Poisonous gas!??????????? that makes no sense

it's possible that the caution exists because you have to be more careful with cooking chicken that is frozen or semi-frozen to make sure it's cooked all the way through - as uncooked chicken is a food poisoning risk

We do it regularly. Generally we defrost slightly in the microwave if need be. I find semi-frozen chicken breast is easier to cut into strips for a stirfry.

In short, as long as you make sure it is cooked all the way through it is safe.

Poison gas! - of course not - an "Old wife's - or old mother's tale".

The only problem that exists with chicken is the possibility of infection with salmonella or campyllobacter, both of which are killed by heat.

It is often recommended that chicken be cooked to an internal temperature of 85C (185F) - though others accept that 77C (170F) is adequate.

If you cook chicken from frozen, it takes longer to reach the required temperature. Thin escalopes, breast fillets and legs/thighs should be OK. Whole birds, especially if stuffed, are particularly dangerous, as it is quite likely that the outside will be cooked before the centre is defrosted. The same applies to prepared dishes, which should never be frozen uncooked, and must be thoroughly reheated.

You will often see, in cooking directions for food to be cooked from frozen, the instruction - make sure the food is piping hot (the derivation of this little phrase is the sizzling, whistling sound made by steam escaping from very hot food, which is similar to the sound of high-pitched musical pipes). Safest way is to use a food thermometer thrust into the thickest part of the meat.

Last edited by GeoffP (Sat 19 Jan 08 10:58am)

She'd probably had it told to her. These stories come up around things that are food safety risks and get elaborated on until they seem quite ridiculous. Someone may have realised that improperly cooked frozen chicken meat made people sick and then others may have taken it on as avoiding cooking chicken from frozen to eliminate the risk. Then suddenly cooking chicken from frozen becomes bad/unsafe.

Why not? as long as the internal temperature hits the right value then it's fine. In effect by cooking it you defrost it. You are warming the meat up and then quickly taking it past the danger zone into the temperatures that are safe. You aren't going to warm it to 50C and leave it there. It's a lot safer than leaving chicken to defrost on a bench and no different to defrosting in the microwave.

Of course this is much more difficult to achieve with an entire chicken as opposed to thin slices or small pieces in a stew. There are certain recipes that lend themselves to use of semi-frozen and frozen chicken - like stirfry and stews. A whole chicken will be overdone on the outside if cooked to the right temperature inside if cooked from frozen.

Chicken food safety fact sheet
http://www.chicken.org.au/files/_system … lowres.pdf

As for other meats, red meats that are whole (i.e. not minced) can be cooked rare (unlike chicken that needs cooking all the way through) - I've cooked steaks that weren't thawed all the way through and it was fine. Again you are heating the important parts of the meat through the danger zone and quickly to a safe temperature.

here's another food safety booklet
http://www.foodsafety.asn.au/_srcfiles/ … ochure.pdf

Last edited by The White Rabbit (Sat 19 Jan 08 10:47pm)

Whole birds and very thick parts should be defrosted in full (as Geoff pointed out the outside will be charred while the inside is still ice cold if not).

For schnitzel etc. I usually let them defrost in full also to have full control over doneness vs. perfectly crisp outside. (Just transfer to the fridge the night before.)

If chopping up or finely slicing I only defrost to the point when still rather stiff, but I can get the knife through.


Salmonella (etc) are particularly dangerous for children, the elderly or anyone with a week immune system. My OH had campyllobacter (sp?) a few years ago (it's symptoms are almost the same as salmonella but not quite as severe and dangerous) and he could hardly sit up. It was suspected that he got it from food at uni. The doctor said to make sure not to use a fork or spatula to remove cooked chicken from pan when it was used to handle raw or half cooked chicken before - to avoid new contamination. It's common sense really, but the one thing many of us tend to forget