I read all over the internet and labels that you shouldn't thaw with hot water? However, tons of people leave meat to get to room temperature, so how is thawing with hot water bad?
For instance, when I buy some Pork Loin and it's kinda frozen, I run it under hot water for 5 minutes, it defrosts, then I start to cook it. I'm unsure of the danger in that? Yes It may "start" to cook running it under hot water, but I'm about to cook it anyways.
Or is this a case where they mean thawing with hot water and letting it sit there for hours?
Edit: I am using a Slow cooker however, I'm going to put it on high. (The only reason I even thawed it is because it was frozen "stiff" and was too long for the crock pot, once I thawed it could bend in).
But it seems like a Crock Pot for instance would keep things at a "below" cooked temperature for a little bit anyways as well….(at least on low) before it started to cook things. So why don't crock pots make us sick?
Best Answer
To me, the key to your question "five minutes." I'm no scientist, but I can't imagine that this is harmful.
I agree with Aaronut's answer in that I think it takes a much, much longer period of time for problems to develop. When people warn you about thawing in hot water, they're envisioning something more like taking a solidly-frozen piece of meat from the freezer, and thawing it in hot water.