So I marinated some pork chops and put them in the refrigerator. I didn’t get to cook them tonight. How long can I keep them in the marinade in the fridge without cooking?
The biggest issue with the marinade would be how strongly flavored it was. A milder one? You could leave them in there until you cook them, presumably tomorrow or the next day. A stronger one? You’d probably want to drain the marinade.
If the marinade is salty, the meat will firm up and perhaps become somewhat ‘hammy’ textured. Same if it’s acidic. Neither is likely enough to leave the pork inedible.
Yeah, the saltiness will cause it to basically become a “cure” more than a marinade.
That said, there are people who marinate their chops and chicken and steak and whatnot in Italian dressing or whatever for 24 hours or more and enjoy it, so I suspect you’ll be fine. Typically, though, for chops I don’t go with anything longer than about a two-hour marinade. The texture does change with a long marinade, but it’ll still be fine to eat.
Yeah it’s more acidic than salty
acidic marinades won’t penetrate the meat more than a mm or two (brines are a different story.) it might alter the surface texture more the longer it sits in there, but I doubt it’ll be a problem.
Mmm… Pork ceviche!
We marinated some boneless pork chops with a lime based marinade, but didn’t get a chance to cook them before we left on vacation. We were gone for 10 days, and the meat smelled fine when we took it out of the sealed container. I was very unsure of eating the pork, but I baked it in the oven until the internal temp was ~155F and let it rest for a few minutes afterward. It was still tender and juicy, and I’m not dead yet. 