Forgot about the meat I was defrosting on the counter...

[jeromedawg]

I feel like this happens every several months where I take something out of the freezer to defrost on the counter and end up forgetting about it :(

This time it was a prime rib AND a whole chicken :(

I took them out probably around 8-9pm last night (it's almost 10am now) to defrost. The plan was to pop them into the fridge before going to sleep but of course I forgot :(

So apparently they're fully defrosted now hahaha. Cool to the touch and wet from the thawing. Are these still OK to use at this point? Overall inside temp in the house was 68F overnight

[Morning Glory]

I feel like this happens every several months where I take something out of the freezer to defrost on the counter and end up forgetting about it :(

This time it was a prime rib AND a whole chicken :(

I took them out probably around 8-9pm last night (it's almost 10am now) to defrost. The plan was to pop them into the fridge before going to sleep but of course I forgot :(

So apparently they're fully defrosted now hahaha. Cool to the touch and wet from the thawing. Are these still OK to use at this point? Overall inside temp in the house was 68F overnight

They should be fine, just make sure your chicken is fully cooked.

[jeromedawg]

I feel like this happens every several months where I take something out of the freezer to defrost on the counter and end up forgetting about it :(

This time it was a prime rib AND a whole chicken :(

I took them out probably around 8-9pm last night (it's almost 10am now) to defrost. The plan was to pop them into the fridge before going to sleep but of course I forgot :(

So apparently they're fully defrosted now hahaha. Cool to the touch and wet from the thawing. Are these still OK to use at this point? Overall inside temp in the house was 68F overnight

They should be fine, just make sure your chicken is fully cooked.

My wife is freaking out :T Because we're having her parents over and this was going to be the meal for them, us and our kids... *sigh* - I may have actually taken the meat out at 6-7pm last night if that makes any difference. I can't recall now. I think I'm more comfortable with the prime rib being OK, so maybe it's worth just buying a new chicken to help put her mind at ease.

[Zikoris]

Really wasteful. Maybe you should just start a new blanket rule of 100% defrost in fridge only? Or set timers/reminders if you have something defrosting? This definitely seems like something that should only happen once before you change whatever system you're using.

[lhamo]

Chicken is cheap, I would probably toss that.  Especially if it comes from one of the plants on this new Propublica database that has a high level of contamination documented:

https://projects.propublica.org/chicken/

USDA guidelines would say toss the steak, too.  But I'd probably cook and eat that myself.  Wouldn't give it to kids or parents, though. 

[PoutineLover]

It's not good practice to defrost on the counter anyway, so maybe this can be a wake up call. Use the fridge, or put them  in cool water from now on. Or if you do put it on the counter, set a timer so that you can't forget it.

[geekette]

Yeah, defrosting on the counter is a bad idea.

We vacuum seal meats before freezing and thaw in your biggest pot full of water.  Whole chickens are usually bagged already.  If the package gets ice on it, change out the water.

It can be awkwardly big, but it's a whole lot faster (and safer).

[Sibley]

I would use it, I would just make sure everything was fully cooked.

And since this not the first time you've done this, clearly you need to figure out a method to remind you.

[jeromedawg]

I would use it, I would just make sure everything was fully cooked.

And since this not the first time you've done this, clearly you need to figure out a method to remind you.

I don't do it often which is part of the problem. Moving forward I just have to tell my wife and also set an Alexa reminder.

Anyway, I'm prob going to buy a new one of each for when we have the inlaws over but will cook the prime rib tonight or tmrw for 'practice' lol. I'm thinking about just tossing the chicken though. With the prime rib, you're *supposed* to cook to medium rare as a rule of thumb though, which is like 130-135F internal, so it seems iffy unless I want to truly view it as a sacrificial' meat and cook it to 140-145 lol

[SunnyDays]

I’m sure some local dog would love that chicken!  Ask around.

[Nutty]

I do this all this time, intentionally.  Course, I butcher myself and have seen worse.  Not everyone has a walk in cooler.

If it's slimy, toss it.
If you are worried, stick a thermometer in it to see the internal temperature.  They are probably still cold on the inside.  I dislike cooking frozen meat and finding it burnt on the outside and raw on the inside.

[jeromedawg]

I do this all this time, intentionally.  Course, I butcher myself and have seen worse.  Not everyone has a walk in cooler.

