Question:
I’ve designed and patented equipment that will automate par-cooked fried chicken and par-cooked french fries. I’ve had the best results cooking these par-cooked products from a thawed state, in a temperature ranging from 36-40 degrees. What is the fastest way I can thaw products using the slacking method? The products come to me from the supplier at 0 degrees.
– Frederic Bancroft, CEO, Bancroft Automated, Baton Rouge, La.
Answer:
Your question is how to quickly slack—but your need is how to quickly and safely thaw. While it sounds like splitting hairs, these are two different processes with different and very real food safety concerns.
Slacking, as defined by the FDA Food Code, is “theprocess of moderating the temperature of a food such as allowing a food to gradually increase from a temperature of -23 C (-10 F) to -4 C (25 F) in preparation for deep-fat frying or to facilitate even heat penetration during the cooking of previously block-frozen food such as shrimp.” With slacking, food remains frozen but basically gets less frozen, going from rock hard to icy, depending on the product. That increase in temperature allows still frozen—but not deeply frozen—food to cook quicker. The safest way to slack is via gradual defrosting in a refrigerator over a period of one or more days, but because the food remains frozen, it can be safely done in other conditions. To directly address part of your question, spreading the product on metal sheets, similar to the “magic” defrosting trays that used to be advertised on TV, does actually work to speed things up if you need to slack quickly.
By raising the temperature to 40 F or slightly cooler, however, you’ve gone beyond slacking—in which the product is still frozen, just not deep frozen—to straight up defrosting. That’s fine, but know it needs to be done safely. There are four ways to safely defrost potentially hazardous foods, which would include both par-cooked chicken and par-cooked fries:
- Cook from frozen. You’ve already established that that doesn’t work with your technology, but that’s a safe and easy option for many products.
- Defrost under running water. This is not great for sustainability.
- Microwave defrost and then cook immediately. This sometimes partially cooks the product in the microwave and is cumbersome for foodservice quantities.
- Thaw under refrigeration (preferred).
I know that’s not the answer you were hoping for—people have been working on ways to rapidly and safely defrost products without losing product quality, but the old-fashioned way of planning ahead and transferring from refrigerator to freezer is going to be your best option because you are fully defrosting.
More on thawing here.