How to defrost fish in the microwave. How to properly defrost fish at home. Correct ways to defrost food

Freezing fish allows you to increase its shelf life, while maintaining its taste and beneficial properties. It is important to defrost the product correctly, otherwise the dish prepared from it may turn out tasteless.

The defrosting process requires quite a lot of time. A number of tricks will help you quickly defrost fish.

If there is little time left to prepare the dish, and the fish has not been thawed, you can fix this with improvised means.

Any methods of quick defrosting can lead to a partial loss of taste, so you should not use them for expensive varieties:

1. Temperature change. This method is not the fastest, but it allows you to preserve the taste and beneficial properties as much as possible. The whole fish pieces or carcass are placed from the freezer into a cup and placed on the lower level of the refrigerator. The process of gradual thawing will preserve its structure, but can last up to 6 hours.
2. Salt. This method is only suitable for sea fish. The frozen carcass should be generously sprinkled with fine salt. After thawing, wash off excess salt. The peculiarity of this method is that only the surface is defrosted, while the main layer remains frozen.
3. Hairdryer The original method allows you to quickly defrost small fish, but it is important that the hairdryer has a cold blow function. The carcass is placed in a plastic bag, and a hole is made on the other side for a hair dryer. Thanks to the pressure of cold air, the thawing process begins, which lasts up to forty minutes. From time to time you need to turn off the hair dryer to avoid overheating.
4. Saline solution. Prepare the liquid: take 1 tablespoon of salt for one liter of water. Place the fish in a bowl and completely fill it with saline solution. Leave the lid slightly open to allow air to enter. Suitable for marine species. Salt will draw out liquid from river species.
5. Steamer or multicooker. The method is similar to a steam bath; the fish is placed on the upper level of the steamer and the lowest setting is turned on. This method is considered the most gentle, since the pulp does not come into contact with hot water, which means it retains its beneficial properties.

Defrosting in water is considered one of the most popular methods, but despite its simplicity, you need to follow several rules to avoid loss of taste:

1. Fillets or portioned pieces should be placed in a bag and then immersed in water.
2. The water should be cold: if you put the fish in warm or hot water, the structure of the carcass will collapse and the taste will be lost.
3. Whole and unpeeled carcasses can be thawed without plastic bags.
4. The water needs to be changed every 15 minutes.

How to quickly defrost fish under running water

To quickly defrost, you need to put the fish in a sealed bag, and then under the pressure of running water for an hour or an hour and a half (depending on the size of the carcass). This method is considered costly as it requires a large amount of water.

To save money, you can put the fish in a cup with cold water and refill the carcass every 10-15 minutes. It is necessary to prevent liquid from getting on the meat so as not to spoil it.

A water bath is suitable for defrosting steaks and small fillets.

How to defrost:

1. Pour water into the pan, place the bowl with the fish on top, so that the water does not touch the bowl.
2. Heat the pan over low heat.

This method requires constant attention , since the fish must be turned over periodically to ensure even thawing. You should avoid placing the carcass in one position for a long time, otherwise the process of baking the thawed parts will begin.

How to quickly defrost fish in the microwave

This type of defrosting is convenient because many microwave ovens have a special “Fish Defrosting” mode. If it is not there, then you can set the minimum power and time to 5-7 minutes.

Step-by-step instruction:

1. Place the fish in the microwave and set the desired mode.
2. Cover with a plastic lid or plastic bag to avoid unnecessary baking.
3. After half the time, the fish must be turned over.

It is considered the fastest, but the product may acquire a characteristic taste.

How and what fish should not be defrosted

If fish is defrosted incorrectly, not only are the taste and nutrients lost, but the risk of food poisoning also increases, so you should not defrost it in the following ways:

• place the carcass in warm or hot water;
• leave the meat in the air without a lid for a long time;
• river species should not be placed in saline solutions or sprinkled with salt.

If after thawing the fish releases a lot of liquid, it means that the wrong defrosting method was chosen.

