Bought a brisket at Costco. The brisket is sealed in plastic. I thought i read somewhere this type of sealed brisket can be stored for months in a cold refrigerater, and would make it more tender. However, the wife finds a expiration date on the package. its two weeks past the expiration date. Can it still be cooked, or should it be thrown away??
-
-
Consider it a value equation: is the price of the brisket worth the risk of illness?
My OPINION is that it will be fine, btw. If I had one, and my wife hadn't seen it, I would open it and if it had that nice, fresh, meaty smell, I would throw the packaging away and cook that sucker. If it had any off smell at all, I would toss it. -
Take it back and get a new one...that's what I'd do..don't wanna mess with funky meatComment
-
I wouldn't we be worried unless it was severely discolored and/or the bag was loose. Consider it partially wet-aged. As long as it is in a cryovac bag.
Heck, wouldn't it be cool to be able to pick up briskets from the store and have your choice of 30, 35 and 40 day wet-ages.Comment
-
does it smell like vinegar?
If it looks good and smells fine, then you should be okay...but why risk it? even if you avoid any illness, the taste wouldnt be ideal as proteins denatures and fat oxidizes.
I've cooked spoiled meat on purposes couple of times, just to know what it would look, smell and feel like.Comment
-
Top end competition BBQ guys buy packers in the cryovac and let it age in the fridge for 30 days, or so. I have no idea what the expiration date is on the cryovac when they buy it.Comment
-
Packed-on on, sell by, and use by dates are all different. Therein lies the confusion for guys like us.
I'd like to get a straight answer if the sell by date is a default number of days from the packed on date so I can age without worry past the sell by date, or if the sell by date is a strong indicator of impending spoilage.Comment
-
My meat supplier said the packed on date is within days of the slaughter date. So the "wet-aging" clock is, say, 7 days prior to the packed on date. When I get cases of brisket, the packed date is stamped on the box. -
Guest Guest In my experience the pack date on the label that Costco puts on is the day they pull it out of the case and put in the meat case, I have asked the butcher for the case pack date and when he checks the case date it has always been about two weeks earlier. I have never seen a use by date on Brisket from Costco only sell by,
-
i would base my decision entirely on looks and smell. if it's all brown and smells funky, chuck it. if it's still red and smells fine i would cook it. we can't see/smell these things so our opinion isn't really worth muchComment
-
Looks and smell is the only way to determine if it is really safe, well the only way would be to eat it and see if you get sick but we dont want to go that far!
Expiration dates and use by dates are more about the quality of the product and dont necessarily have anything to do with the safety of it. They are placed there by the company that makes the product and there is no common set of rules in place for most products. Most companies send out their products to a food lab that will basically let that product sit on a shelf for varied amounts of time and will taste and test the product along the way to determine how long it takes for peak quality to deteriorate to a point that the company no longer thinks people should use it. Only infant formula has an expiration date that is controlled/mandated by the FDA.
Sell by dates are actually only meant for the store selling the product, so that they have a constant supply of peak quality product on the shelves.Comment
-
K3jp These were the Briskets I picked up on 5/17/16 for Huskee and I from Costco, as you can see the pack date was 5/17 the date I picked them up. The sell by date was 5/24/16 and when I asked the Butcher for the case pack date he went and checked and it was 5/2/16. I believe Huskee cooked this one on 6/11/16 according to my text messages,LOl. hope this helps,
Smokeout
Last edited by Powersmoke_80; August 16, 2016, 10:27 PM.Comment
-
So I cooked mine 40 days from the actual packed on date, (slaughter date?) 25 days past the labeled packed on date, and 18 days past Costco's sell by date. It was perfect, fresh as can be. Not the slightest essence of funk.
Who knows if this labeling is standard across the board or if each place has their own system that varies from place to place. Suffice it to say in this instance wet aging 40 days from slaughter is an excellent brisket.Comment
Comment