How long can I age?

[abelseville]

I just had 10 roosters dressed today and have them loosely wrapped in a 36 degree fridge. I am leaving for a week tomorrow. Can I age them a whole week or should I take the birds with me and freeze them earlier? Anyone have experience with week long aging?

 

[jaku]

A week is my MAX time for any meat in the fridge.

 

[abelseville]

Thanks for the advice. Ive been fridge aging my venison for up to 21 days with fine results for years however. Is chicken that much different? It was butchered very clean.

 

[max13077]

I let mine go overnight then into the freezer. Never had any issues.

 

[abelseville]

yes but I won't have time to cut up and vacuum seal tomorrow. Much less trouble if I can leave them where they are for a week.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

I go 5 days max in the fridge... you may get away with 7, smell it good and make sure you rinse it off really well before you freeze it.

 

[patandchickens]

It depends on your personal digestive tract (and that of anyone you're going to feed it to) as much as anything, IMHO.

If you normally keep things in the fridge for longer than "they" say you should without undue intestinal repercussions

and have been very clean in processing and packaging the chicken, then I say do whatever seems sensible to you.

If you typically eat things within a day or two and your tummy does not have extensive successful experience with stuff sittin' around culturing up bugs for longer, then it might be a bit iffier, you'd just have to decide whether you want the risk of a) food poisoning and b) if you *do* get food poisoning, probably wanting to throw out all the rest of the meat.

I try not to age things (or just forget 'em in the back of the fridge <g>) for as long when I'm going to be feeding them to other people as when they're just for me or immediate family.

JMHO, good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[kingmt]

I aged mine for 5 days & they turned out great.

 

[jaku]

Quote:
Not sure on that, but I do know that different meat ages differently, and by different techniques. I think some fine steaks are aged up to six months under the right conditions. Age some fish 21 days in the fridge and get back with me on how that works out for you!

 

[Winsor Woods]

Some of the most gourmet steaks are aged for weeks. They are aged basically to the point of rotting, with the bad areas often cut off. The meat is really tender and you've got to cook to proper temperatures too.

The other aspect of aging is what temp you are aging at. That has a ton to do with how long you can go.

Dan