Trying to thaw a beef roast

[rodentraiser]

This is more of a vent than a how-do-I but this afternoon I took out a frozen beef roast to thaw. I wanted to cut it up in pieces and put it in the slow cooker tomorrow morning. Newsflash: it's going to be only 19° tonight and not much above freezing tomorrow. I turn my heaters off at night, so somehow, I don't think this roast is going to thaw anytime soon. In fact, it may thaw some and then refreeze over tonight. *headdesk*

And with only two space heaters in the trailer (3 will blow the fuses), I think tomorrow and the following day are going to be spent curled up in bed with a good book or two. Unless the sun is out. The sun really warms this place up in winter. I'd visit the local library but their heaters don't work any better than mine. Found that out last year. LOL

I need to relocate to Sicily.

 

[rodentraiser]

I put the roast beef back in the freezer and I'll just make soup of something tomorrow. I bought some Bear Creek potato and cheese soup and I'll add bacon to it. I usually make my own potato soup, but really didn't feel like it this time and I've been wanting to try the Bear Creek soup for a while. Has anyone else ever eaten it? I have a friend who swears by them.

 

[blissful]

Can you go to the library with the roast, wrapped in foil with a ribbon around it, like you and your present are waiting for a friend to meet you there? 12 hours of reading later, it will be a little less frozen. Sicily sounds good right now!

 

[rodentraiser]

I have the feeling that the road down will be covered in ice tomorrow. Safer to stay home. Snow is also predicted but no one knows just where. I can tell them - snow always comes to my place to play.

Edit to report: it's below freezing outside now. In a couple of minutes I'll have to go out and turn off the water. I hate winter.

 

[blissful]

---the snow comes to my place to play.
I haven't tried that kind of soup, sorry.

My freezer is set at 0 deg F, the outside temperature is below freezing at 27 deg F, which is closer to thawed. Then tomorrow the high will be 32 deg F and we approach thawed! So, I don't know what your weather is like where you are, but that may work. Another option is in the morning, put the roast in a vehicle in the sun, the sun will warm the vehicle and the roast! It acts like a solar oven. If I was doing it, I would line my 18 qt roaster with foil. I keep it outside now (for melting wax), then cover it in an old window, in the morning to catch the sun. It's amazing how hot it gets inside that contraption.

 

[giggler]

drop the roast in water. water is 32f unless it freazes. if the water freezes , You and the roast will need thawing! Eric

 

[Roll_Bones]

I use my aluminum center griddle for thawing. It thaws out meat in half the time. Maybe even faster.
I would leave it out all night in your case. Depending on size I bet it will be thawed by morning.
Another hint that I use.
I partially thaw in the microwave to speed things up. Just a little time in the microwave makes a big difference.
You could also put the roast in a plastic bag and submerge it in water. Changing the water frequently.

 

[dragnlaw]

rodentraiser, I suppose it's too late now. But in cold weather even if you have to close your taps outside, it is not that cold that your beef won't defrost over night. And especially if you do it in the submerged way. That water will not freeze if you bucket/container is big enough.
I could keep a 5 gallon jug of water on my unheated front (but enclosed) porch in 20 F weather - did not freeze.

And my 10 or 15 gallon fish tank did not have the heater turned on until it was about 15 F outside (that's when I noticed the goldfish were getting a little sluggish! LOL there was a very slight crust of ice on the top)

 

[Badjak]

You could bring the roast to me
Won't take too long to defrost at 35 oC

 

[dragnlaw]

I'll wait on the ticket and pack what I can in my suitcase. I'll even bring my ice cube maker.

 

[rodentraiser]

Hey, guys, I really appreciate eveyone's response. Thank you all for your help.

Here's the forecast: 11° tonight and 8° tomorrow night. Today got up to about 23° and ditto tomorrow. I had to thaw the hummingbird feeder four times. On Monday, it might heat up to just over freezing. I turned both space heaters on at 6am this morning and it's only 50° in the trailer right now. And the temp is now dropping outside. Woohoo. And oh, yeah. We got maybe a half inch/inch of snow. Just enough to make it like a skating rink outside.

And for more fun news, I heard the truck salting our curvy road up here slid part way down and wedged sideways on the road. I guess it was a couple of hours before he got himself straightened up and finished the job. Me, I took my trip to town before all this mess started. I'm not going down that hill in this weather. We have hills here that have less slant than a cow's face and I probably still couldn't get up them with this ice.

