0

I was in a hurry, put a pork butt and beef brisket in the sink with water and ice to thaw. (overnight) they were still cold this morning. Is it completely unsafe to try and smoke/cook on the grill? Or, can I still cook them just make sure they cook to a higher temp to ensure all bacteria is killed?

Spagirl
  • 3,197
  • 9
  • 21
Jeff Berg
  • 1
  • Can you be more specific than "Cold" (do you have a temp reading?) For foods there is a [danger zone](https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/safe-food-handling/danger-zone-40-f-140-f/CT_Index) which you are 'probably' into, but perhaps for not so long as it would be a problem. – Cos Callis May 06 '18 at 13:12
  • I ran cold water from the faucet and dumped 2lbs of ice in the sink. – Jeff Berg May 06 '18 at 13:16
  • I did not check the specific temp just know it was cold to the touch. – Jeff Berg May 06 '18 at 13:17
  • 1
    Butt and brisket are probably being cooked/smoked for a good long time, so you do not need extra cooking. – MarsJarsGuitars-n-Chars May 06 '18 at 13:45
  • Apologies for edit, checked dictionary *after* instead of before. I had no idea that ‘thaw’ was the legitimate meaning of ‘unthaw’ and the phone app wont allow me to ‘re-edit’ or roll back. – Spagirl May 06 '18 at 14:52
  • Define cold. Would need to surface temperature to answer this. By touch is it colder than then items in your refrigerator? – paparazzo May 06 '18 at 15:35
  • Anything over 140F internal temp is going to be safe. Smoked meats are generally 180F. No need for higher temps, IMO. – Norm May 07 '18 at 12:52
  • This seems to boil down to "I know it is unsafe, can I remake it safe", so I closed as a duplicate of the question explaining why this is not so. But it could be interpreted to ask for other basic parts of food safety (e.g. how do I know if meat is safe) which we have also addressed in the past. I recommend reading our short info on that topic, https://cooking.stackexchange.com/tags/food-safety/info, with links to more detailed questions. – rumtscho May 07 '18 at 13:38

2 Answers2

2

When it comes to "is it safe" questions it is difficult to give you a simple, direct, reliable answer...most often (as is the case here) you can't provide all of the information needed to 'give you a straight answer' (which is, of course, what you really want).

If the meat was 'safe' to begin with, if it was just left in the sink with cool water and ice overnight (~8 hrs) and if it is still cold to the touch...it is "probably" perfectly safe.

Then comes the question of "What is 'safe'?" Will eating this meat 'kill you'... highly unlikely. Will you want to remain near a toilet for a day or so? 'possibly' (but still very unlikely). Will eating this contribute to a stroke in 20 years? Your mileage may vary.

It is highly unlikely that this method of thawing has introduced any significant risk to your meat.

Cos Callis
  • 18,155
  • 6
  • 60
  • 93
0

The main question would be: Were they fully submerged in water?

If yes there is very low probability bacteria could develop in cold (assuming refrigeration cold)

BUT to make sure when preparing such meat I usually put it on high temp for short time. First to keep moisturize in meat and second to drastically change temperature to kill any surface creatures.

It can be frying without oil (on very very hot pan) or just grilled on open blue flame for a few seconds. Then proceed with meat as you desire.

Hint: Acidic marinates had the same purpose to kill bacteria and remove any odd flavour/smell the meat could get in storage.

SZCZERZO KŁY
  • 4,131
  • 13
  • 15