HELP: When do you know your meat is bad?

Bootleg

I bought a steak last week and pulled it out of the fridge and it has browned and has an unpleasant smell. How do you tell if it needs to be thrown out? Thanks!

Bootleg

Firetruck

The nose knows Chunk it!

Little Steven

Rinse it with water and see if the smell goes away. If the smell is a gagging smell toss it. If it smells musky but you don't feel like gagging it should be ok. Just an opinion.

Steve

Village Idiot

When your wife says, "EEWWWWW, smell this !!!!!", throw it away.

That goes for milk too. :laugh: :laugh:

SmokinParrotHead

Rinse it and smell it again. Browning isn't always an indication........oxygen makes meat brown......

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker

hard to diagnose ober the internet. Does it smell truly 'bad' or just 'different'? You will gag if it is truly bad.

I only mention that because quite a few of us dry or wet age our beef, and there's nothing bad about it just because it's old, necessarily. If your fridge temps are good, the meat should be too.

Don't eat it if it is unappetizing, but don't throw it out because it's brown. Frankly, the brown steak is the best one in the case.

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker

'musky' is the best word so far for aged meat. I have always defaulted to 'gamey', but I think musky covers it well. Slightly metallic, too.

Little Steven

I read your book.

Steve

Carolina Q

So does LACK of oxygen. Seems that when you vac seal a steak or a burger and leave it in the fridge, u wake up in the morning and it's no longer red.

This thread reminds me of a Walter Matthau line in The Odd Couple. Poker game. One of the guys goes to get a snack out of the fridge. Asks Matthau what the green stuff is. Matthau says, "It's either very old meat or very new cheese."