He's going to give himself food poisoning isn't he?

[6hoursawayfromdisaster]

DBIL bought a huge bag of lovely fresh mussels. Delivered by a local fishmonger earlier this week.

He froze the mussels and has pulled them out of the freezer with the intention of having them for dinner tonight.

AIBU to think that 6 hours on a counter really isnt enough time to safely defrost them and he's likely to give himself, my sister, my mother and their kids the shits?

Yabu - 6 hours sitting out is more than enough time
Yanbu - that's a recipe for disaster and quite frankly a risk in these toilet roll restricted times

You can cook mussels from frozen, they'll be fine.

Mussels are tiny - I think 6 hrs would be plenty actually

I think they’ll be fine. Maybe you could let us know tomorrow?

It won’t be a mystery you’ll be able to tell if they’re defrosted

Thanks! I am definitely over cautious when it comes to seafood so I think this is one of those occasions where everyone will be glad that I'm wrong

I will both report back tomorrow and ask for pictures of whatever he creates for scientific purposes

It should be fine as they are small. I am cautious with shellfish, I remember saying at work ‘oh I forgot to defrost some prawns for dinner!’ A girl at work said ‘you’ve got a hot water tap, just run them under hot water’ no thanks!

YANBU
You should never ever defrost any shellfish or meat on the counter at room temperature. That causes bacteria to multiply and cause food poisoning.
The slower they defrost, the better the quality is preserved too.
You should defrost them in the fridge or in a sink of cold water that you refresh with more cold water frequently.

@Likethebattle we’re they the tiny little pink prawns? If so, they’re already cooked so I used to just run them under the cold tap to defrost, or soak them in a bowl of water for half hour.
But if you’re talking uncooked grey ones, then yeah they’d need to be properly defrosted surely.

Ugh, grammatical typo - ‘were’*

MNers are obsessed by food poisoning, there's no 100% link between eating something a bit frozen or 30 minutes after it's use by date,

I'm sure I'm not unique in using common sense when eating and I've had food poisoning once in my life and it was from a restaurant.

Defrost them in cold water not at room temp. Cook as directed and discard any that don't open.

Enjoy! I loved mussels with garlic and parsley and lemon juice and loads of crusty bread (I don't eat them now as I am vegan).

Oh FallonSwift that sounds delicious!

He has decided to slowly defrost overnight so I'll suggest that as a way to have them tomorrow

Surely freezing them will have killed them and now none of them will open so you won't know which are good or not? I only ever cook fresh shellfish whilst they are still alive though so I may be wrong!

@wastinglife they were raw king prawns. Even the cooked ones I’d still rather defrost ‘naturally my but if needed would run them
through some cold water. I have stomach issues so I am very careful.

A girl at work said ‘you’ve got a hot water tap, just run them under hot water’ no thanks!

Dont use the hot tap it just turns them into a block of ice! use the cold tap swish them around and replace the cold water as it warms.

Just had a quick look and the consensus seems to be, if you're going to freeze mussels, cook before freezing, freezing them live isn't really advised, but if you are, check that they're all sealed tightly or alive by tapping (as you would if cooking from fresh), if he's just chucked the bag in the freezer without checking them you're not going to be able to differentiate the ones that were good before freezing from the bad, as they'll all be dead now.

I'd proceed with caution!

Surely he would have cooked them before freezing?

Exactly what I was going to say Hairyhands! There are various fail-safes when cooking mussels & the main one is that you chuck any that haven’t opened during cooking......which they won’t do if frozen to death! Good luck op 🤢

I feel very confident that they were not cooked before opening!

I suppose lockdown means at least I dont need a polite excuse for why I'm not coming round for dinner

i eat frozen prawns, just let them melt in my mouth.
it hasn't made me ill

It’s probably safer to cook them from frozen than to leave out on a counter for 6 hours

6 hours on the on the counter for a dangerously too long.

I felt sick reading that!

Why do people defrost meat by leaving it out at room temp, so grim

He should have cooked them before freezing. They are now dead and consequently will not open when cooked. Therefore he will not know which are bad or good.