Christopher wrote:

Although it's true that an aluminum pan will thaw meat quicker than other
surfaces, it's a fact, that submerging in cold water is still the best
defrost. If you need to keep the meat out of the water, put it in a plastic
bag before putting it in the water and remove most or all of the air. If
it's been vacuum sealed, even better... don't open it, just drop it in the
water.

This works even better if you put the container of water under a slowly
running tap -- or a fast-running tap, if you're in a real hurry.

snip

Thawing is easy if you freeze things flat. Just place pieces in
an aluminum pan and let it sit. Every so often flip the meat
to the other side, no heating required. The aluminum dissipates
heat and cold very quickly, basically sucking the cold out of the
meat. Thanks to Walter Rhee for that little trick.

Hmm. The transfer is going in the other direction.


--
Dan