2 part question on cooking meat...?

Question

Why do people defrost meat before cooking it? What happens if you cook it without defrosting?

I bought pasta sauce from the grocery... how do I add meatballs into my sauce? Nothing too complicated. Just regular ones. I suck when it comes to cooking, so I need step by step instructions...

Answer 1

well i defrost my meat in the fridge the night before...i suppose it helps the cooking process to go quicker..

with the meat balls you can buy some and just cook them with sauce but if your going to make it than you need to cook them first ans then add them into the sauce and slow cook them

Answer 2

Defrosting the meat allows it to cook through better, which is safer.

Usually, you'd brown the meatballs first in a little hot oil, for flavour.

Then pour the sauce over them, & allow to simmer & cook through.

You might want to remove any excess fat before adding the sauce.

Answer 3

The meat will not cook evenly if its cold, and it gets worse when its frozen. Mostly important when cooking a steak, a steak should be room temperature before cooking.



Cook with charcoal, charcoal is wood

Answer 4

If you cook frozen meat, the surface cooks quickly while the inside remains raw or even frozen, depending on the type of meat and its thickness.

Meatballs are real easy. Get about a pound of ground meat. (Beef is what classic meatballs are made of.) Add some garlic power, oregano, and basil, about 1 teaspoon of each. Mash it all together with your clean hands to blend the seasonings into the meat.

Pour a little oil (olive, vegetable, canola, doesn't matter) into a skillet, just enough to coat the bottom. (It'll spread when warm, so leave room.) A big skillet takes maybe a tablespoon.

Roll the meat into meatballs about 1.5 inches across. Remember, they're going to shrink. When they're all rolled, put them into the skillet and brown on all sides over medium heat. Shaking the pan and using a spatula carefully will help them stay whole as you rotate them to brown all sides. If a few break, don't worry about it. Drain any fat and discard it. Don't pour it down a sink; it can lead to clogged drains.

When there's no visible red or pink in your meatballs, add your sauce to the skillet and start making your pasta according to the package directions. Simmer sauce and meatballs until the meatballs are cooked through (maybe 10 minutes), then reduce heat to low and stir occasionally until your pasta's cooked and your ready to eat.

Enjoy!

Answer 5

I quite often put frozen meat in my crock pot before I leave for work and when I come home I have spaghetti sauce, soup, etc.  It just takes a  lot longer than if it is thawed.

Strangely enough, I found a recipe where you boil raw meatballs until cooked and then add them to your sauce.  It sounded bizarre but I gave it a try and they turned out great!  You can freeze cooked meatballs on a cookie sheet and then just add them to your sauce the next time.  

With store-bought meatballs, if they are cooked, just toss 'em in.  If they are raw, you can still cook them in the sauce if done gently, or fry them in a frying pan first in a little oil, turning every couple minutes until browned on all sides and then add them.

Good luck!  

Answer 6

Bake those frozen meatballs to get a bit of color on them.... about 425ºF... then dump into your warming pasta sauce that is heating up into a big skillet on the stove top.  Simmer about 30-60 minutes, or until you can't stand the wonderful aroma anymore.

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some meats are best thawed before cooking, esp of they take only a short amt of time.  If they take a long time anyway, then it's ok to get them started while frozen.

Answer 7

When meat is frozen and you are trying to cook it doesnt cook fast enough and it ends up almost like you boiled it - ok for hamburger to go in a sauce but I wouldn't recomend for steak.  For chicken or something that cannot be rare I would worry about the center not reaching the correct internal temp to avoid salmonella.

For the meatballs there are two ways to do this:

1. bake them on a cookie sheet

2. an italian lady taught me this - get your sauce bubbling and gently drop the raw meatballs right in the sauce.  Drop them side by side as many as you can without them smooshing each other and breaking.  Cover and don't move them around too much til they start to cook and are getting a little solid.  This works great, fast and you don't dirty an extra pan and all the flavour that comes out of the meatball when it cooks goes into your sauce instead of being poured off the cookie sheet.  I never cook them separately anymore except for maybe a sweet and sour sauce that you want to stay clear.