cooking frozen meat

Maccattack

Im at home today. just finished doing a bit of work in the garden and im starving. beautiful sunny day. gee abit of barbeque would be nice. Nothing thawed.

I could just pull out a frozen burger and cook it couldnt i.

or could i?

Would it be safe to eat?

Blub2k4

Maccattack wrote:

Im at home today. just finished doing a bit of work in the garden and im starving. beautiful sunny day. gee abit of barbeque would be nice. Nothing thawed.

I could just pull out a frozen burger and cook it couldnt i.

or could i?

Would it be safe to eat?

Personally I wouldn't even consider it on the barbecue unless it was a proper smoking barbecue where you put a lid on and let the smoke do the work, and can leave it for a while in there.

If it's the classic (albeit incorrectly named) grill style barbecue then NO WAY.

Stick them in the microwave on a light defrost cycle then pop them on the grill.

I put frozen burgers on the pan generally but make sure that they are cooked through and shrink considerably, which is the opposite to what I do with fresh burgers where I actually eat them rare.

Defrost in the micro first or dont bother would be my advice.

<edit> I also only buy high quality organic burgers so wouldn't go with the rare ones if they were shop bought crap.

Maccattack

cool thanks.

i thought i heard somewhere that it was only chicken you cant cook from frozen. although common sense told me otherwise.

thought id better check and where better to do that but here.

cheers

copacetic

Blub2k4 wrote:

Personally I wouldn't even consider it on the barbecue unless it was a proper smoking barbecue where you put a lid on and let the smoke do the work, and can leave it for a while in there.

If it's the classic (albeit incorrectly named) grill style barbecue then NO WAY.

Stick them in the microwave on a light defrost cycle then pop them on the grill.

I put frozen burgers on the pan generally but make sure that they are cooked through and shrink considerably, which is the opposite to what I do with fresh burgers where I actually eat them rare.

Defrost in the micro first or dont bother would be my advice.

<edit> I also only buy high quality organic burgers so wouldn't go with the rare ones if they were shop bought crap.

even with the organic burgers this isn't safe, even with great meat the risk with burgers and mince is that the outside meat which can be exposed to bacteria could now be in the middle of the burger so if you don't cook it properly the bacteria won't be killed by the heat. Whether the meat is organic or not doesn't affect the risk of bacteria to a grat extent..

the fsa are doing radio ads about it at the moent..

Blub2k4

daveym wrote:

even with the organic burgers this isn't safe, even with great meat the risk with burgers and mince is that the outside meat which can be exposed to bacteria could now be in the middle of the burger so if you don't cook it properly the bacteria won't be killed by the heat. Whether the meat is organic or not doesn't affect the risk of bacteria to a grat extent..

the fsa are doing radio ads about it at the moent..

I realise that, but I wont do without my rare meat, ok burgers are medium not rare but still.

Being a pretty competent cook I can be pretty sure that the right temperture will have been reached in the centre of the burger and haven't had any problems so far.

The organic reference was less to the bacterial content as I know that they will also have bacteria in them but it's the other stuff I'm more worried about, the lips, arses and elbows that go into cheapo burgers.

<edit> I heard someone on here once stating that they never eat mince unless they rinse it thoroughly beforehand, I thought WTF, that's got to be like eating connective tissue and nothing else?????

copacetic

Blub2k4 wrote:

I realise that, but I wont do without my rare meat, ok burgers are medium not rare but still.

Being a pretty competent cook I can be pretty sure that the right temperture will have been reached in the centre of the burger and haven't had any problems so far.

The organic reference was less to the bacterial content as I know that they will also have bacteria in them but it's the other stuff I'm more worried about, the lips, arses and elbows that go into cheapo burgers.

<edit> I heard someone on here once stating that they never eat mince unless they rinse it thoroughly beforehand, I thought WTF, that's got to be like eating connective tissue and nothing else?????

i have to admit i like a rare burger myself, or at least left very juicy in the middle.

I sometimes drain the fat off mince before addding sauces etc, if a lot of fat has come off it. I know some athlete types who would always rince the mince to get any fat they can off it, but they would be types who feel guilty eating red meat at all..

Blub2k4

daveym wrote:

i have to admit i like a rare burger myself, or at least left very juicy in the middle.

I sometimes drain the fat off mince before addding sauces etc, if a lot of fat has come off it. I know some athlete types who would always rince the mince to get any fat they can off it, but they would be types who feel guilty eating red meat at all..

I aim for pretty good lean mince normally so fat doesn't tend to be an issue.

It's at the stage that the girlfriend wont eat any untraceable meat, so basically it's all organic market cos I'm even a bit sceptical of the likes of tesco claiming organic credentials, I prefer small farms and meat that is sourced here in Ireland.
The other thing is that we eat a LOT less meat these days, we often eat vegetarian just because there's no need to eat meat with every meal and it's really a modern day luxury and not good for the environment to be at it daily.