# Spoiling rate of refridgerated meat **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 10, 2006, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoiling-rate-of-refridgerated-meat/368126 "2006-08-10T05:26:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shai\_tan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Shai\_tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shai_tan)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2006, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoiling-rate-of-refridgerated-meat/368126/1 "2006-08-10T05:26:03Z")
I’m making Carne Adovada, a **delicious** New Mexican dish. (I will provide the recipe below on the off chance that any of the other ingredients would speed/slow spoilage. The recipe calls for the pork to be marinated in the other ingredients for 24 hours. We started the recipe last night and were going to start cooking it tonight. We were not able to get to it, and I would like to marinate it for another 12 hours before starting the cooking process in the morning. **Is 36 hours too long to leave pork marinating in the refridgerator?** I don’t want to risk making anyone sick. Recipe: Carne Adovada (Marinated Pork) Yield: 10 servings Roasting Time: 40-60 minutes (or longer in slow cooker) Temperature: 350°F Freezes Well 4 cloves garlic (minced) 1 tablespoon salt 1 tablespoon oregano 1 medium onion (optional) 2 recipes Chile Caribe\* 5 pounds lean pork steaks/loin (cubed) 1. Add garlic, salt, and oregano (and onion) to chile caribe. 2. Place pork steaks in large bowl and pour chile caribe mixture over cubed pork. Cover and regrigerate for 8-24 hours. 3. Transfer to glass baking dish or roasting pan and cook in a 350°F oven for 40-60 minutes. Or slow-cook in Crock Pot till meat is tender. Meat should _almost_ fall apart. (Do not allow meat to become dry as it cooks. Make sure it has enough Chile Caribe to keep it moist and succulent. - Chile Caribe is a concentrated marinade made with crushed New Mexican Red Chile and water. (link to [Chile Caribe](http://www.vivanewmexico.com/nm/food.recipes.cocinas.redchile.html#caribe) recipe) ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2006, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoiling-rate-of-refridgerated-meat/368126/2 "2006-08-10T05:49:48Z")
> [@Shai'tan](#): > > **Is 36 hours too long to leave pork marinating in the refridgerator?** I don’t want to risk making anyone sick. No, not even remotely close. That would mean that everyone cooks pork within 1 1/2 days after they buy it. That doesn’t happen. The exact time of freshness depends on lots of factors but 36 hours isn’t in the ballpark for spoiled pork. The marinade probably heps keep it even fresher than raw pork because of salt and vinegar or whatever else is in it. I buy these baby back ribs that are sealed in a package with marinade in it. You can buy buy those many days and probably weeks in advance and keep them in the refrigerator. ---
**Author:** ![Shai\_tan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Shai\_tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shai_tan)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2006, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoiling-rate-of-refridgerated-meat/368126/3 "2006-08-10T06:06:34Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > No, not even remotely close. That would mean that everyone cooks pork within 1 1/2 days after they buy it. My wife seems to think that the fact that we OPENED the package makes a big difference. That if the plastic has been taken off it begins to spoil soon. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2006, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoiling-rate-of-refridgerated-meat/368126/4 "2006-08-10T06:16:21Z")
> [@Shai'tan](#): > > My wife seems to think that the fact that we OPENED the package makes a big difference. That if the plastic has been taken off it begins to spoil soon. It does but the meat has already been exposed to all kinds of nasties in the slaughtering house and the meat department of whenever you buy it. They can’t sterilize either the place or the meat. Handling meat just adds a few more. Marinade tends to preserve meat. That time frame isn’t nearly long enough. Sometimes we marinate chicken for days at a time and it is even more fragile than pork. Cooking it sterilizes it even more. Beef can stay in the refrigerator for a really long time. Steaks are sometimes aged that way on purpose for up to a month. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoiling-rate-of-refridgerated-meat/368126/5 "2006-08-10T06:23:14Z")
I have been looking up suggestions and they all seem very conservation. They generally range from 2 - 5 days so you should be fine. They also suggest some nutty low times like 2 days for a package of bacon so it sounds like CYA stuff to me. Google “Pork Storage Guide” if you want more info. There are a bunch of conflicting ones. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2006, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoiling-rate-of-refridgerated-meat/368126/6 "2006-08-10T06:24:15Z")
conservation = conservation ---
**Author:** ![motomoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@motomoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motomoon)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2006, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoiling-rate-of-refridgerated-meat/368126/7 "2006-08-10T06:42:42Z")
Just today I asked my sous-chef if four days was too much for marinated flank steaks and he casually replied that since it’s marinated its life expectancy has risen dramatically above four days. So, YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2006, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoiling-rate-of-refridgerated-meat/368126/8 "2006-08-10T08:11:47Z")
I’m pretty anal about food hygiene (check my posting history here on the topic), but I wouldn’t bat an eye at marinating pork in the fridge for 36 hours. Assuming the fridge is operating correctly and is maintaining a temperature between 3 and 6 Celsius. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2006, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoiling-rate-of-refridgerated-meat/368126/9 "2006-08-10T16:17:29Z")
Non-hygienically speaking, depending on your marinade and the thickness/type of meat, you may or may not want to leave the marinade in that long. Your adobado, though, isn’t using a marinade but rather a brine. A marinade always has an acid component, quite often vinegar, whereas a brine is salt-water based. Once the meat’s fully salt saturated, not a whole lot more will happen to it. On thicker cuts, it depends on how much penetration you want. Since they’re pork chops for 24 hours, there’s not a whole lot more that will happen at 36 hours versus 24. If it were a marinade, then you’d probably have vinegar – you know: the thing they make pickles out of? There’s a chemical change happening there, so the amount of marinade time really becomes a lot more important. Too much time and your recipe won’t be quite right. And just so that I’m not accused of only providing unsolicited information: your meat will be just fine safety-wise.