In a message dated 5/24/02 4:01:04 PM, Tom Bridgeland
<[log in to unmask] writes:

<< Theola Walden Baker wrote:

> Which brings me to a related point.  The "preferred" taste of meat is
> largely culturally defined.  I have a friend in Ft. Worth who is married to
> a man from France.  He will not eat cuts fresh from the grocery store.  She
> further ages their meat in the refrigerator--PHEW!--to the point that most
> of us would toss it out as completely rotten.

When I cooked in a restaurant in college, the Chef would keep steak
long past what we mere cooks thought was safe. It smelled awful. Then
we would cook it. Man that stuff was great. Sometimes a package of
beef would go beyond what even the chef thought was saleable, then he
would let us kitchen staff have it. We ate it and never got sick; it
was great.

Old pork turns greenish and should NOT be eaten when it gets old. The
smell is distinctly sour. Dogs love spoiled pork, so I suppose a human
-could- eat it, but I would not want to be the one to try it first...
 >>

The question is, how old is old? Last Sunday I defrosted a large package of
country pork ribs. Half I cooked, the rest I left covered with plastic wrap
in the fridge until Friday. I smelled them, and they smelled rather "off",
what my mother would call "high". They had darkened somewhat, but were
certainly not green. I was going to toss them, but decided I'd cook them and
see what happened. I washed them thoroughly in cold water, and noticed the
flesh had softened. I browned them lightly, seasoned, and then just added
water and simmered slowly for around 2 hours. While they were cooking they
didn't smell that great, but once they were thoroughly cooked, they smelled
fine. The meat was extremely tender and delicious. My husband and I both ate
it, enjoyed it, and didn't get sick.

Generally I have found pork to be tough and dry, so I don't eat it that
often. (I also prefer to eat free-range meats when I can get them, and this
was just supermarket pork.) This meat was so tender and flavorful I couldn't
believe it. I guess it was "aged to perfection", but I'm not sure I'd feel
comfortable doing this as a regular practice. After I ate it, I was very
nervous for a whole day, wondering if I was going to get sick from it!

Are there any guidelines for aging meats? What are the bacteria at work that
accomplish this? Are they different ones for pork, beef, poultry? And I'm
assuming thorough cooking destroys them?

Maddy Mason
Hudson Valley, NY