As this is a food handling tip, it is presented as documention of something I do. That does not mean I suggest you do it. As with all things, the foremost rule is: use your discretion. I am not responsible for anything you do.
I wish I could remember who showed this to me. This is one of the most useful tips I've ever received. I use this all the time. It even works for frozen-solid inch-thick pork chops. I just did it tonight.
To fully defrost a completely frozen steak in 30 minutes:
1.) Wrap it tightly in something 100% watertight. The watertightness is essential otherwise you will ruin it rather than defrost it. High-quality bags might work in lieu of anything else.
2.) Fully submerge it in a bowl or container of cold tapwater. Put something on top of it to keep it submerged if you need to.
3.) Wait 30 minutes.
4.) Remove it from the water. It is defrosted.
It's like magic.
The way this works is, water is a much better conductor of heat than air. Even though the water from your tap may feel cold, it’s still much warmer than your freezer, and it transfers energy to the frozen meat way faster than just letting it sit out on the counter. And it defrosts it all the way through, evenly, as if you'd left it out overnight.
If you use hot water, you risk raising the surface temperature too high, and dormant microbes in the meat or even the air around the meat might take the opportunity to start reproducing, which is seriously squicky. So stick with cold water from the tap. It's fine. You're not going to to much better than frozen to totally ready to cook in a half hour no matter what.
The one thing this doesn't work so well for is fowl, like cornish hens... they have a huge open space in the ribs, full of air, and whatever ice is in there won't melt because it's insulated by the ribcage and meat. So, stick with chops, steaks, etc.
