Is my butt still good?

XC242

My wife still thinks so,,, oops, did I say that out loud?

Anyways, I bought a cryovac pork butt from a friend who bought it from a wholesaler on October 9. I got it from him about 5-7 days after that and it's been in my fridge since then. It's Nov. 13, is it okay to still use it? There was no sell by or use by date on the package.

theyolksonyou

That dress makes it look fat, but how does it smell?

JRWhitee

+1 on smell, the nose knows. I was making sausage once with Butt that had been in the fridge a week I started cubing it up and it wasn't hard to tell I needed to trash it. 

XC242

It's still in the bag. I don't normally wear a dress...

JRWhitee

Or you could cook it anyway and feed it to some packer fans...oops did I say that out loud?

Focker

Pork doesn't last long in the fridge.  Beef in the cryovac is wet aging.  Usually go two weeks wet age in cryovac before the 4 week dry age phase.

Guessing it will end up in the trash.  Over a month is a long time...for pork. 

Let your olfactory receptors guide you. 

Grillin_beers

Make sure you have a trash bag ready when you open it. It's probably gonna smell pretty foul.

DieselkW

Open up that cryovac and you'll know immediately if it's time to throw it in the garbage, or take it outside and throw it in the neighbor's trash can. 

Pork has a decidedly pungent smell once it's turned, and even if you rinse it and cook it, why would you risk having a nasty tasting butt? (pun intended)

My first wife, God rest her gentle soul, always said: "When in doubt, throw it out".

Eggcelsior

Typical low oxygen packaging is recommended safe for 3-4 weeks. You're right around that so cut it open and rinse or just let the nitrogen funk dissipate. If funk still resides, toss it.

XC242

@JRWhitee‌, Tee, hee, hee, hee... See you next year dude...

Carolina Q

I would imagine it's bad by now. I mean it was purchased 5 WEEKS ago and not frozen. Pork chops sure go bad quickly in the fridge, though they aren't cryovac'd. Still, it's been 5 weeks! 

For future reference, you can cook a butt without defrosting. Just season and toss it on the egg.

XC242

Thanks gang, I'll open it up this weekend (outside) and give it the smell test. I'm not holding out much hope. I'm an idiot for leaving it this long. Wanted to buy a freezer for this kind of stuff but our clothes washer just took a crap so the freezer $$ went into a new washer.

JRWhitee

XC242 said:

Thanks gang, I'll open it up this weekend (outside) and give it the smell test. I'm not holding out much hope. I'm an idiot for leaving it this long. Wanted to buy a freezer for this kind of stuff but our clothes washer just took a crap so the freezer $$ went into a new washer.

Just put your food in the garage, you live in Wisconsin it will stay frozen. :((

XC242

I can start doing that this week. Up til now it hasn't been quite cold enough.

shtgunal3

Do yourself a favor and just toss it in the trash.