A lot of bacteria grows in the range of 40-100°F (4-38°C) (i.e. room temperature). It's definitely not recommended to defrost meat at room temperature. In fact, you are not supposed to leave meat at room temperature for more than an hour.
However, defrosting in the refrigerator can take a long time and require you to plan at least one day ahead of time. I'm not so good at this, which leads to a safe and fast solution: Defrost meat in a waterproof ziploc bag in cold water. Change the water every 30 minutes until defrosted. The water is a better conductor of heat than air, so the defrosting is quite fast and the water is cold so there's minimal safety risk.
Uh, oh! You're home and forgot to
defrost something for dinner. You grab
a package of meat or chicken and use
hot water to thaw it fast. But is this
safe? What if you remembered to take
food out of the freezer, but forgot
and left the package on the counter
all day while you were at work?
Neither of these situations are safe,
and these methods of thawing lead to
foodborne illness. Food must be kept
at a safe temperature during "the big
thaw." Foods are safe indefinitely
while frozen. However, as soon as food
begins to defrost and become warmer
than 40 °F (4 °C), any bacteria that may have
been present before freezing can begin
to multiply.
Foods should never be thawed or even
stored on the counter, or defrosted in
hot water. Food left above 40 °F
(unrefrigerated) is not at a safe
temperature.
Even though the center of the package
may still be frozen as it thaws on the
counter, the outer layer of the food
is in the "Danger Zone," between 40
and 140 °F (4 °C and 60 °C) – at temperatures where
bacteria multiply rapidly.
When defrosting frozen foods, it's
best to plan ahead and thaw food in
the refrigerator where food will
remain at a safe, constant temperature
– 40 °F (4 °C) or below.
There are three safe ways to defrost
food: in the refrigerator, in cold
water, and in the microwave.
Refrigerator Thawing Planning ahead is
the key to this method because of the
lengthy time involved. A large frozen
item like a turkey requires at least a
day (24 hours) for every 5 pounds of
weight. Even small amounts of frozen
food -- such as a pound of ground meat
or boneless chicken breasts -- require
a full day to thaw. When thawing foods
in the refrigerator, there are several
variables to take into account. Some
areas of an appliance may keep the
food colder than other areas. Food
placed in the coldest part will
require longer defrosting time. Food
takes longer to thaw in a refrigerator
set at 35 °F (2 °C) than one set at 40 °F (4 °C).
After thawing in the refrigerator,
ground meat and poultry should remain
useable for an additional day or two
before cooking; red meat, 3 to 5 days.
Foods defrosted in the refrigerator
can be refrozen without cooking,
although there may be some loss of
quality.
Cold Water Thawing
This method is faster than
refrigerator thawing but requires more
attention. The food must be in a
leak-proof package or plastic bag. If
the bag leaks, bacteria from the air
or surrounding environment could be
introduced into the food. Also, meat
tissue can also absorb water like a
sponge, resulting in a watery product.
The bag should be submerged in cold
tap water, changing the water every 30
minutes so it continues to thaw. Small
packages of meat or poultry – about a
pound – may defrost in an hour or
less. A 3- to 4-pound package may take
2 to 3 hours. For whole turkeys,
estimate about 30 minutes per pound.
If thawed completely, the food must be
cooked immediately.
Foods thawed by the cold water method
should be cooked before refreezing.
Best Answer
Almost any cut of meat can be pounded--very thin steaks commonly called cutlets or scallopini are made from tender cuts being pounded thin. This is most often done with chicken or pork, but you will also find, for example, medallions of beef tenderloin pounded to get them into a uniform shape and size.
Obviously, this is work to do, and changes the shape (and thus the cooking properties) of the cut involved, but does not really have a negative effect.
Your butcher did not pound the meat. Instead, he ran it through a commercial version of a jacquard meat tenderizer. The home version looks like this, with many small pointy blades or needles to penetrate the meat:
Picture from Chef's Catalog
They are used to create many, many small cuts in the meat, physically severing the connective tissue and making it more tender. The most frequent home use is to make cube steakl; they are also often employed in making chicken fried steak.
The many small holes may also help the steak absorb some seasoning from a marinade.
Is there a guide to which types of meat work better with which types of tenderization?
Tender cuts like chicken breasts, beef filet, pork loin, and so on don't need any tenderization. THey may be pounded to reshape them, but there is no real requirement.
Tough cuts, typically beef, may be physically pounded or subjected to the tender mercies of the jacquard tenderizer in order to render them easier to eat and more succulent when they are being used for a rapid cooking method like chicken fried steak. If they are being used in a low and slow method, like braising or barbecuing, there is no point and the many small holes would be a detriment as they would allow more moisture to be expressed.
Can you over-pound or over-slice a cut of meat and damage it or cause it to toughen?
Yes, eventually you will reduce it to shreds, or make to thin and unattractive.
Does manual tenderizing conflict with other types of tenderization (e.g. brasing, enzymatic, brining, marinating etc.)?
Firstly, neither brining nor marinating tenderize, ever, unless there is acid or an active enzymatic ingredient in the marinade to do it.
Braising (and other low and slow methods) work by converting the connective tissue protein collagen into gelatin, thus making the cut succulent and tender, despite being very well done. IF you are going to do this, there simply is no point in mechanical tenderization.
Enzymatic tenderization works by denaturing the proteins in the meat, and if over done will turn them to mush. It also works only at the surface, unless left long enough to penetrate--but then the surface will mushy. Using a jacquard might be helpful in getting an enzymatic marindate to penetrate and act on some of the interior of the cut, but I personally do not like the outcome from enzymatic treatments, and never use them.