If it's slimy, toss it.
If you are worried, stick a thermometer in it to see the internal temperature.  They are probably still cold on the inside.  I dislike cooking frozen meat and finding it burnt on the outside and raw on the inside.

I took the prime rib out of the fridge to check it out (was out all day today but this morning popped it in the fridge before going out), and it was still frozen and cold about 3-4" or so in the middle on the bottom. The upper half had defrosted though. I opened it up and it smelled slightly sour but I've opened up other packs of meat before where it has a similar smell. I rinsed it off and seasoned with salt and pepper and am going to let it sit in the fridge overnight and then will make it tomorrow. I guess if I get really sick we'll all know why hahahaha. I'll report back in with the findings... if I'm still around.

As for the chicken, I ended up tossing it.

[chrisgermany]

NOOOO, cook it in broth, 40-60 min, to make a good soup!

[chemistk]

Poultry is definitely a no-go, especially if it's a whole/uncleaned bird.

I'd personally be just fine with the beef. Do you have a sous-vide circulator? That's the easiest way to ensure it's safe for guests - you could let it sit in the sous-vide for a couple hours once it gets to 135 and then broil it to finish it off.

Otherwise, just check the temperature at multiple points prior to pulling it out.

[jeromedawg]

Poultry is definitely a no-go, especially if it's a whole/uncleaned bird.

I'd personally be just fine with the beef. Do you have a sous-vide circulator? That's the easiest way to ensure it's safe for guests - you could let it sit in the sous-vide for a couple hours once it gets to 135 and then broil it to finish it off.

Otherwise, just check the temperature at multiple points prior to pulling it out.

I was curious about this - I sous-vide'd a prime rib last year and was wondering if it was actually *safer* doing it this way as far as temps are concerned. Given what you say, I think I may go ahead and sous-vide it tonight. I took it out yesterday and salt/pepper'ed it and it's currently sitting in the fridge. Is a couple hours really enough for a large prime rib like this to finish off? IIRC, it was an overnight ordeal when I last used the sous-vide for that other prime rib. This is a ~6lber btw

[chemistk]

Poultry is definitely a no-go, especially if it's a whole/uncleaned bird.

I'd personally be just fine with the beef. Do you have a sous-vide circulator? That's the easiest way to ensure it's safe for guests - you could let it sit in the sous-vide for a couple hours once it gets to 135 and then broil it to finish it off.

Otherwise, just check the temperature at multiple points prior to pulling it out.

I was curious about this - I sous-vide'd a prime rib last year and was wondering if it was actually *safer* doing it this way as far as temps are concerned. Given what you say, I think I may go ahead and sous-vide it tonight. I took it out yesterday and salt/pepper'ed it and it's currently sitting in the fridge. Is a couple hours really enough for a large prime rib like this to finish off? IIRC, it was an overnight ordeal when I last used the sous-vide for that other prime rib. This is a ~6lber btw

I should emphasize that I meant you should add an additional couple hours once it reaches your temperature, but not so long that you're turning it into Texas brisket.

Controlling microbial growth has a temperature element, but to a lesser extent a time element. Once a cut of meat (or anything cooked, really) reaches a certain temperature, you've achieved an X-log reduction in the colonies of harmful microbes. But you can also further kill off any remaining stragglers by allowing additional time at a given temperature.

Normally, under typical cooking conditions you can't add too much extra time after your temperature is reached, because you're going to ruin the sensory aspects of the thing you're trying to eat. But sous-vide is different in that your water bath will never get hotter than the end temp, so the food more or less can't overcook. Obviously, just like with microbes, time will take its toll on the various structures and components of the food so eventually you will ruin it but adding a few hours to something like a rib roast shouldn't do anything detrimental to how it tastes or feels.

I don't own a sous-vide circulator (but really should get one) so I can't say what amount of extra time will cause your meat to start to become unappealing.

[jeromedawg]

Poultry is definitely a no-go, especially if it's a whole/uncleaned bird.

I'd personally be just fine with the beef. Do you have a sous-vide circulator? That's the easiest way to ensure it's safe for guests - you could let it sit in the sous-vide for a couple hours once it gets to 135 and then broil it to finish it off.

Otherwise, just check the temperature at multiple points prior to pulling it out.

