Meat unrefridgerated overnight

jocstoke

I bought some very expensive beef short ribs from the butcher yesterday. Last night I put them in a marinade of soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil etc. and put them in Tupperware in the fridge, but didn't realise I'd accidentally turned the fridge off maybe an hour before. I turned it on when I got up at 6am. Am I going to have to throw the meat away? Will be gutted if so, £20 down the drain! It smelt okay but don't know if the soy/aromatics would drown out any dodgy smells from the meat.

CRANKY40

The meat will be fine. The fridge is an insulated cupboard that should have held it's temperature fairly well and it's still not that warm overnight anyway.

Farway

CRANKY40 wrote: »

The meat will be fine. The fridge is an insulated cupboard that should have held it's temperature fairly well and it's still not that warm overnight anyway.

Plus the marinade will have a preserving effect with the soy / sugar/ oil

-taff

It'll take more than overnight in a fridge to make them go off. It's not warm, as Cranky says, it's also insulated, and you were marinading them.
If it was the height of summer, they were uncovered on the side and flies were landing on it, then I'd worry.

For example, I made fajita filling with chicken on Monday, we ate it, I left it in the saucepan on the cooker all of tuesday without reheating it, then we ate the rest last night. We're fine. It was OK because it is still cold, there's not much heat happening in the kitchen, it was covered and I heated it thoroughly.

Some things you can do it with, some things you can't. I woldn't do it with offal for example...

kazwookie

It will be fine, cook, eat, enjoy.

PS turn the fridge back on

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Please do not eat it, you can never be too sure. Normally I would be able to test it for you, but I am in the USA at the moment. If you have children, you should test it on them. If not, you’re in deep bits!

Fire_Fox

Farway wrote: »

Plus the marinade will have a preserving effect with the soy / sugar/ oil

I don't think this is correct.

The salt and sugar will be diluted well below the level at which they act as preservatives. Oils/ fats do not support growth unless water is added/ included (in the soy and meat itself). Given the mixture the meat protein, sugar and oil could all support the growth of microbes over time.

Having said that, being in a cool insulated location overnight should make the ribs safe to eat once well cooked.

Debran

Our ancestors did not have fridges. Until about the 1960's only the wealthier people had a fridge. I used to keep meat etc in the pantry (which was not particularly cold and just had a concrete shelf with wooden shelves above) until I was about 30. I'm still here to tell the tale.

mumf

Hi,I am a butcher of nearly 40 years.It will be fine.Bacteria lives on the surface of carcass meat.Cooking will kill it.

molerat

How did we ever survive

Owain_Moneysaver

Stares of Romsey also did a nice line in poultry