Thawing time frame!
 

Hello, Good evening folks! It's Sunday night. I just cleared out the bottom shelf of my fridge to fit 2 frozen briskets, 1 2pack frozen pork butt.

Its planned for cooking Thursday. Does this time frame sound right? My main concern is thawing to early as the briskets were on their last leg with a walmart yellow tag. I'm guessing if its still frozen Wednesday night I can set them out for Thursday.

I just set them out on kitchen counter about 10 pm and by 7am they are ready to trim and rub........

That's what I normally do. But this is a lot of meat for me to cook and its feeding a lot more people than just my family. So, I'm doing the fridge method.

I do this as well. Family and friends or not

You should be good to go by Thursday.

Food safety police will scream at this recommendation. Too long in the danger zone (40*-140*) and unless you go by "Goose," "Maverick," or "Iceman" there no need to take a ride into the danger zone. Better method is to put the brisket in a large bowl (still wrapped) and put it under cool running water. Depending on the size of the brisket it should be thawed completely in 1-2 hours which is perfectly acceptable. Works for frozen Thanksgiving turkeys too!

Man I need an answer ASAP.. So I put the briskets and pork butts in the freezer. Cryo was tight on both briskets and the pork butt. Well Today I noticed one of the briskets Cryo was very loose so I examined the brisket.

Its still frozen, I couldn't find any holes in the cryo! is this normal? The meat has barely started thawing! I hope the lose cryo won't have any effect on the meat its self for cooking Thursday...

Anyone have anything to say about the lose cryo and if I should be concerned?

My first guess was that as the brisket froze, it tightened up. But... That doesn't explain the fact the cryo was still tight when I pulled it out of the freezer last night....

So...... About the lose cryo... Should I be concerned?

It may show some oxidation (grey on the edges) which can be cut out. You don't have to leave in the cryo take it out and cover with plastic wrap and continue thawing.

Yeah the meat is starting to thaw.... Barely though. Looks like it'll be perfect for Thursday cooking. I'm not gonna touch it anymore! I"m sure the reason for the loose packaging is because of the freezing process maybe the seal was compromised by the freezing/thawing process..

But with it being frozen still and its being cooked Thursday. As long as the meat was good when I threw it in the freezer it should be fine.

I'm saying putting the meat in the fridge to thaw is a horrible idea. Might be the safe way to thaw meat out But normally soaking in water over night is my favorite method. I just have no way to soak 2 briskets and a pack of pork butts in water lol

I would defrost in a cooler full of water, it works pretty quick. If you think you have a rip in the cryo you could put the whole thing in an unscented garbage bag, tie it up real good and then defrost it. But I would deal with that ripped bag quickly though. Ripped cryo bag suck! I once got really bad freezer burn on a really nice prime brisket. It was no fun when I decided to toss it out. I didn't want any nasty surprises.

I'm not that concerned with the cryo as I just bought this brisket last week. But because It was a walmart yellow tag, instead of letting it age in the fridge for a week I threw them in the freezer. The Cryo was still intact when throwing it in the freezer.

Was just curious how its possible that the cryo is loose when the briskets were never touched after being placed in the fridge

That's a good question, my first thought is that there could a hole in it. If not maybe the brisket lost a lot of liquid/blood which happens when it's been in a cryo for awhile. Maybe this could cause the brisket to shrink a little?

The 2nd brisket I have in the fridge is still in good shape and has a tight cryo. Just doesn't make sense LOL I'll just do the smell test Thursday when I go to cook it.