To see how aluminum surfaces work with solid food, I thawed Original Bubba Burger patties using four methods: on a wooden cutting board, on an aluminum sheet pan, sandwiched between two aluminum sheet pans, and on the Cuisinart BBQ Defrosting Tray.
The patty on the wooden cutting board took nearly two hours to thaw, whereas the patties on the aluminum sheet pan and the defrosting tray took 25 to 30 minutes. When I used the single aluminum sheet pan and the defrosting tray, I had to flip the patty halfway through to achieve more evenly thawed results.
To bypass flipping the patty and expedite the thawing process, I also tested sandwiching the frozen patty between two aluminum sheet pans. In doing so, I was able to fully and evenly thaw the frozen burger patty in under 20 minutes.
Ultimately, I found that the better the contact between the aluminum surface and the frozen food was, the quicker and more uniformly it thawed. The sandwiching technique really works only with flatter or thinner foods—such as frozen flank steak, ribeye, burger patties, chicken cutlets, or salmon filets—because bulkier, irregularly shaped foods (think a rack of lamb) have less direct contact with the aluminum.
Considering that regular aluminum sheet pans work just as well as—if not better than—a defrosting tray, as Marilyn had recommended, I don’t see the need to invest in a pricey, single-purpose tool like a defrosting tray. In addition to thawing food, they can do a wide array of jobs around the kitchen, from baking cookies to collecting overflowing juices from a roasting chicken to helping you carry ingredients from point A to point B.
