I’ve been frustrated with the rate that large cuts of meat thaw at and have used a variety of methods (running under water; microwaving; or, thawing as part of the cook step) to speed it up. I’ve never resorted to beating the meat on the pavement. According to the Daily Mail, that’s what a chef at a San Francisco restaurant decided to do (below, exactly as shown).

Captured on video outside Lucky River, a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco’s Sunnyside neighborhood, the chef appears to lift and slam two slabs of beef up and down onto the ground.

When a concerned inspector from the city’s health department arrived to question the apparently bemused staff, they simply said the man was attempting to tenderize the meat and ‘defrost’ it by beating it off the concrete.

However, when local news made the trip down to examine the exact section of sidewalk they discovered it was covered in gum, cigarette butts and general filth. The owner of the restaurant said that the defrosting incident was an isolated one and that the meat was never used in any meals.

After seeing the shocking video, the San Francisco Public Health Department gave the owners of Lucky River just one month to clean up their act or face closure. If the owners do not get their staff to enroll in an eight-hour Food Manager Class, earn and print food handlers cards and go on remedial food safety courses within one month, the restaurant will be forced to close.