I was curious about this - I sous-vide'd a prime rib last year and was wondering if it was actually *safer* doing it this way as far as temps are concerned. Given what you say, I think I may go ahead and sous-vide it tonight. I took it out yesterday and salt/pepper'ed it and it's currently sitting in the fridge. Is a couple hours really enough for a large prime rib like this to finish off? IIRC, it was an overnight ordeal when I last used the sous-vide for that other prime rib. This is a ~6lber btw

I should emphasize that I meant you should add an additional couple hours once it reaches your temperature, but not so long that you're turning it into Texas brisket.

Controlling microbial growth has a temperature element, but to a lesser extent a time element. Once a cut of meat (or anything cooked, really) reaches a certain temperature, you've achieved an X-log reduction in the colonies of harmful microbes. But you can also further kill off any remaining stragglers by allowing additional time at a given temperature.

Normally, under typical cooking conditions you can't add too much extra time after your temperature is reached, because you're going to ruin the sensory aspects of the thing you're trying to eat. But sous-vide is different in that your water bath will never get hotter than the end temp, so the food more or less can't overcook. Obviously, just like with microbes, time will take its toll on the various structures and components of the food so eventually you will ruin it but adding a few hours to something like a rib roast shouldn't do anything detrimental to how it tastes or feels.

I don't own a sous-vide circulator (but really should get one) so I can't say what amount of extra time will cause your meat to start to become unappealing.

Thanks for the breakdown. Between these three recipes:
https://www.platingsandpairings.com/sous-vide-prime-rib-roast-with-garlic-herb-butter/
https://recipes.anovaculinary.com/recipe/sous-vide-prime-rib
https://sousvideways.com/sous-vide-prime-rib/

 it seems like 8 hours would be the good 'middle' ground where you're probably not going too long over - it sounds like a roast should normally finish at the 6 hour mark. The three recipes call for that as a minimum and one calls for as long as 10 hours...! Now, I'm not sure what effect dry-brining will have on this since I currently have it dry brining in the fridge.... I think I've read that if you sous vide brined meat for too long, it will end up more like pastrami. I guess that's not a bad thing if I want to experiment haha. Otherwise, I think I'll just add some butter into the sous vide bag w/ no additional salt.

I may actually just follow this simpler recipe and french the bones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY4Q7Drsh0w

Last year I followed a different method he used where I frenched AND separated the bones (tying them back on before using the sous vide. It was too much work IMO)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwDbNixns_4

I'm tempted to go nuts on the garlic but may refrain and or save that for the roast I'm planning to reverse sear on Thursday

[chemistk]

Poultry is definitely a no-go, especially if it's a whole/uncleaned bird.

I'd personally be just fine with the beef. Do you have a sous-vide circulator? That's the easiest way to ensure it's safe for guests - you could let it sit in the sous-vide for a couple hours once it gets to 135 and then broil it to finish it off.

Otherwise, just check the temperature at multiple points prior to pulling it out.

I was curious about this - I sous-vide'd a prime rib last year and was wondering if it was actually *safer* doing it this way as far as temps are concerned. Given what you say, I think I may go ahead and sous-vide it tonight. I took it out yesterday and salt/pepper'ed it and it's currently sitting in the fridge. Is a couple hours really enough for a large prime rib like this to finish off? IIRC, it was an overnight ordeal when I last used the sous-vide for that other prime rib. This is a ~6lber btw

I should emphasize that I meant you should add an additional couple hours once it reaches your temperature, but not so long that you're turning it into Texas brisket.

Controlling microbial growth has a temperature element, but to a lesser extent a time element. Once a cut of meat (or anything cooked, really) reaches a certain temperature, you've achieved an X-log reduction in the colonies of harmful microbes. But you can also further kill off any remaining stragglers by allowing additional time at a given temperature.

Normally, under typical cooking conditions you can't add too much extra time after your temperature is reached, because you're going to ruin the sensory aspects of the thing you're trying to eat. But sous-vide is different in that your water bath will never get hotter than the end temp, so the food more or less can't overcook. Obviously, just like with microbes, time will take its toll on the various structures and components of the food so eventually you will ruin it but adding a few hours to something like a rib roast shouldn't do anything detrimental to how it tastes or feels.

I don't own a sous-vide circulator (but really should get one) so I can't say what amount of extra time will cause your meat to start to become unappealing.

