What do you do now?
Well, the following is a tip for when you need to thaw your ground beef (or other ground meat) in a short period of time - shorter than running it under cold water for a couple of hours. Is it the best way to thaw out frozen meat? Nope. The best way is to transfer the frozen meat into the fridge and let it take the time to thaw out - usually making the transfer the night before at a minimum. This tip is only if you have forgotten to plan ahead.
Step 1: Take out a frying pan and place it on the stove. If the dish you're making involves cooking on the stove, then try to do this in the same pan you plan on using for the meal. This will cut down on your dishes after cooking.
Step 2: Put the frozen ground meat into the pan, and get a spatula and fork/tongs/etc. ready.
Step 3: Turn the burner on the lowest possible setting. This will heat the pan enough to thaw the frozen outer layers of the meat, but not enough that the meat will start to cook.
Step 4: Let the block of meat sit in the pan for about a half a minute, then flip it over. The top layer should be nice and soft. Hold the meat firmly with a fork or tongs as you use the spatula to scrape off the top layer of thawed meat. Then, flip it over and repeat on the other side. Continue flipping the meat over and scraping off the thawed areas.
Step 6: Continue with cooking your meal.
Remember, the key here is to keep the pan at the lowest heat setting possible. Any higher, and you'll be cooking the meat while you're trying to thaw it - which makes timing cooking a little more difficult. It also makes it harder to make things like burger patties if the meat is already partially cooked.
I hope that this tip helps. I've had to resort to this method of thawing meat several times myself. Like I mentioned, it's best to plan ahead and thaw your ingredients slowly. If you don't though, here's a way that you can still cook the meal you want, even though your ingredients aren't necessarily ready.
Good luck!