Certain fish products do not require complete defrosting. Any fillets are much easier to cut if they are slightly frozen. It is also not necessary to completely thaw the fish before cooking; you can simply increase the cooking time a little.

Semi-finished fish products or minced meat cannot be defrosted in a water bath or in water. The best way is to defrost on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. When quickly defrosted, minced meat or fillet loses its properties and appearance, since the remaining liquid does not allow proper shaping.

The best way to defrost any type of fish or fish product – defrosting in the refrigerator. It may take different times depending on the size and type of product. But thawed fish should not be re-frozen, since not only the beneficial properties and taste are lost, but also the likelihood of the development of pathogenic microorganisms increases.

Conclusion

Defrosting fish always takes a lot of time, so you should take care of this in advance. In exceptional cases, it is worth using water, salt or a steam bath to speed up the process.

When using quick defrosting methods, the product often loses some of its taste and appearance. To avoid this, you need to take into account the type of fish, size and further method of preparing it.

Cooks know several options for how to quickly defrost fish, but they use these approaches only in the most extreme cases. It is best to simply leave the workpiece in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours and wait until it thaws completely. Any attempts to speed up the process, even if done correctly, will lead to a change in the texture of the product fibers. This will not only worsen the taste of the finished dish, but will also practically deprive it of useful components.

You should not resort to using the microwave too often in this matter. It will take no more than half an hour to bring the ingredient to the desired state, but even in this case it will not at all resemble its fresh counterpart. Particular attention should be paid to fish fillets, which, ideally, should not be frozen at all.

In order for defrosted fish to meet all expectations and, after heat treatment, to turn into a nutritious and healthy dish, you need to learn how to choose the right food product. In general, it is better to initially buy fresh or chilled ingredients that can be refrigerated for no more than 8-10 hours. If this is not possible, pay attention to the following points:

1. There shouldn't be any ice at all. Only a slight dry crust is allowed. If the item is literally placed in a clear ice capsule, this indicates that it has most likely been defrosted once before being frozen again.
2. Fish fillets cannot be frozen (including dry and quick freezing). Such a product can subsequently only be used for preparing minced meat.
3. You should not buy frozen fish, cut into pieces (of course, if it is not huge salmon or salmon). But no one forbids freezing a product in this way at home, but everything should be done correctly.
4. By the way, small-sized fish, including those that have already been cut into pieces, defrost faster. But you should not try to cut the frozen product to speed up the ice melting process. You should keep it in the refrigerator for at least a little before this, otherwise the fibers will become deformed and the dish will not look appetizing.
5. There should be no streaks on the surface of the ice, and several pieces should not stick together. These are all signs of a component freezing failure.

Before defrosting the fish, it is worth inspecting it for dents on the surface of the skin and assessing its smell. A quality product will have red gills and a perfectly smooth surface. There should be no smell; even the presence of a fresh fishy aroma may be a sign that the product has been stored in the refrigerator for too long or not quite correctly.

Features of frozen fish that need to be taken into account

Before purchasing frozen fillets or fish products in any form, you should familiarize yourself with a number of points characteristic of working with such products:

• You need to understand that the structure of the meat will change, no matter how much time it spends in the freezer or special refrigerator. Therefore, you should not buy too expensive frozen fish and you should not freeze it yourself.

Tip: If the fish is one of those rare breeds that do not require removal of bones after heat treatment, it can be slightly bent in different directions during the defrosting process. This will speed up the freezing process of the fibers. It is better not to do this with other types of product, as this can break the bones, parts of which will later end up in the finished dish.

• If after defrosting the fish turns into an unappetizing mess, you don’t have to throw it away. You need to carefully sort through the mass and add it to the minced meat.
• It is strictly forbidden to keep the product in hot or even warm water to speed up its thawing. Although such techniques will help, they will completely change the texture of the meat and practically deprive it of useful components.
• Some housewives believe that fillets and small fish carcasses can be defrosted naturally at room temperature. Some even place a bowl of food near the stove or radiator. In fact, the fish forms a cloud of cold air around itself, so the heat does not affect it and it will not be possible to achieve the desired result faster.
• You should not defrost the fish until it is soft; it must remain firm and elastic, otherwise the meat will disintegrate into fibers during cooking.

