to break up the frozen lumps.

Why b other, for stews? It will thaw in the stewpot.

For whole chickens, this of course doesn't work, I leave those in the
fridge for a couple of days to unfreeze.

Alternatively, a bit less aggressively, if your oven can do fan mode,
with just the fan blowing ambient air over them, that's good for
defrosting
small stuff.

Even less aggressively, leave the frozen whatever on a plate on the kitchen
counter. It will thaw. No energy cost.

Mary

Mary Fisher wrote:

Even less aggressively, leave the frozen whatever on a plate on the
kitchen counter. It will thaw. No energy cost.


*GASP!!!!!*

You can't say things like that! We're all dooooooooomed, I tell you.

Si

"Mungo "two sheds" Toadfoot" wrote in message
...
Mary Fisher wrote:

Even less aggressively, leave the frozen whatever on a plate on the
kitchen counter. It will thaw. No energy cost.


*GASP!!!!!*

You can't say things like that! We're all dooooooooomed, I tell you.

Si

Well, perhaps I'm immortal.

That'll teach you all :-)

Mary

On Mon, 18 Oct 2004 18:42:03 +0100, "Mary Fisher"
wrote:

Well, perhaps I'm immortal.

Oh-oh. I get anxious when I see someone owning up to being
IMMortal.....

You'll be telling us how to install a combi boiler with a
recirculating air vent next

Andrew

"Andrew McKay" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 18 Oct 2004 18:42:03 +0100, "Mary Fisher"
wrote:

Well, perhaps I'm immortal.

Oh-oh. I get anxious when I see someone owning up to being
IMMortal.....

You'll be telling us how to install a combi boiler with a
recirculating air vent next

I don't WANT a combi!

And I don't know how to install it either.

Doesn't it come with instructions? You could follow those.

:-)

Mary

Andrew

Mary Fisher wrote:

"Ian Stirling" wrote in message
news:4173bd47$0$47999$ed2e19e4@ptn-nntp- For small

snip long winded stuff

This works very, very well for stuff like stews, you just keep it on
full power, stirring every minute to break up the frozen lumps.

Why b other, for stews? It will thaw in the stewpot.

For whole chickens, this of course doesn't work, I leave those in the
fridge for a couple of days to unfreeze.

Alternatively, a bit less aggressively, if your oven can do fan mode,
with just the fan blowing ambient air over them, that's good for
defrosting
small stuff.

Even less aggressively, leave the frozen whatever on a plate on the kitchen
counter. It will thaw. No energy cost.

Heating is an energy cost.
Stick it in the fridge for a couple of days, and you actually recover
the heat used to freeze it.

"Ian Stirling" wrote in message
...



Even less aggressively, leave the frozen whatever on a plate on the
kitchen
counter. It will thaw. No energy cost.

Heating is an energy cost.

er - yes, that's why I said leave it on the counter instead of putting it in
the oven.

Stick it in the fridge for a couple of days, and you actually recover
the heat used to freeze it.

?

Mary Fisher wrote:

"Ian Stirling" wrote in message
...



Even less aggressively, leave the frozen whatever on a plate on the
kitchen
counter. It will thaw. No energy cost.

Heating is an energy cost.

er - yes, that's why I said leave it on the counter instead of putting it in
the oven.

House heating.

Stick it in the fridge for a couple of days, and you actually recover
the heat used to freeze it.

A kilo of water will absorb about a third or two thirds (I can't remember
which, one is boiling and one is freezing) of a KWh when melting.
Stick it in the fridge, and the fridge works a bit less hard for
a couple of days.
Stick it on the counter, (assuming you're heating this time of year)
and it'll cost you a substantial fraction of a pence to defrost it.

"Ian Stirling" wrote in message
...
Mary Fisher wrote:

"Ian Stirling" wrote in message
...



Even less aggressively, leave the frozen whatever on a plate on the
kitchen
counter. It will thaw. No energy cost.

Heating is an energy cost.

er - yes, that's why I said leave it on the counter instead of putting it
in
the oven.

House heating.

Oh.

puzzled

You don't need the house heating on to thaw frozen stuff. Ours hasn't come
on yet.

Stick it in the fridge for a couple of days, and you actually recover
the heat used to freeze it.

A kilo of water will absorb about a third or two thirds (I can't remember
which, one is boiling and one is freezing) of a KWh when melting.
Stick it in the fridge, and the fridge works a bit less hard for
a couple of days.

Hmm. A bit being?

Stick it on the counter, (assuming you're heating this time of year)

We're not.

and it'll cost you a substantial fraction of a pence to defrost it.

Well, if we were heating yes, it could cost, ooh, must be easily the best
part of something very small... on the other hand, the humanity hereabouts
gives out more than enough heat to thaw frozen stuff. And keep the
thermostat from coming into play :-)

Mary

Ian Stirling wrote in
:


Heating is an energy cost.
Stick it in the fridge for a couple of days, and you actually recover
the heat used to freeze it.

That's brilliant!

I only suggested defrosting in the fridge as a safe way to do it; the
thought that I can save a groat makes me skinflint tendency rejoice

mike

"Mary Fisher" wrote
| Even less aggressively, leave the frozen whatever on a plate
| on the kitchen counter. It will thaw. No energy cost.

Considerable energy cost in driving to the chinese takeaway on christmas day
because the cat got up at 4 am and helped itself to the turkey, as
neighbours once found out.

(You and I would probably have just hidden the gnawed bits with an extra
chipolata.)

