Zanussi HC9518 Instructions For The Use & Care page 15

Defrosting in the Fan Oven
The fan oven has a defrost facility
marked on the control dial When
the control is set to this position, the fan
oven operates with the fan only switched
on i.e. without heat or neon indication.
This enables some foods to be defrosted
more quickly than conventional methods
due to the fast circulating air in the oven,
although the actual speed of defrosting
will be determined by the ambient
temperature.
The type of foods suitable for thawing
without heat are delicate frozen foods to
be served cold, such as fruit, cream, fresh
cream or butter-cream filled cakes and
gateaux, cakes coated with icings,
frostings or chocolate, cheesecakes,
quiches, pastries, biscuits, scones, bread
and other yeast products such as
doughnuts, buns and croissants, etc.
Faster defrosting of bread and plain
cakes may be carried out with the heat,
using the lower temperature settings,
(80°-90°C) on the oven control, although
food may go stale more quickly if
thawed in this way. Small cooked pastry
items, e.g. tarts, pies, sausage rolls and
mince pies can be heated through without
thawing first. Place into a cold oven set
at 190/200°C for 20-40 minutes,
depending on the quantity, size and
required serving temperature.
It is normally preferable to thaw fish,
meat and poultry slowly in the
refrigerator. However, this process can be
accelerated by thawing in the fan oven
without heat using the defrost feature:-
Small or thin pieces of frozen fish or
meat items such as fish fillets, frozen
peeled prawns, cubed or minced meat,
sliced meats such as liver, thin chops,
steaks etc., will be defrosted in 1-2 hours.
The frozen food should be placed in a
single layer where possible and if
necessary turned over halfway through
the defrosting process.
Joints of meat and poultry MUST BE
THAWED THOROUGHLY BEFORE
COOKING. A1 '/
2
kg (31b) oven-ready
chicken may be thawed in approximately
5 hours using the defrost feature and the
giblets must be removed as soon as
possible during the thawing process.
Faster defrosting can be carried out using
the lower temperatures on the oven
control dial (80-90°C) when the chicken
will be thawed in 2-7}h hours, remove
the giblets after 1-2 hours.
These methods of defrosting meat and
poultry using the fan oven are only
applicable for joints up to 2kg (41b) in
weight and ALWAYS COOK
THOROUGHLY IMMEDIATELY
AFTER THAWING.
A medium size casserole or stew can be
thawed without heat using the defrost
feature in 3-4 hours. However, if time is
short, the casserole may be reheated
without thawing first. Place into a cold
oven set at 180-190°C for V/^-2'h hours,
depending on the size and shape of the
container. It will be necessary to stir or
break up the contents during the heating
process.
NOTE
Care must always be taken when
handling foods in the home. Always
follow the basic rules of food hygiene to
prevent bacterial and microbial growth
and cross contamination when
defrosting, preparing, cooking, cooling
and freezing foods.
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