Reusing chicken marinade

Excellent point. Chicken would be mush after 3 days…past inedible.

Yes, food poisoning happens. Yet it’s not in the top 50 causes of death, probably not in the top 100. If you’re unpregnant, not aged or compromised, better to wear Kevlar undies and drive with a helmet than worry about the typical marinade.

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Hey, this topic seems about kaput (I’m going w/the small batch marinade but whatever.) Here’s a question, though. My spouse is on immunosuppressants and I do worry about contamination. I read a study of chicken products in the NYT Magazine, I believe. Said that air-chilled chicken is way, way less contaminated w/the bad bugs (campylobacter?). Therefore I buy air-chilled regardless, although it is more expensive. Would you say that air-chilled would be the choice for marination?

(Aside: Kaleo, what is the pH of the Yoshida’s? I found a jar of home made cranberry sauce in the back of the fridge (cheek burn) & yes, it was prolly three years old. Coulda preserved a corpse in the stuff, I do believe. . . :wink: )

There is less incidence of contamination when chicken are chilled in cold water than in air chilled process. Chicken may get cross contamination by being dunked in the same water.
This is important factor for immunosuppressive patients esp when they are neutropenic.
Perhaps, you can dry rub and roast since the skin is crispier? Remember to sterilize all your utensils with 10% clorox.

In the air-chilling process, chickens are suspended separately from a track that moves through several chambers. In the first, cold purified air is run over each bird, which quickly reduces its body temperature. Then, depending on the system used, the chickens will cycle through one or two more chilled chambers for anywhere up to 3 ½ hours. The air-chilling process takes longer than the water bath, but many feel the results are worth the time.
According to many chefs and even food scientist Harold McGee, air-chilled chickens just taste better. The natural juices are not diluted, so the meat is more tender and flavorful. When you buy water-chilled chicken, you are paying for water—on average 8% of its body weight. But with air-chilled chicken, all you pay for is chicken. There is very little loss of weight from slaughter to market, and there is no purge—that red/pink watery liquid you often find in packages of chicken. Because they have not absorbed excess water, they also cook faster than a conventionally chilled chicken. And perhaps the best argument for air chilling is the crispy skin. You can achieve photo-perfect roasted chicken, with glorious crusty skin that is just not possible with a water-chilled chicken.

GOOD LUCK!

CCJ, thank you. To clarify, are you saying water-chilled = less contamination? Or air-chilled = less contamination. Call me a slow reader. :slight_smile:

No, you are not a slow reader
Perhaps I did not clarify enough
Air Chilled Chicken is better bec the incidence of contamination is less, as well as the fact that it taste better
I am leaving town but if necessary, I can give you quotes.
At Hopkins, immunosuppressed patients esp the neutropenic patients are advised not to reheat their food bec of possible bacteria, presumably if the food is left on the tray, gets cold, there is higher incidence of contamination. That may be the reason why they advise patients not to reheat their food once it is cold.

Here is url
http://www.dartagnan.com/air-chilled-chicken-tastes-better.html

Thanks! Very useful and a call to double down on my kitchen caution.

So here’s the thing; I am actually immune compromised, so much so that I now get IVIG infusions twice monthly. I was over 60 before it was diagnosed, and since I never catch anything going around, I was shocked. I have had a few near death experiences in the past, called “idiopathic” and other stuff because I never tested positive for anything, well, that’s how immunodeficiency works.

Most folks walk around never knowing they’re immune compromised, unless they’re on drugs that cause it. And some stuff is just a matter of really, REALLY dumb luck, which I’ve apparently had a lot of.

I have not tested it, but I have a meter somewhere.

I’m remided of a news story a few years back about a grisly discovery somewhere in Eastern Europe. In the course of an excavation for a building, a large wooden cask was unearthed. The construction workers were thrilled to discover when they tapped it that it was full of rum!

As they drew it down in place, they discovered it also contained a well-preserved human body. Turns out, for a long time this was the only hygenic way to transport a body over long distances for burial elsewhere. There was no mention of the drinkers falling ill.

Poking a chunk of beef into a barrel of cider was also once de regueur…

Gosh, I’m very sorry to hear that. This is cause for very special precautions.

Aloha,
Kaleo

I’ve often used marinade a second time, chicken then pork, pork then chicken. I always keep the marinating meat refrigerated and cook the finished prouct to at least 140F. Never had an issue. My marinades are generally quite acidic which hinders bacteria growth. I don’t know the exact science behind this so it’s a huge your milage may vary.

Yeesh. Having a hard time imagining popping the top off a barrel, finding it filled with murky liquid and saying, 'Boys, bring me a dipper!"

Yeah, well, construction workers are a hardy bunch. In fairness, they probably opened the barrel at the bung, sniffed, and a cheer went up that it was booze. Not exactly the treasure of the Atocha, but hey…

It’s actually not a very big deal, learning about it hasn’t changed anything about how I go about doing things; I’ve always practiced pretty mindful hygiene practices personally and in the kitchen. It just means I get to spend a few hours each month with a lovely nurse, chatting in my home. It just means I feel a lot better overall and my sinuses aren’t as much a problem.

The larger point is, lots of folks don’t know until a crisis hits that they have it, so avoiding kitchen practices that ratchet up risks a lot for no significant reason is probably a wiser practice than you think. Of course, tweechisown.

You bring up another issue. If you use the marinade on chicken first then pork, the recycled marinade has raw chicken in it, so to be safe you’d need to cook the pork to 165f to kill any salmonella that the chicken may have contributed. Pork first then chicken would be less risky.

Yeah, plus pork cooked to 165 is toast.

I suppose a pork shoulder bubbling away for hours to 165 would be fine (that is, if one is taking this risk in the first place). Don’t braises and slow cooking go even higher to melt all the collagen? But yeah, the tenderloin or chops that are better cooked to medium would not be safe after a chicken bath, and not be good after thorough cooking.

Good point about temp, I was thinking of the cook method for meats I typically marinate. Still, a long, slow cook of reused marinade will escalate amine accumulation past the point where a lot of folks will react in some unpleasant ways, even if not with infectious type symptoms, without ever realizing the marinade was the cause.

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And why are there so few deaths (only 3,000 or so). Could it be because of legal food processing standards, standards for commercial food preparation etc etc…?

As intelligent and passionate cooks we understand the risks and which boundaries are worth pushing. We understand that official guidelines are very conservative etc ect. We are aware of the risks and manage our cooking accordingly.

But without these standards, laws and guidelines I suspect there would be a considerably worse problem of food poisoning and deaths. Just look at when there are accidental or intentional breaches in these standards and the health issues that causes.

You and I understand high acid, salt or sugar marinades can inhibit microbial growth so we can evaluate the risks. But that isn’t to say the advice not to re-use marinades and not to marinade for over 2 days are sensible for the general population.