Near tragedy? Or not??

run4jc · November 2008

:ohmy: Can't believe it - left out a 7 pound butt all night. It was slow smoked (on the egg of course) - we'd wrapped it and put it in the 'fridge (did 2 at the same time over the weekend). My wife got it out in case the meat I'd already pulled wasn't enough - she heated it in the oven (still whole.) We didn't need it so we left it to cool then absent mindedly went off to be without storing it.

And I know the food rules.....

BUT - I know smoke preserves, and it is about 68 in my house at night - I put it back in the 'fridge at 4:45 AM - so it was out from 6 PM til 4:45 AM.

Do you think it's a goner? Or did the smoke save me?

Mainegg · November 2008

OUCH! :S I know the food rules and would not feed it to anyone else. Not sure what I would do for us though..... I have an iron stomach LOL :pinch: A lot of people have tossed them for less than that. Food poisoning is not pretty :sick:

gdenby · November 2008

According the rules, as you know, that has to be tossed. While both smoke and many of the items in rubs do preserve, I don't think what you have approaches an air dried prosciutto.

Considering what I sometimes find growing in the back of my 'fridge, if it were me, I'd think what I had was a fine lump of fungus culture, especially if the meat was just re-heated, and not re-cooked. So, for me, it would be bye-bye to the meat.

As a BTW, I recently replaced my 'fridge, because it would not hold temperature. I learned this the hard way when I opened 20 lbs of cryovac'd spare ribs that had been in the fridge for 5 days. Whew! :pinch:

LESAGEMIKE · November 2008

Its a tragedy not a near tragedy. Not worth getting sick twice over!! Take the emotional loss and stay healthy, toss it.

The Naked Whiz · November 2008

No way I'd eat that thing. It just isn't worth it over a relatively inexpensive piece of meat. Pitch it, live and learn.

Now, on the topic of leaving food out, I recall the time when my wife (yes, the wife who....), well, let me explain. My wife doesn't know where food comes from. She thinks it appears by magic on the plate and then I bring it to the dining table. In fact, she will often be sitting at the dining room table when I bring the plates in and then squeal with delight, "Oh goody! You have made dinner magically appear on the plates again!" Thus, when time comes to clean up after dinner, she doesn't realize that there may be pots or pans sitting on the stove which need to be cleaned. Combine this with the Forgetful Chef (me) who sometimes forgets to serve everything that he has prepared, and the stage was set for a disaster. Thus it was that six weeks after I had prepared a meal, I went into the cupboard to fetch a sauce pan and found an unusually heavy sauce pan. A sauce pan with a moving center of gravity. I.e., a sauce pan that wasn't empty. Inside said sauce pan I found some six week old peas which had been aging in the cupboard. Knowing the food rules, I decided that these were not preserved peas and thus decided not to reheat them and serve them....

fishlessman · November 2008

ive eaten ALOT worse than that but wouldnt tell others to do so. turkey sits out for days in the basement or in the garage while i eat sandwiches from it, ive eaten chili daily for weeks adding new ingrediants every day to keep it going and the pot never leaves the stove. but this stuff can kill you, im surprised ive lived so long. i would eat it, serve it to my brother or dad, but i wouldnt give it to those who havent been trained in fighting off deadly bacterias :laugh:

gdenby · November 2008

There might be something about chili. I roomed in a house where one fellow would slow cook chili for several days in a huge cast iron pot. Everyone in the neighborhood could smell it. After 3 - 4 days, it had about the consistency of fresh asphalt paving. He'd heat it up 2 times a day, and eat it for a week. No one else would touch it, but he never seemed any worse for it.

run4jc · November 2008

Thanks All. I may post an obituary.....services tonight when I get home.

"Lovely 7 pound pork butt, lovingly rubbed with olive oil and dizzy dust, injected with a home made concoction that tasted remarkably good, smoked with chunks of cherry and natural lump charcoal for 15 hours in a large Big Green Egg, gave its life yesterday due to the absent mindedness of the chef. Members of its home enjoyed a companion butt the night before and marveled at the tenderness, juicyness and remarkable flavor. We can only imagine that this 7 pounder had the same wonderful flavor.

Now it is time for it to land in an unmarked grave in the trash cart to be carryed away by the garbage service. It is making this sacrifice to ensure the health of the carnivores residing in the home. Humans and dogs everywhere lament its passing and are in mourning......"

Cracked myself up.....

:lol:

fishlessman · November 2008

most of my roommates in college wouldnt touch the stuff either, that was the best benefit, knowing nobody was going to eat my food. i did have one friend that grew up on a farm that could eat anything that you really knew was bad. watched him hang a fresh caught salmon in a tree one day, then clean it the next and leave it wrapped in foil on a picnic table in the sun for the day, and then cook and eat it that night.

stike · November 2008

i grew up where there were cows in my back yard.

mom would thaw the roast on the counter all day, then cook it. after cooking it, it would sit on the stove top under foil for the night. maybe into the freezer at bedtime or into the woodshed (attached to the back door) if it was cold enough.

i wouldn't eat it now, but we sure a heck have in 1972.

stike · November 2008

hahahaha

somehow i knew we'd have similar answers.

our turkey would go into the garage. best spot was on the driver's seat of my dad's '35 ford. kept the cats away from it that way.

stike · November 2008

just to clarify, the smoke and spice don't literally 'preserve' so much as kill surface bacteria.... if you were making a country ham, the brine would do the vast majority of preserving, whereas the smoke and pellicle would help anything at the surface.

i guess there's not LOGICALLY anything dangerous about cooking the butt, pulling it, wrapping it in plastic wrap and forgetting it on the counter. not sure what infection it could pick up, unless it became cross-contaminated (that's the risk of cooked food for the most part).

Sundown · November 2008

Whiz! Don't you do dishes too? She married you for your culinary and clean-up skills. Not to mention you know where to buy cell phones at a big discount!

The Naked Whiz · November 2008

Actually, I have volunteered to clean up the dishes after dinner and just ask her to clean up the counter and the sink, but she refuses to let me. (To anyone new this "the wife who..." thing, she is the most wonderful woman in the world and I am totally devoted to her, but she does sometimes provide me with material......)

egret · November 2008

You'd better clarify that! That Pauline is one fine lady!

FlaPoolman · November 2008

You sure it wasn't your"friend", the one that likes smoked cheese

BigT · November 2008

One year at last call during our Xmas house party, a guest went to the microwave to touch up her mulled cider and found the casserole dish of roasted asparagus that never made it to the buffet.

It made lovely parting gifts for some of the guests...

Celtic Wolf · November 2008

I am thinking you need a maid!!

Good thing my wife doesn't know the room she enters the house in is the kitchen..

Best place to hide her Christmas present is the oven. She won't look in there and I don't use it.

Sundown · November 2008

My wife wanted to go someplace new and different so I took her into the kitchen

The Naked Whiz · November 2008

Absolutely. I am the luckiest man on the planet! Not only is she a wonderful wife, but she also makes me laugh!

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Near tragedy? Or not??

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