Allison's a Celiac. Thaw Out the Steak!

My token hot bald friend, Allison, is coming to dinner. She also happens to be my token Celiac friend. Anyone who knows what Celiac Disease is, knows it is a colossal pain in the ass and can wreak havoc on the intestines as well as the general day to day life of the person afflicted with it. Basically, she cannot eat gluten, which is a protein found in wheat, barley, oats, and rye....and therefore just about every other processed food on the planet, even including things like envelope glue. The affected person's immune system reacts in attack against a portion of the intestines when gluten is ingested. In light of this, I try to provide her with edible menu options while also leaving stamp licking for my other guests.

Seeing as gluten is in such a large percentage of general menu items, it is easiest to prepare foods for her from whole foods using as few ingredients as possible. Now, while she never gets to pig out on pizzas and pasta (that's what everyone else will be stuck with), she does get choice cuts of meat, fish, cheese, and vibrant fruits and vegetables. Really, I don't want this to sound like one of those Beneful ads on television where you are drooling over the dish of tasty meaty chunks then get confused and embarrassed when they put the dish on the floor for the dog, it looks that good. Anyway, since my house has been meat free for awhile now, I went to dig in the freezer to find some relics of our former diet. I found a lovely London Broil cut steak for young Allison, but now it needed to be thawed. I know how to do this due to the genius that is sanitation certification class, but trust me, not many other people actually do it correctly.

We'll start with freezing, most directly with a little freezer maintenance. Make sure that the temperature is at 0 (zero) degrees Fahrenheit keep any bacteria or mold from growing. This seems to be a common problem, especially with apartment dwellers. If there is an item that has a funky smell or a crystalline blanket if ice, chuck that out, it is not worth the energy it is going to take for you to cook it to deem it too nasty or freezer burnt and then throw it away anyway. There should be no suspect odors coming from your freezer or items in it.

If you need to be freezing things to save them for later rather than buying small quantities to use fresh (My choice!), then avoid freezer burnt items by eliminating as much air as possible. This means either using a freezer-lock bag system or covering the item with heavy duty foil, then placing inside a freezer bag, pushing the air out. Unlike the TSA, I don't liken plastic bags to Kevlar, so you should not as well. If what you put it in there was a bomb of bacteria or meat after its date to begin with, that is going to be the same bomb when you get it out.

Now you are planning on eating an item from the freezer that needs to be thawed. Unfortunately this requires a little bit of planning, because just as it took a long time to freeze your tasty food, it takes much more time to thaw it. You want to check your refrigerator to make sure it is operating at 40 degrees Fahrenheit, then make some space on a low shelf for your item. It should be left in it's packaging and placed in a container that could catch any potential drainage on that bottom shelf. You should expect to leave said item overnight. The general rule is applying to things like turkeys is 24 hours for every five pounds. So Allison's two pound steak got the overnight treatment.

If you recall your mother leaving items out on the counter to thaw and then cooking them up for your tasty dinner, I hate to say it, but that would be a bad bad choice on her part, and here's why. When food sits out, bacteria can play all over it, loving the temperatures between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit, and multiplying copiously. That makes for a tasty old plate of food poisoning for din dins. You should never leave food out on the counter, that's just common sense, but especially no longer than 2 hours. Any bacteria that was present before you froze the food will be ready to go when the temperature rises, trust me. therefore, using the item promptly is important. Ground meat and poultry should be used within a day and whole red meats within three to five days. The longer you wait, the more quality will be lost.

There are other thawing options such as cold water thawing and thawing via the microwave. They require much more care and use of food more quickly. Water thawing can open the item to bacterial damage if the packaging is not waterproof and can also water log the item as well. And microwaving can produce an uneven thaw and even cook parts of the item being thawed. Depending on the quality of the item, these can really not give you the same effect as time and refrigeration. All in all, you have multiple options to get the job done. Happy thawing!

~beth
*Continued good luck to the CUWRFC! Don't forget the green beans and never fake it!