Meaty Question

unaveragejane

How can I tell if my meat is still good? I started thawing a roast in the fridge on Wednesday. It is very thick and wasn't completely thawed until Friday. When I looked up the FDA meat safety guidelines, it said roasts can be kept in the fridge safely for 3-5 days. That seems like a big margin for error. Is it 3 or 4 or 5? I smelled the roast when I opened it this morning, and it had no smell at all, so I went ahead and put it in the crock pot with seasonings. It will have cooked on low for 10+ hours (per the recipe) by the time we eat it -- if we eat it. If it makes any difference, the beef was from a local pastured cow and was in a vacuum sealed package until I opened it. It was still quite red with just a few slightly brown spots.

Brandiewine11

If it didn't smell you are totally fine. You would know if it was bad. Sounds tasty. Enjoy your dinner.

mnfarmgal

I believe the 3-5 day guideline is for fresh meats.  Typically, we try to use up our frozen meat within 12 months (longer than this it can get freezer burn).  Also, because the meat was from a pastured (grass-fed) cow, the meat may smell/taste a bit "earthy" comapared to meat you find in the grocery store (mostly grain-fed). As long as you follow proper cooking instructions/methods, you should be fine.

unaveragejane

Few! Thanks, ladies. I was afraid I had wasted a good roast!

Mandmeesh

Yeah. No smell= fine to eat. Bad meat smells so disgusting, so you would have known

unaveragejane

Mapleme said:

Yup, you are just fine. You can age meat for quite a while in vacuum sealed bags. It's called wet aging and is actually a benefit. Grass fed meat tends to oxidize (turn brown) more easily than the supermarket stuff, so coloration is little indication of spoilage. Also, if you think meat is fine, but are feeling just a little squeamish, cooking the crap out of it should take care of that squeamishness. And slow cooking for 10 hours is the definition of cooking the crap out of it. So, when should I show up for dinner?

DH was just googling how to age beef a few weeks ago. I don't remember exactly why, but in typical DH fashion, it had something to do with how we needed to start a raising cows, learn how to butcher them, and then age them ourselves to sell to fancy restaurants. Oh, and maybe we need to open our own fancy restaurant. The guy dreams so big it makes my brain hurt sometimes. And yet he spends hours every evening playing some kind of little game where he basically stares at a map and sends horse icons out to raid caches of treasure, in b/n scoping out ebay for Crestron equipment. Boys are so weird.

ETA We'll be eating around 5:30 Central. Bring a bib...this joker looks juicy.

countrycotton

unaveragejane said:

Mapleme said:

Yup, you are just fine. You can age meat for quite a while in vacuum sealed bags. It's called wet aging and is actually a benefit. Grass fed meat tends to oxidize (turn brown) more easily than the supermarket stuff, so coloration is little indication of spoilage. Also, if you think meat is fine, but are feeling just a little squeamish, cooking the crap out of it should take care of that squeamishness. And slow cooking for 10 hours is the definition of cooking the crap out of it. So, when should I show up for dinner?

DH was just googling how to age beef a few weeks ago. I don't remember exactly why, but in typical DH fashion, it had something to do with how we needed to start a raising cows, learn how to butcher them, and then age them ourselves to sell to fancy restaurants. Oh, and maybe we need to open our own fancy restaurant. The guy dreams so big it makes my brain hurt sometimes. And yet he spends hours every evening playing some kind of little game where he basically stares at a map and sends horse icons out to raid caches of treasure, in b/n scoping out ebay for Crestron equipment. Boys are so weird.

ETA We'll be eating around 5:30 Central. Bring a bib...this joker looks juicy.

Change the video game to liveleak videos and we could have the same DH. We already raise cattle, but DH is dreaming of raising waygu.  

We tend to eat red meat even if it has a big of smell to it, honestly we think it improves the taste. 

unaveragejane

Chickypoo2468 said:

I generally don't wait for food to thaw to crock pot it....

I do some things straight from the freezer to the crock pot, but I wasn't sure if I could do that with a roast and still have it done by dinner time.

TugboatSheila

We bought some grassfed beef from our grocery store that smelled like sulfur to the max. Now DH won't buy grassfed beef anymore.

I really had nothing to add but wanted to share with the class

Brandiewine11

Mapleme said:

We bought some grassfed beef from our grocery store that smelled like sulfur to the max. Now DH won't buy grassfed beef anymore.

I really had nothing to add but wanted to share with the class

That is so sad! Grassfed meat is meatier tasting, but in no way should smell like sulphur. Grilled grassfed hamburgers with herbs worked into the meat are like the most delicious things ever.

That is really sad. I think it really depends on where it comes from. Our neighbors got some from a local place and it really was tough and gross tasting. However, we get grass fed beef & dairy, as well as locally pasture raised pork from a local farm as part of our CSA and it is absolutely amazing. I have trouble with grocery store meat now! We're lucky to have a freezer full of the CSA meat, venison, and buffalo!

stoneycakes

Yeah, we just started buying meat from a farm that raises Highland cattle and it's the best beef I've ever had.  And I've eaten quite a bit of grassfed beef.