Thanks for the breakdown. Between these three recipes:
https://www.platingsandpairings.com/sous-vide-prime-rib-roast-with-garlic-herb-butter/
https://recipes.anovaculinary.com/recipe/sous-vide-prime-rib
https://sousvideways.com/sous-vide-prime-rib/

 it seems like 8 hours would be the good 'middle' ground where you're probably not going too long over - it sounds like a roast should normally finish at the 6 hour mark. The three recipes call for that as a minimum and one calls for as long as 10 hours...! Now, I'm not sure what effect dry-brining will have on this since I currently have it dry brining in the fridge.... I think I've read that if you sous vide brined meat for too long, it will end up more like pastrami. I guess that's not a bad thing if I want to experiment haha. Otherwise, I think I'll just add some butter into the sous vide bag w/ no additional salt.

I may actually just follow this simpler recipe and french the bones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY4Q7Drsh0w

Last year I followed a different method he used where I frenched AND separated the bones (tying them back on before using the sous vide. It was too much work IMO)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwDbNixns_4

I'm tempted to go nuts on the garlic but may refrain and or save that for the roast I'm planning to reverse sear on Thursday

Sounds about right, I'd go with 8 hours then maybe add 30 more minutes if you are going to go straight from fridge to water bath. Agree that you won't want to add any extra salt, you've likely got plenty - because all the liquid is retained within the package, the salt will circulate somewhat through the meat as it cooks and cure it so definitely don't leave it in there forever if you want to maintain the tenderness.

Now we're wading into the pools of meat opinions - I get why folks like to French meat, but I personally love those little chunks of meat dispersed among all the fat at the bone. So much flavor. I'd also load up on the garlic - what's there to lose?

[GuitarStv]

If it doesn't smell funny, I'd just cook it immediately.  We've forgotten food on the counter occasionally and never had problems cooking/eating it.

[jeromedawg]

Poultry is definitely a no-go, especially if it's a whole/uncleaned bird.

I'd personally be just fine with the beef. Do you have a sous-vide circulator? That's the easiest way to ensure it's safe for guests - you could let it sit in the sous-vide for a couple hours once it gets to 135 and then broil it to finish it off.

Otherwise, just check the temperature at multiple points prior to pulling it out.

I was curious about this - I sous-vide'd a prime rib last year and was wondering if it was actually *safer* doing it this way as far as temps are concerned. Given what you say, I think I may go ahead and sous-vide it tonight. I took it out yesterday and salt/pepper'ed it and it's currently sitting in the fridge. Is a couple hours really enough for a large prime rib like this to finish off? IIRC, it was an overnight ordeal when I last used the sous-vide for that other prime rib. This is a ~6lber btw

I should emphasize that I meant you should add an additional couple hours once it reaches your temperature, but not so long that you're turning it into Texas brisket.

Controlling microbial growth has a temperature element, but to a lesser extent a time element. Once a cut of meat (or anything cooked, really) reaches a certain temperature, you've achieved an X-log reduction in the colonies of harmful microbes. But you can also further kill off any remaining stragglers by allowing additional time at a given temperature.

Normally, under typical cooking conditions you can't add too much extra time after your temperature is reached, because you're going to ruin the sensory aspects of the thing you're trying to eat. But sous-vide is different in that your water bath will never get hotter than the end temp, so the food more or less can't overcook. Obviously, just like with microbes, time will take its toll on the various structures and components of the food so eventually you will ruin it but adding a few hours to something like a rib roast shouldn't do anything detrimental to how it tastes or feels.

I don't own a sous-vide circulator (but really should get one) so I can't say what amount of extra time will cause your meat to start to become unappealing.

Thanks for the breakdown. Between these three recipes:
https://www.platingsandpairings.com/sous-vide-prime-rib-roast-with-garlic-herb-butter/
https://recipes.anovaculinary.com/recipe/sous-vide-prime-rib
https://sousvideways.com/sous-vide-prime-rib/

 it seems like 8 hours would be the good 'middle' ground where you're probably not going too long over - it sounds like a roast should normally finish at the 6 hour mark. The three recipes call for that as a minimum and one calls for as long as 10 hours...! Now, I'm not sure what effect dry-brining will have on this since I currently have it dry brining in the fridge.... I think I've read that if you sous vide brined meat for too long, it will end up more like pastrami. I guess that's not a bad thing if I want to experiment haha. Otherwise, I think I'll just add some butter into the sous vide bag w/ no additional salt.