After you have managed to defrost the fish, you need to evaluate its quality. If, after removing the ice, an unpleasant odor begins to emanate from the fish or the color of the meat has changed, it is better to throw away the product, as it can cause poisoning. But if the product falls apart into separate pieces or looks like a heterogeneous mass, the recipe will have to be changed by preparing minced meat from this composition.

Correct ways to defrost food

If time is running out, you can try to defrost the fish in one of the following ways:

• Use of salt. It’s not for nothing that this component is sprinkled on sidewalks and roads; it is really effective in combating ice. Just sprinkle the product with table salt, preferably fine salt, and wait until the ice comes off it. True, this approach will only defrost the upper layers of the fish, after which you will have to wait until it thaws inside.
• Microwave. A fairly effective approach that allows you to defrost fish in about 20-30 minutes. The product must be rinsed in cold water, dried with paper towels, placed in the oven and started at minimum power. The fish must be turned over every 3-5 minutes so that it defrosts evenly. True, this approach will not work for processing large fish.
• In a refrigerator. We also wash the fish under cold water, wrap it in a cloth soaked in salt water, place it in a bowl and put it in the refrigerator. From time to time, the fabric needs to be rinsed and moistened again in the salty composition.
• In water. If you don’t mind water, you can let it flow and keep the fish under it until it defrosts. You shouldn’t do this with fillets; the product will be seriously damaged. In this case, it is better to soak the component in cold water, after wrapping it in 2-3 bags. The fluid should be changed regularly, but do not increase its temperature.

All selected options speed up the process of defrosting fish without having a negative impact on the product. But this does not mean that they can be used every time. These are only emergency methods that should be used in isolated cases.

Radical options and their features

Before using the methods below, you need to consider that they can spoil the product or change its taste characteristics.

• In a steamer. Simply place the workpiece in a tray with holes and start the device. The duration of the manipulation is determined by eye. After the steam begins to flow very actively, remove the lid from time to time so that it does not accumulate and cook the fish.

Tip: Thawed raba will be much more tender and pleasant to the taste if you keep it in fresh milk for a quarter of an hour before boiling, stewing or frying. The same technique will help make minced fish more juicy.

• Using a hairdryer. Most often, this technique is used to defrost large fish with dense scales. It is important to remember one thing: the product is affected not by hot, but by cold air. Otherwise, the fillet will turn into dry paper. Before the procedure, it is recommended to keep the product in the refrigerator for at least a few minutes, this will preserve its taste.
• In a steam bath. In this case, place the fish in a colander, which is placed over boiling water in a pan. It should be turned over from time to time so that the meat does not cook.

The success of the event depends on the nuances and attentiveness of the hostess. But, in any case, the taste of the finished dish will not be as pleasant and rich as usual.

How long can defrosted fish be stored?

Experts never cease to remind thrifty housewives that defrosted fish should not be stored at all. She is immediately allowed to prepare dishes. As a last resort, you can keep it in the refrigerator for up to 2 hours, in a hermetically sealed bowl or piece of damp cloth. The fillet cannot be subjected to even such tests; it is immediately fried, baked or boiled. Re-freezing of such products is strictly prohibited. Not only will such experiments completely ruin the product, they can also lead to poisoning.

Despite the fact that chefs try to prepare a variety of dishes from defrosted fish, it is best to use it for frying. In this case, there is still a chance that the final product will not lose its shape, and possible extraneous aromas will be overwhelmed by the smell of fried crust.

It is difficult to say how much faster the fish will defrost using the above approaches. This depends on the size of the product, the type of exposure and the correct implementation of the method. But the waiting time will definitely be reduced by 2 or even 3 times.

