Mdtryhht

I started thawing a thick cut of London Broil (maybe 1.5 lbs) in cold water and then I realized I didn’t want to start cooking it yet. I’ve moved it to the fridge.

While thawing in cold water, I had not sealed the meat completely in a zipper bag, but instead wrapped it in cling wrap. It was pretty well covered (double wrapped), but some water may have gotten in and it wasn’t sealed off entirely from the air. (Research has left me concerned that this may have been bad)

Is this a problem?

Background info: In total it was out of the freezer in cold water for maybe 45 minutes, and the outside has begun to thaw. I’ve put it back in the fridge after washing the container it was in with soap and hot water.
I plan to cook it in a crock pot for 8 hours after browning it on the stove top.

Safely? Yes.

Cold water thaws are fine. It's hot or warm water thawing that's bad.

Cold running water will thaw faster than cold still water, but cold still water is okay as you basically have a giant ice cube in the water (the thing you're thawing), so the water stays at a safe temperature until you're towards the end of the thaw ... it just takes a really long time compared to thaw running water.

The only issue here would be the meat getting wet. If it's clean water, and you don't drip it on other things it shouldn't be a problem from a safety standpoint. It can change the quality of the food being thawed (wash away flavors, cause the food to absorb too much water), so if you're going to do it intentionally, it can be worth adding salt to brine the item being thawed.

So, from a safety standpoint, what you're doing is fine ... so long as your fridge temp is set well.

I'll agree with other Joe on the safety side of things: as long as the water didn't get much above 40, which it won't until after it's thawed, you're fine.

As far as the water getting in the cling wrap: that's where I tend to have more worries. I sous-vide a lot, and the worst thing to happen there is for water to get into the bag. Water that's been sitting out for a while, especially if it's in a plastic container (like my sous-vide setup), will have all sorts of smells and tastes - less if it's cold than if it's warm like my sous-vide, but still some - and additionally even plain water will have effects on the texture and taste of the meat.

If it was still largely frozen, odds are it won't have too much of an impact - especially if not very much water got in. But I would use a zip-top bag, or something else that is definitely water impermeable, if I were going to thaw it in water of any sort, to avoid any potential issues with the flavor and texture. And, I'd probably remove it from the wrapping now and put it in a new wrapping, to make sure there's not water trapped inside the plastic.