Water is a no go. My water is hooked up to an outside spigot and I always disconnect the hose at night when the temp is going to go under freezing and then reconnect the next morning. When I disconnect the hose and turn the water off, the water drops back down to the pipe, which is under the frost line.

So I disconnected the hose last night and then reconnected it this morning to get water. I meant to disconnect it again for the day because I knew it wouldn't get above freezing today but I forgot and in an hour, it had frozen solid. My neighbor came over with her hair dryer and we got the top part thawed enough so I could at least get the water turned off. But there's still water in the pipe above the ground that we couldn't thaw, so I don't know what's going to happen with that, although if the pipe was going to bust, it probably would have.

That means I have to walk across the yard to the other spigot to get water which is a chore I'm not thrilled to repeat today. I've already done it once so I could do dishes (why I didn't do them yesterday, I have no idea). So there's no running water in the trailer right now and I only have about 2 gallons in my water container. Enough for tonight.

I'm not sure if I'm going to turn the heat off tonight or not. Honestly, with temps this low it really doesn't matter and I have a sleeping bag and a ton of blankets. If there was room in the fridge, I'd sleep in there. It's probably warmer. So let's face it. It's going to be colder in my trailer tonight than it probably is in my freezer. So I'm nixing the beef roast until Monday.

Then I thought I would clear that freezer out a bit and have Parmesan Alfredo shrimp, but I have no way to wash the shrimp. So I'm throwing in the towel and having Stouffer's Mac and Cheese tonight. At least the power is still on.

How's your winter going?

 

[taxlady]

My winter seems to be going okay. The covid did throw a spanner in the works and messed up my plans. But nothing as unpleasant as having to schlep water in winter cold. I know all about that from living in a log cabin.

 

[pictonguy]

My winter seems to be going okay. The covid did throw a spanner in the works and messed up my plans. But nothing as unpleasant as having to schlep water in winter cold. I know all about that from living in a log cabin.

Yeah, spent a few days recently up at the cottage that has been winterized, cooked on the woodstove as well as having a supply of hot water for dishes and personal hygiene. Amazing the conveniences that we take for granted.

 

[Badjak]

Ah, that's one thing I don't have to deal with.
Frost and snow!
We think it is getting cold if the day temperature gets below 27 oC (80 F)

 

[dragnlaw]

Gosh, golly, jeepers... But I gotta say it rodentraiser... take the roast to bed with you???

 

[pictonguy]

Just cook it from frozen.

 

[dragnlaw]

Have never cooked an oven roast from frozen but many other ways for sure.

 

[Kathleen]

I love winter, snow, the works!!! It so has advantages.

 

[rodentraiser]

My trailer never got above 30° yesterday and by this morning, it was 28. But! The sun is shining and it's getting warmer. It's 52° where I'm sitting right now with two space heaters on me. LOL The hummingbird water actually thawed with the sun on it today and my outside spigot next to the trailer finally thawed and I don't have to walk across the yard for water. Maybe tomorrow if it's warm enough, I can connect the water in the morning and have running water inside again all day.

Temps are gonna drop here fast, though, as the sun is already moving behind the trees.

I took out chicken drumsticks so I could make hoisin chicken tonight, but they're not nearly thawed enough, so into the fridge they go. Maybe I can make hoisin drumsticks for breakfastm which will be noon anyway. Looks like pancakes or a tuna melt is on the menu instead. Tomorrow I'll take out the beef roast. Wait. Given that it's still so cold in here, maybe I should take it out today and put it in the fridge.

Kathleen, tell that cat to move because I'm gonna sit there by your fire. Seriously, if I hadn't had my cat to take care of, I would have checked in at a motel. Cat wasn't having any of the cold either. She came in at noon yesterday and slept in till 4am this morning. She's been out and about ever since then except to come in for some food and water (outside water is still frozen).

 

[rodentraiser]

To keep this food related, is it really possible to cook a roast from frozen? I don't want to do that because I want to make Hungarian goulash and that means cutting up the roast, something I couldn't do now with a chain saw. But I have other meat in the freezer and if it's possible to cook from frozen, that gives me a little ammunition to work with.

Right now I'm just making stuff that will heat in the microwave because it's been too cold to do much cooking. When you have cold hands, you don't want to be handling a sharp knife. Ask me how I know that.

Tomorrow it looks like a cooking day, though. I want to make a mashed potato casserole so I have something to go with a pork loin I'm making later in the week.