Quick defrosting of fish is not recommended for frequent use, since one way or another the product loses its beneficial qualities under the influence of defrosting accelerators. In cases where rapid defrosting cannot be avoided, the following methods should be used:

Using a microwave:

This method is the fastest for defrosting fish, requiring 10-40 minutes (depending on the power of the microwave and the size of the fish).

Defrosting instructions:

• Remove the frozen fish from the bag and place it on a plate;
• Place the plate of fish in the microwave;
• Set the microwave defrosting mode and time (2-15 minutes);
• Turn the fish over and defrost again for the same period of time;
• Remove and rinse lightly under cold running water.

Using a steamer (multi-cooker):

The fastest, most rational and useful method if frozen fish then needs to be boiled. Steamed fish does not come into contact with water, which means that everything useful is preserved intact.

Defrosting instructions:

• Remove frozen fish from packaging;
• Prepare a double boiler (multi-cooker) and put the fish in it;
• Leave to defrost by steaming, on the lowest setting for 10-20 minutes;
• When the fish is almost defrosted, turn on the normal mode and continue steaming.

By the way, if you get ungutted frozen fish, then you should start cleaning it without waiting for it to completely defrost. This will greatly simplify the task. The same can be recommended if you have to cut up a carcass and painstaking work to remove large bones. And remember that re-freezing fish completely destroys all its beneficial properties and significantly changes the taste, naturally, not for the better.

Much depends on the breed of fish. The tougher and coarser its meat, the longer it can be stored in the refrigerator and the less it will suffer if it is not defrosted properly. If you don’t want to tire yourself of thoroughly preparing the product before frying, buy cheap pollock; it’s not as bad to spoil it as expensive trout. If you are going to grind the fillet into minced meat for cutlets, the preservation of the structure also does not play a big role.

And also, if the look and taste of food is not of great importance to you, and you value your time more than the quality of the dish, you don’t have to defrost the fish fillet. Place the pieces in a frying pan with heated oil, cover with a lid, since the water will evaporate with strong splashes, and fry until cooked. Only semi-finished products can be prepared in this way; it is permissible to handle uncleaned fish this way only when you want to eat it along with fins, scales and intestines.

Fish is a very healthy product that contains many valuable substances. Many housewives use it to prepare delicious and appetizing dishes.

But not in all cases there is enough time to defrost a fish carcass. Under such circumstances, thawing of the product can be done in different ways and using available kitchen utensils.

Defrosting rules

Standard defrosting requires quite a lot of time. It happens that the housewife does not have enough time for natural thawing. In this case, you need to weigh all the pros and cons of quickly defrosting fish, and then make a choice.

In order not to spoil the product, you need to pay attention to a number of features:

1. With any defrosting method, the structure of the meat necessarily changes. Therefore, you should not purchase expensive varieties of fish in a frozen state.
2. It is undesirable to completely defrost, otherwise the product will lose its shape due to disintegration into fibers.
3. The best defrosting option is to defrost on the lowest shelf of the refrigerator. This way the fish will retain most of its beneficial qualities and will not be subject to significant deformation.
4. Abundant release of juice from the product during thawing indicates an incorrectly selected defrosting method. After cooking, the meat will be tasteless and too dry.
5. Thawing using cold water is very effective, but in this case the taste and beneficial microelements will be washed out along with the liquid.

How to properly defrost fish before baking and boiling? Defrosting fish is necessary for so that after cooking the meat is not raw from the inside. Sometimes long thawing times can be avoided by starting cooking right away.

If the fish is to be cooked, there is no need to defrost it. The most important - rinse and clean the carcass. This also applies to baking.

Rapid thawing can negatively affect the taste of the fish. Therefore, these methods should be resorted to only when absolutely necessary, when there is really no time for natural defrosting.

1. Change cool water to hot or warm;
2. Bend the fish carcass in different directions;
3. Leave the product open, that is, without film.

Effective ways

With the help of water.

