Proper and best way to defrost pork ribs and pork butt?
Hey folks.
I have some ribs and pork butt in my freezer and was not sure of the proper and best way to defrost, before i put them on my smoker.
Is there a recommended approach?
As of now, it is one rack of ribs and about a 9pound pork butt.
I appreciate the advice and tips!
As above, ribs will defrost or not, fast. You can prep and cook as is. The butt, as RonB suggested, let it float in a sink full of cold water..Again, the butt can go on before fully defrosted, it might take a little longer.
I often defrost pork butts, if in cryovac, using an ice bath. I don't know the physics behind it but it works. I defrosted an 8-9 lb butt in about 4-5 hrs in an ice water bath and kept changing the water. Usually I will put two butts in a cooler filled with ice water bath and they are thawed in 24 - 36 hrs, maybe sooner, just depends on when i check on them. They will develop a thick coating of ice around them after a few hours so I usually break the ice off of them.
I started doing it this way when i would have to defrost 6-8 butts and didn't have that kind of space in the fridge. I have a dedicated BBQ / shop fridge so I can thaw them in the fridge now if I want.
Have smoked frozen ribs and been pleasantly surprised i couldn't tell the difference. Let them sit on the counter for 10 minutes til the surface is wet, then mustard & S&P, or whatever your slather/rub process is. It *maybe* added 30 minutes to the cook time. Done it half-dozen times or so, works great.
For the butt, yeah that's probably not going to work. Would take many hours and the outside would be like leather. Best bet for large cuts is as advised above - days in fridge ideally, or the old plastic bag and sink full of water trick.
I appreciate all the feedback and tips. I took some notes. I pulled the ribs out yesterday, popped them in the frig. DId a quick look today and they are good to go! I will be doing some ribs on my new WSM!
Thank you again!
I watched a thing from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt and in an effort to save water he recommended for quick thawing not using water, but, instead placing the frozen item on an aluminum jelly roll pan or tray. I use this kitchen trick all of the time and it works well. I'm including the link below. He discusses using the aluminum tray at about the 3:10 point in the video.
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