Cooking Thawed Meat

**usualsuspect** · 09-20-2004, 09:40 PM

I left meat out at room temperature for a few hrs with intentions of cooking it but never got around to it. Put it in the frig for a day and now its brown looking. Do you think its still good? It would be a tradegy for me to throw away all that protein

**OSTIE** · 09-20-2004, 09:46 PM

What kind of meat? Was it completely frozen when you first took it out to thaw?

Ive done it a couple times with ground venison or ground sirloin, no biggie.
Dont think id ever do that with chicken though.

**usualsuspect** · 09-20-2004, 09:54 PM

It was lean round top steak meat. I bought them at Costco defrosted.

**OSTIE** · 09-20-2004, 09:58 PM

Originally Posted by usualsuspect

It was lean round top steak meat. I bought them at Costco defrosted.

Hmmm, well I think that there really is no scientific answer here. For me, I guess it would be what kind of mood I was in and how hungry I was. Costco is like a Samz club here. Ive seen there meat. I dont think that there is anything wrong with it necessarily, but Im just used to processing my own meat, and im very picky, that if I were in your exact situation, id probably give it a toss on the trash.

**usualsuspect** · 09-20-2004, 10:04 PM

Yeah that probably makes the most sense. Thanks for the advice.

**longhornDr** · 09-20-2004, 10:04 PM

The brown discoloration is just a change in the hemoglobin induced by being exposed to air when you left it sitting out.

If it was me and would cook it up and not worry about it. If you are anal about that kind of thing just cook it a little longer than you usually do.

**usualsuspect** · 09-20-2004, 10:05 PM

I'm going to at least cook it up and taste it first before I toss it. Thanks both for the help.

**SwoleCat** · 09-20-2004, 10:10 PM

I would toss it if I were you. After going from frozen to room temp, you should cook it once it's defrosted or defrost IN the fridge. Putting it then BACK in the fridge after it's warmed to room temp, is not something I'd eat.

~SC~

**slizzut** · 09-20-2004, 10:26 PM

I'm with SC on this one.. I would toss it bro.. better safe then sorry!

**MMC78** · 09-20-2004, 11:23 PM

Originally Posted by usualsuspect

I left meat out at room temperature for a few hrs with intentions of cooking it but never got around to it. Put it in the frig for a day and now its brown looking. Do you think its still good? It would be a tradegy for me to throw away all that protein

If it was beef and for just a couple of hours, it's completely fine. You have to realise that that nice "red" color you see in comercial meats is actually dye. When that dye oxidizes it turns brown.

Any sign of green is not ok. You can cook it thoroughly or re-freeze it to kill any pathogens.