Purchased a 2 boston butt cryovac pac from Sams last week with a Sell by March 3rd date. Ground it for Italian sausage on Saturday, the 27. We seasoned it and mixed on the 28. Today I opened the tupperware container we were storing it in and it had a sulphur smell...similar to the smell when opening a cryovac pack. Wondering how to tell if its bad?
The ingredients of the sausage are the following
5 lbs of pork
2 tbs kosher salt
1 tbs fennel (We toasted it and hit it with the grinder)
1 tbs black pepper
2 tsp red pepper
I swear I taste the smell I am smelling when its cooked and we are eating it.
I could definitely be wrong but that doesn't sound good. I'm sure some one will come along and give you a better answer. Definitely wouldn't eat anymore until you get a little more advice.
Larry
You should know I have never made sausage so I am not the most knowledgeable person to respond but I looked at the ingredients of your sausage recipe and I see nothing that would smell like sulphur. Are you comfortable that the fennel seed is not giving off a licorice odor? If you think it's not the fennel seed, I would toss it.
I will absolutely yield to the more learned folks here.
Pork gets whats called GASSY. This can happen fast in the cryovac. If your pork smells like sulphur don't risk it and toss it out.
This happend to me once with a cryovac pork, come to find out it was re-dated marked
With cryovac packaging; due to the lack of oxygen you will often get an unpleasant smell when it is first opened. If that smell does not go away within 15 - 20 minutes the meat is most likely gone bad. So since your pork had that smell when opened, and still smells like sulphur I would not take a chance with it.
If it get gassy like NePas pointed out, and the cryovac packaging has ballooned that is a sign of bacteria growing and it should be thrown out like he stated.
There is one other possible reason, and that could be your water source. Did you add water (I don't see it listed), and does this water have a high sulphur content or is it chlorinated?
Thanks to all who replied. I have decided to toss the sausage, it just doesn't smell right...it aint worth it.
I know what you are saying about the fennel smell/taste and its the reason I posted the contents, but I am pretty sure that's not the culprit. I did not add any water so that is not it either.
I have a feeling the fridge I stored the butts in was not cold enough so that is likely my problem, though the cryovac package was not bloated. What a shame, it was 20 pounds!!
Luckily the first batch from a different fridge was ok.
I guess my dogs will have a lot of sausage...they said it was fine when I fed it to them last night!
For anyone that's interested bacteria can be split into two groups in relation to food contamination, those that are spoilage bacteria and cause meat to go bad and smell but do not necessarily cause food poisoning.
The other type are pathogenic bacteria which may not make the food smell bad but can give severe food poisioning. These are the more dangerous of the two groups as they don't give any warning by way of smell yet can make you very ill! :o
USDA and other food regulation bodies suggest that ground meat is not kept more than 1 - 2 days at fridge temperature.
Think you did the right thing cgaengineer in tossing it!
My sausage book said 2-3 days in fridge, but given the fact its ground and the mystery temp of my storage fridge I am having my doubts.
I did 45 pounds, about 25 of which were processed within 2 days of purchase and did not get stored in the same fridge, and also came from a different store.
I hate to waste it, but it aint worth it...besides my dogs love it!
Thanks everyone for your input.
Manxman;
Thanks for the information on bacteria.
I have decided that when I make my sausage mixture up for a rest in the frig I will vacum seal it and store it just above freezing. Any ideas about this????
Keeping it too cool when allowing it to cure or soak up spices will prevent much of the cure/spices from soaking into the meat from what I understand.
I've never mixed meat and spices and then left it in the fridge to work. I've always mixed and stuffed right away, then put in the fridge to cure for at least 12 hours, usually closer to 24.
I follow what RAF128 does. Mix, stuff, overnight in the refer and then vacuum pack.