[LaVieEnRose]

Re-using marinade is a big no-no, apparently. They say it breeds dangerous bacteria and toxins. Now I can see that it might not be a good idea to leave the stuff hanging around indefinitely, but I can't see where all these toxins are coming from otherwise.

A few days ago I marinated some pork strips in a home-made jerk marinade. In the fridge, somewhere between 12 - 24 hours. I ate some of the pork and froze the rest for another time. No problem with any of this - the meat was perfectly safe to eat (otherwise nobody would ever marinate meat, would they!)

While the pork was in the marinade, I remembered that I had a few chicken wings in the freezer. Those would go nicely in that marinade, thinks I. So I put them in the fridge to defrost. (I might have put it all in the marinade together had I thought of it earlier - I presume that would not have been a health hazard?)

So out came the pork strips, and in went the defrosted chicken wings. The whole lot was out of the fridge for no more than five minutes. After a day's marinating, the chicken was cooked (yes, thoroughly) and eaten. It was delicious and I am still alive Not even the slightest tummy twinge.

So my question is - where do all these deadly toxins come from (allegedly)? The marinade doesn't suddenly go from being safe to poisonous. I've left meat in it for two days before.

[JulesF]

I think that sounds fine. It's a big no-no to save a marinade that's been on raw meat and then use it on cooked meat, obviously, but not the way you've done it. Everything is cooked thoroughly after marinating, so I'm not seeing the problem.

[LaVieEnRose]

Yes, I'm mystified. I looked it up first, and every single source said not to do it. Mind you, I couldn't find anything that exactly replicated what I wanted to do - there was a lot of talk about juices leaking out from the first lot of meat, but I really couldn't see what harm that would do if you were using it straight away and it was properly refrigerated. But the line was "never, ever, re-use marinade".

Anyway I did, and lived to tell the tale

[Shrike]

The toxins come from the bacteria - the longer the bacteria have in the marinade the higher the concentration of toxins (and the greater the number of bacteria which in turn leads to more toxin). Refrigeration will have slowed down the bacteria though. The advice probably comes from when marinading was used instead of refrigeration, but its still best to err on the side of caution especially when dealing with pork or chicken.

[LaVieEnRose]

So where do the bacteria come from?

[LobsterSandwich]

After scratching your bum hole, occasionally some poo gets stuck under the finger nail. You forget about it then decide to do some cooking.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaVieEnRose

So where do the bacteria come from?

[degsyhufc]

Apparently there is a master stock in China that is over 100 years old.


You just have to take some steps to kill off the bacteria. Basically by boiling the marinade/stock.

[LaVieEnRose]

But if there's all this bacteria in the marinade, how come it's safe to eat the meat that's been sitting in it?

[degsyhufc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaVieEnRose

But if there's all this bacteria in the marinade, how come it's safe to eat the meat that's been sitting in it?

Are you eating the meat raw?

[LaVieEnRose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by degsyhufc

Are you eating the meat raw?

No! (they were pork and chicken)

See, I can't see the difference between

Scenario 1
Marinate meat A for 24 hours in fridge, cook meat, eat.

and

Scenario 2
Marinate meat A for 12 hours in fridge, cook meat, eat.
Marinate meat B for 12 hours in same marinade in fridge, cook meat, eat.

Why would meat A be safe in both cases, but meat B toxic?

[degsyhufc]

It doesn't automatically become toxic. It's just that with time bacteria & toxins will be produced.

In your example I don't see a problem. If you kept doing it for weeks then the bateria might reach a level that will make you ill.


The same as the bateria in reheated rice.
As far as I know i've never been ill due to reheated rice but the advice is to refridgferate cooked rice and only reheat once and within a day or two.

[LaVieEnRose]

Well, that's what I thought - but there is such scaremongering with this sort of thing. I decided to apply common sense. I certainly wouldn't keep on using the same stuff, it was just an afterthought. If I'd thought about it earlier I'd have had the chicken defrosted and marinated the lot together.

Oh, I'm a rice survivor too! I've done it for years, even cooking extra rice to have later especially for stir-fried rice.
We never used to be told that reheated rice was dangerous, and I know of not one person who has been ill from eating reheated rice. When I think of all the leftover takeaways consumed the following day!

[JulesF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaVieEnRose

Well, that's what I thought - but there is such scaremongering with this sort of thing. I decided to apply common sense. I certainly wouldn't keep on using the same stuff, it was just an afterthought. If I'd thought about it earlier I'd have had the chicken defrosted and marinated the lot together.

Oh, I'm a rice survivor too! I've done it for years, even cooking extra rice to have later especially for stir-fried rice.
We never used to be told that reheated rice was dangerous, and I know of not one person who has been ill from eating reheated rice. When I think of all the leftover takeaways consumed the following day!

Using common sense is the way to go. I ignore the scaremongering. I've reheated rice before and also lived to tell the tale! I also like my pork cooked so there's a hint of pink, and I've made burgers out of supermarket mince that were still pink in the middle, and basically done all the things that you are NEVER supposed to do under pain of death. I've only had food poisoning once in my life, and that was from a (vegetarian) meal I had on a plane.