marinating raw chicken?

Question

my room mate marintates chicken then saves the left over marrinate , freezes it and then lets it thaw out and microwaves it.......is this safe? i always thought anything that touches raw meat should be tossed out! any thoughts on this???

Answer 1

No, it is not necessary to toss out the marinade as long as it is being handled properly and does not come in contact with anything that is eaten cold or raw.

If your roomie is saving the marinade in a sealed container and keeping it in the freezer, as long as it's not leaking out of the container, it is not a hazard.

If she microwaves the marinade to temperatures above 135ºF for a few miuntes, that would be sufficient to kill the bacteria that would have come off the raw chicken.

Still, I just think it's lazy culinary practice to keep reusing marinade like that.

Answer 2

I agree with Gumdrop Girl, of course, she's smarter than yer average bear, especially on food safety issues.

But from the culinary viewpoint, I would just skip reusing the stuff.

A salty marinade actually draws some of the moisture out of the meat. An acidic marinade breaks the meat down a bit. In either case, your marinade is not just "touched" by the meat, but is diluted by meat juice. I will lose some flavors, pick up others, and cloud up. Yuck. So make some new brew.

A common mistake is to over-marinate, especially in very salty (read: soy sauce-based) brews. You get dry meat that tastes only of the spices, rather than the meat. 2 hours is plenty.

...and as Gumdrop Girl will agree, those two hours should be in the fridge!

Answer 3

Throw it out. He shouldn't let raw meat sit in the fridge longer than overnight. I can just imagine what it must smell like.

Answer 4

I agree with you on this. She SHOULD toss out used marinate whether is meat or veggie marinate. Its not that she HAS to but she SHOULD.