Ordinary water can easily melt ice from fish. If you don’t mind the liquid, then the fish carcass can be placed directly under the water stream. This will take about one and a half hours. A more economical solution involves placing the fish in a vessel with cold water. The fluid needs to be changed from time to time.

The carcass should not be filled with warm liquid, otherwise the product will be spoiled - the piece will lose its shape.

Thaw in the microwave or double boiler.

Almost all housewives have a microwave oven. Such kitchen appliances are very useful for defrosting. The only disadvantages can be attributed to the fact that You cannot put a large fish carcass inside the device for subsequent frying..

Before thawing in the microwave, the product should be washed with cold water and dried with paper. For defrosting there is a special function with reduced power levels. To ensure that the carcass melts evenly, you need to turn it over every five minutes by opening the oven door.

Defrosting using a double boiler is an extremely gentle method. This method of defrosting is often used for fish that needs to be cooked. For convenience, after thawing in a double boiler, you can immediately make a delicious steamed fish dish. In this case, you don’t have to rack your brains about how to cook frozen fish.

To thaw a carcass in a multicooker or double boiler, you need to set the heat to the lowest possible level. It will take about twenty minutes to defrost the product.

Defrosting with table salt.

If you do not have a microwave oven, then it will be useful for you to learn how to quickly defrost fish without a microwave. If there is an ice layer on the surface of the product, it can be sprinkled with crushed salt. After the ice has melted, you can start cutting the carcass. The disadvantage of this technique is that only the outer layer is subject to thawing. For complete defrosting you need to wait a little more time.

Warm air also helps housewives who are thinking about how to quickly defrost mackerel. For this purpose you need place a large container (pan) with water on the gas stove. Once the water starts to boil, you need to turn the flame to low. Place a colander and a smaller pan on the vessel where the fish should lie. Turn the pieces over from time to time to ensure even defrosting.

To make sure it has thawed, you can pierce a piece with a knife or fork. If the fillet is soft, then defrosting can be considered complete.

Defrosting the product in the oven.

You need to use the oven for this purpose with extreme care and precision. There is a huge risk that the surface of the fish will dry out, but the inside will remain raw. Therefore, defrosting in the oven should be done at a temperature of no more than 30 degrees Celsius. However, not all ovens have these parameters.

Many modern ovens have a special defrosting program. The approximate duration of thawing of fish varies from fifteen to twenty minutes.

Using a hairdryer and cold air.

This is a very funny, but quick way. If you don’t have any special devices or devices at hand for defrosting fish, then you can use a hair dryer for this purpose. In order for the carcass to begin to thaw, you need to set the cold air supply mode on the device. The most important thing here is to avoid high speed, otherwise the surface of the product will become very weathered.

The product is placed in a polyethylene bag, in which a small hole is created to supply air to the fish. The hair dryer can be moved periodically so that the carcass is blown evenly. Thawing with this device will take no more than an hour.

Storage conditions

Fish carcasses, like traditional meat, are best not stored in the refrigerator after thawing. After defrosting, it is advisable to use the entire product. If, nevertheless, there is a need to postpone the product, then the maximum shelf life in the refrigerator does not exceed two to three hours.

The fish pieces should be placed in a special sealed container or the carcass should be wrapped in a damp cloth. Thawed fish fillets cannot be stored at all. The fibers lose their shape, and the product itself loses its taste properties, be it pollock or pink salmon.

It happens that the number of carcasses that have already begun to defrost turns out to be too large. Most housewives immediately send unnecessary pieces back to the freezer. This cannot be allowed. After the next defrosting, the carcass will completely lose its shape and taste.. In addition, when freezing fish, the product is protected from the development of bacteria due to negative temperatures.

After the carcass thaws, harmful microorganisms may appear on it, which are often lead to its damage. Therefore, you need to defrost exactly as much fish as you need to prepare the dish. Slowness, accuracy and attentiveness are the main allies in the matter of defrosting fish.

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