How to defrost sausages in 3 different ways? How long can you keep it once defrosted? These are common questions of newbies in the kitchen. It is important to know how we should properly thaw meat or defrost preserved meats and processed food as it may entail food poisoning if the growth of bacteria is found in the food.
During ancient times, when appliances were still not a thing, people preserve food using salt. Minced meat usually pork or beef is seasoned with salt and then stored in jars with cover to preserve it. Recently, poultry meat is gaining popularity in sausages. Companies use other ingredients as an additive to prepare sausages, which include water, salt, food colors, and starch. Different variants and various spices are also produced by different cultural backgrounds. Some companies also produced this synthetically to comply with mass production and high consumer demand.
One of the meat products which is used a lot all over the world is sausage. Likewise, it is the first choice of fast food lovers. The word sausage originally comes from the Latin word salsus, which means “to salt” or “to preserve” according to the website The Free Dictionary. It is a food processing using finely chopped seasoned meat stuffed into a prepared intestine or other casing and often made into links.
3 Ways to Defrost Sausages
Sausages, like any other meats like pork, need refrigerated conditions for storage and proper defrosting. As these were packed, here comes the question of how to defrost frozen sausages to get the same taste and freshness.
1. How to defrost sausages in your fridge.
For this method to work correctly, firstly, you should note that your fridge’s temperature may be below five degrees centigrade. Above five degrees centigrade, bacteria get the chance to grow and replicate in the meat. If you don’t have the temperature display in your fridge, you can use the thermometer to determine the fridge temperature.
Put the thermometer inside the fridge and close the door for five minutes. After five minutes, check the reading of the thermostat. Lastly, when the temperature is below five degrees centigrade, your fridge is ready to defrost the frozen sausages.
How to properly defrost in the fridge :
- Place the sausages in the fridge with its plastic packing.
- If you have removed that packing, wrap it in a polybag instead. And then place it in the lower compartment of the fridge overnight.
- Poke on the sausages to check and feel the softnes. It should be easier to poke in with no icing crystal when it’s defrosted.
- This method is suitable when you are planning to prepare your meal with defrosted sausages as it will last for a considerable eight hours, though not ideal if you are in a hurry.
IMPORTANT: You can keep sausages from three to five days after defrosting in the fridge. But once you take out from the refrigerator, then you should cook these instantly cause they are now good food for bacteria and germs.
2. Using a Microwave.
Old models of a microwave may not have a defrosting function, unlike the latest microwave models that have a built-in defrosting function. You can quickly defrost the frozen sausages in any microwave now. But if you want to use your old model microwave for defrosting, use the fifty percent power to defrost the sausages.
When defrosting in a microwave, follow these steps :
- Make sure you use a microwave-safe dish for defrosting. Usually, a safe plate has a wavy logo printed on the lower side of the plate as an indicator that this plate is microwaveable.
- Then turn on the defrosting function. From the defrosting menu, choose the meat option and press the button to start defrosting.
- As frozen sausages are stick with each other, after two minutes, open the door and separate the sausages using a fork so that they get an even chance of defrosting.
- Usually, it takes seven to eight-minute for defrosting sausages.
- Take the defrosted sausages from the microwave as soon as the buzzer went off. It would be best if you do not wait long to cook these defrosted sausages after taking out from the oven. There are a lot of chances for bacteria to grow in these sausages now.
3. How to defrost sausages using a bowl of water.
If you don’t have a fridge or microwave, you can defrost frozen sausages using a bowl and tap water.
Steps in defrosting sausages if you don’t have a microwave :
- Remove the protective packing layer around frozen sausages and place them in a bowl deep enough for sausages to fit inside.
- Now fill the container with tap water, which is usually around five degrees centigrade.
- Then put the pan under the tap and turn it on, allowing water to drip inside the bowl. It would be best if you make sure water should be dripping and not flowing—this dripping water helps to maintain the container’s water temperature and stops the growth of bacteria inside the sausages.
- For six sausages, you will need 25 minutes to defrost . For more sausages, you will need more time.
IMPORTANT : Growth of bacteria inside the sausages starts after four hours of dripping water defrosting. Now you should cook these defrosted sausages immediately as bacteria can grow in these. It would be best if you clean the bowl thoroughly after defrosting to avoid growth of bacteria.
Conclusion :
Sausages are bought either frozen or you store them in your deep freezer for later use. In both cases, you need to defrost the sausages before you cook them. Defrosting sausages is always a problem for newbies. Although you can defrost sausages at room temperature, if the room temperature is higher than five degrees centigrade, then chances are that your sausages will get bacteria growth inside.
- The fridge is the best option for defrosting, but it takes a longer time and may not be ideal if you are in a hurry to prepare your meal.
- Microwave is another quick and best option especially if you have a built-in defrost function in it. Otherwise, you may burn your sausages with extra power using an old model.
- Defrosting in a bowl of water is also a good option, but it wastes much of the water which is on the other hand not good. Moreover, the chances of bacteria growth are much in the bowl of water.
Now that you know how to defrost frozen sausages, check out these cooking tips on ways to cook Italian sausages. If you are looking for the best-rated over-the-range microwave ovens check out my previous post. You can purchase our pick from Amazon.