Owain

On Mon, 18 Oct 2004 22:56:30 +0100, "Owain"
wrote:

Considerable energy cost in driving to the chinese takeaway on christmas day
because the cat got up at 4 am and helped itself to the turkey, as
neighbours once found out.

One year my parents decided to outwit the cat (always risky) and its
annual Tom-and-Jerry attempts to scoff the entire Christmas turkey.
They hung the cooked bird up on a string in the garage.

Later on (having noticed the missing cat) they went out to check the
turkey. To find the cat, inside a locked garage, spread eagled on the
side of the carcase several feet above the ground and hanging from its
paws with its head already a substantial way inside the bird.

"Owain" wrote in message
...
"Mary Fisher" wrote
| Even less aggressively, leave the frozen whatever on a plate
| on the kitchen counter. It will thaw. No energy cost.

Considerable energy cost in driving to the chinese takeaway on christmas
day
because the cat got up at 4 am and helped itself to the turkey, as
neighbours once found out.

(You and I would probably have just hidden the gnawed bits with an extra
chipolata.)

We ate the cat.

Mary

Owain

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
et...

"Owain" wrote in message
...
"Mary Fisher" wrote
| Even less aggressively, leave the frozen whatever on a plate
| on the kitchen counter. It will thaw. No energy cost.

Considerable energy cost in driving to the chinese takeaway on christmas
day
because the cat got up at 4 am and helped itself to the turkey, as
neighbours once found out.

(You and I would probably have just hidden the gnawed bits with an extra
chipolata.)

We ate the cat.


My packet of bacofoil doesn't quote cat ... !
D'ya give it 55 minutes/Kg @ 190 degC?

--

Brian

Brian Sharrock wrote:

My packet of bacofoil doesn't quote cat ... !
D'ya give it 55 minutes/Kg @ 190 degC?

*Suspicious look*

Him using kigglerams. We'm don' loike kigglerams 'ere! An' we'm only usin'
centigrades for *low* tempratchers.

Si

On Mon, 18 Oct 2004 17:02:39 +0100, Mary Fisher wrote:


"Ian Stirling" wrote in message
news:4173bd47$0$47999$ed2e19e4@ptn-nntp- For small

snip long winded stuff

This works very, very well for stuff like stews, you just keep it on
full power, stirring every minute to break up the frozen lumps.

Why b other, for stews? It will thaw in the stewpot.

For whole chickens, this of course doesn't work, I leave those in the
fridge for a couple of days to unfreeze.

Alternatively, a bit less aggressively, if your oven can do fan mode,
with just the fan blowing ambient air over them, that's good for
defrosting
small stuff.

Even less aggressively, leave the frozen whatever on a plate on the
kitchen counter. It will thaw. No energy cost.

Mary

I'm with Mary generally on this topic and related parts.

We, as a country, are becoming entirely too ghey these days...

We are supposed to bleach everything, disinfect floors every 5 minutes,
put bloo stuff in the bog and eat everything within 2 days of purchase...

Until we have no immune systems left...

It's a matter of being sensible.

I've just eaten a lump of emmental (sp?) cheese that went 2 days past it's
use-by date (gasp). FFS - cheese is a method of preservation anyway and
hard cheeses usually only get mouldy - that does no harm to most people.

I also remember having a rather nice whole salami a friend brought back
from Hungary, in a suitcase. Storage instructions: hang in ventilated
space out of direct sunlight. Kept for weeks (probably good for months,
but I ate it!)

If freezing fresh food, do it soon after buying (that's just better,
obviously). If freezing cooked food, make sure it's well cooked, then cool
and insert into freezer. If freezer has a "superfreeze" knob, use it.

I wouldn't, for example, put hot food into a freezer - it will heat up
everything else compromising your other goodies.

The one thing about freezing fresh food is ice crystal formation usually
bursts the cell walls of the foodstuff. This makes the food taint quicker
when thawed - so cook that thawed uncooked chicken promptly. If cooked,
you probably already knackered the cellular structure, so no difference,
except you've cooked it and killed the bugs.

I find no problem with using a slow cooker on frozen stuff. Two things
contribute to an upset stomach - bugs and the toxins they produce.

Assuming you slow cook (use the auto-high heat option if you have it) then
the bugs aren't going to have long to live before you kill them, leaving
some residual toxins. If that's acceptibly low, no probs. Just make sure
that the food is piping hot (right to the middle) before you eat it.

Mary's point about that not working for whole chickens is probably due to
the lack of convection of hot liquids inside the chicken. There's a high
thermal mass and a bulky insulated body so it won't heat in a sufficiently
short time. For chunks (esp. with no bones) or mince, I see no issues
there. My mother regularly slow-casseroled from frozen and she was
qualified in domestic science and ran a student hostel in London in her
younger days.

Also bear in mind that the body gets used to its local environment - I'm
usually averagely careful when cooking for my family - but extra careful
as a courtesy if cooking for visitors. No-one's died yet. Any my baby
daughter is probably busy eating random passing bugs off the carpet as we
speak... (she has a taste for ants, and nearly had an earwig the other
day, before mummy noticed).

Back onto the OP's precise point: I usually don't eat frozen cooked meats,
but since he raised it, I don't see any wrong with it if the meat was well
cooked beforehand and frozen promptly after cooling. After all, that
Cristmas turkey usually languishes in the fridge for 4-5 days before final
consumption.

Cheers

Timbo