Is Christmas Spoiled??? Please help!

[josecgomez]

Hi,
I decided to wet cure my own ham this year. I followed a recipie I found online and everything seemed to be going great.
Last night I took the temperature of thge meat and it was right at 38 degrees. So I took it out of the fridge for a few minutes to let the temp raise a bit.
I got distracted and forgot, it was sitting on my counter all night around 7 hours.

I put it back in the fridge (everything looks ok). Is it safe? Can I keep it? Should I trow it out? HELP!!

Thanks!

 

[carrotmalt]

Probably depends on what temp it got to during that 7 hours, and what's in your cure. My grandparents used to dry cure hams for days at well over refrig temps, but the cure included salts and such that protected the meat from spoiling. I'm not much help here, but my guess is that it's probably OK.

 

[josecgomez]

The cure includes 2 cups of salt, and Insta Cure #1, Brown Sugar and Water , here is the recipe
How To Cure Ham at Home, It's Easier Than You Think! Wet Curing (Brine) Ham Instructions and Tips.

THanks!

 

[nsh22]

woops, sorry for not seeing this. I would not recommend consuming this. Had it only been like 1-3 hours it might be fine but in that a mount of time the center would be warm and would take much longer to cool down again, making the total time in the danger zone (where bacteria grow faster) more than 10 hours. Even with cure 1 it is not safe to eat.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

 

[Jayblefty]

I would roast it up to an internal temp of about 175 and Eat it. I have been in kitchens 10 years now and I promise if you eat out often you have consumed worse. Not guaranteeing anything, but if it hit 175 internal I would be more than happy to eat it.

 

[Hermit]

I would roast it up to an internal temp of about 175 and Eat it. I have been in kitchens 10 years now and I promise if you eat out often you have consumed worse. Not guaranteeing anything, but if it hit 175 internal I would be more than happy to eat it.

I was thinking the same thing. I used to do appliance repair and I kinda came up with the phrase, "When it doubt, toss it out" when people asked me about stuff in the fridge after a repair. I had no way of knowing if the stuff was good. In this case we aren't talking spoiled though to the point where the flavor would be affected.

My Thanksgiving Turkey stuffing and such didn't look right even though my thermometer registered OK. I apologized for the delay and mirco-waved enough to get the meal started. Wasn't worth the risk.

 

[Flomaster]

I pulled my turkey out of the fridge to thaw faster for the thanksgiving deep fryer. I had assumed the wife would have put it back in the fridge when sleeping beauty woke up, well she didn't notice it sitting out and left the house to go shopping and what have you. turns out the turkey was still sitting out when I got home from work at 6pm.. so it was out for 11.5 hours on the counter in a 68F house..

tasted just fine and none of us got sick. just cook the **** out of it and eat it.

-=Jason=-

 

[dataz722]

Too late now but I would have tossed it. Heating above 165 will kill most bacteria present but it isn't actually the bacteria that does the most harm to you. It is the byproducts that the bacteria produce as they reproduce in the food that is highly poisonous. Even heating the food to 200 isn't going to do anything to that stuff and you can still get very sick and depending on what it is, die.

 

[CHefJohnboyardee]

Cured ham... CURED.

Its well past Christmas. He either served it and died or he served it and it was so good he died or he has forgotten about this post...

One hundred to one, if the pork was not time and temp abused prior to being cured it is fine.