Why slow thawing is the best way to defrost a chicken flavor wise?
From Julia Child's "The Joy of French Cooking":
The best method for defrosting frozen chicken, according to those in the business, is the slowest : leave it in its transparent wrapper and let it thaw in the refrigerator. It will lose much less of its juice and flavor
How can the thawing method affect juiciness and flavor?
Best Answer
I took a look at Belni, H. (2015) Consumer Attitudes Toward Storing and Thawing Chicken and Effects of the Common Thawing Practices on Some Quality Characteristics of Frozen Chicken in the Asian-Austrailasian Journal of Animal Sciences. In the literature review, the paper states that
...the effects of the freezing and thawing on the quality of the meats continue to be a significant problem due to the complex physical, chemical, and biochemical changes during the processes including melting of ice crystals, relaxation of lipids, and relaxation/ proteolysis of proteins.
The author points out that, since the water fraction of the meat is the main issue, freezing rate and the formation of small ice crystals is desirable. However, consumers have little opportunity to control this variable, as we are using chicken that has already been frozen, or a home freezer that really doesn't freeze all that quickly.
The author examined 5 thawing methods:
- in a refrigerator
- on counter at room temperature
- in warm water
- under tap water
- in a microwave
The objective of this study was to determine the effects of the most common thawing practices used by the consumers at home on some of the quality characteristics of chicken meat.
Quality was identified with regard to:
- color
- pH
- drip loss
- cooking loss (Cooking loss and drip loss are really about moisture loss * calculated by weight difference)
- texture
The author found
although there were significant differences among the thawing treatments for drip loss and cooking loss values, the experimental study revealed that defrosting frozen chicken meat using the most common home based thawing practices produced similar color and textural profile values among the cooked samples"
Significant differences:
- Microwave and thawing on counter produced this highest drip loss.
- Thawing in the refrigerator produced the lowest drip loss.
I would think this supports Julia's advice.
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What is the best method for defrosting chicken?
The USDA suggests you always thaw frozen chicken in the refrigerator, microwave, or a sealed bag submerged in cold water. Chicken should always be cooked immediately after thawing. Bacteria is more likely to grow on raw meat that's between 40\u02daF (4\u02daC) and 140\u02daF (60\u02da C).What is the safest method for thawing frozen poultry?
Thawing chicken in the fridge is the best and safest way to defrost it, but it requires about a day of planning ahead, so if you need a faster solution, skip ahead. The day before you plan to cook your chicken, transfer it from the freezer to the fridge to let it thaw slowly, for at least 24 hours.What is the slowest but safest way to thaw meat?
There are three safe methods to thaw frozen foods:Why is thawing slower than freezing?
Thawing generally occurs more slowly than freezing. Theoretically, thawing is the inverse process of freezing; they are different not only in phase change direction, cooling and heating process, but also in food freezing time and internal temperature variations (Min 2001).Big Mistakes Everyone Makes When Thawing Chicken
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