I may actually just follow this simpler recipe and french the bones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY4Q7Drsh0w

Last year I followed a different method he used where I frenched AND separated the bones (tying them back on before using the sous vide. It was too much work IMO)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwDbNixns_4

I'm tempted to go nuts on the garlic but may refrain and or save that for the roast I'm planning to reverse sear on Thursday

Sounds about right, I'd go with 8 hours then maybe add 30 more minutes if you are going to go straight from fridge to water bath. Agree that you won't want to add any extra salt, you've likely got plenty - because all the liquid is retained within the package, the salt will circulate somewhat through the meat as it cooks and cure it so definitely don't leave it in there forever if you want to maintain the tenderness.

Now we're wading into the pools of meat opinions - I get why folks like to French meat, but I personally love those little chunks of meat dispersed among all the fat at the bone. So much flavor. I'd also load up on the garlic - what's there to lose?

I'm going to have a late night snack tonight since I started the process at 1pm today. I ended up frenching the bone but probably should have not bothered. I figure I can make a gravy or jus with those trimmings those. I sprinkled a bunch of garlic powder on it before popping it into the vacuum seal bag btw :)

As far as the other roast, I'm planning to salt/pepper it just like this one but will use minced garlic (and perhaps crushed gloves inserted in various places of the roast) and rub it all over the roast too. For that one I'm planning to follow the Serious Eats/Kenji Lopez-Alt recipe and do the reverse sear on it: https://www.seriouseats.com/perfect-prime-rib-beef-recipe

[nalor511]

I would have bbq'd the chicken

[jeromedawg]

I would have bbq'd the chicken

I've heard chicken is worse as far as bacteria is concerned. Would cooking chicken longer eliminate all bacteria? Or cooking it over a grill vs stove/oven or something?

I know that with fish you definitely can't do this if it has been left out. Particularly tuna. I gave my friend a frozen block of yellowfin tuna and he threw it in a cooler and didn't transfer to a freezer asap - it had thawed but was still 'cool' inside his cooler by the time he got home (he had stayed the night somewhere and left it in the cooler overnight). He ended up cooking it up the next day and then got hives all over his body soon after eating it... basically, he got scombroid poisoning. At first he was indirectly blaming it on my handling of the fish but I'm 99.9% certain it was from him leaving the fish in the cooler to thaw (rather than keeping it frozen) and then consuming it many hours after it was thawed. When I got home from that trip I spent a number of hours processing and trimming the fillets down and vacuum sealing so there were some portions of fish that were out for a while but they remained pretty cold and I put them in the fridge ASAP after vacuum sealing them. This isn't the same as leaving fish in a cooler in your car overnight and then consuming it the following day... had I known he was going to do that, I would have given him the fish on his way back to where he was coming from. SMH...

[jeromedawg]

So this is the final product from this whole debacle:



I've eaten a few slices over the course of 2-3 days now and no adverse reactions or issues LOL

It turned out to be very delicious. Unfortunately, I'm going to be so sick of prime rib by the time I reverse sear the other one tomorrow (currently dry brining in the fridge), that it's going to be a really long time before I enjoy any of this stuff again lol.

[Retire-Canada]

If I lived close enough I'd come over and help you out. ;-)

[jeromedawg]

The second one turned out even more amazing - this was cooked via the reverse sear method per SeriousEats. It was better than the sous vide'd cut (but that could also be because it's choice vs select)... I salted/dry brined it for 3-4 days then slow cooked it for 6-7 hours at 150F~ until it hit 130F internally. Finished it for about 10 mins (should have gone less) in the Instant Vortex to get a nice crust. I also did a chicken which turned out amazing: dry brined this one for a day and rubbed on some minced garlic and lemon rind and went 350 for 45-50 mins in the Instant Vortex.









My in-laws, who normally won't eat meat that's red or pink, loved it. The chicken was super juicy, lemony, garlicky and perfectly seasoned. I felt like Mark Wiens...hahahahahaha

EDIT: Sorry for the blurry pics - my wife took those and had a small glass of wine not long before so we'll blame it on that... actually, I took the chicken pic. Guess it's our phones LOL!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!