to cook and eat pancetta if it went out of date 13 days ago?

[IsletsOfLangerhans]

It is cured, has been refrigerated and smells fine - would you eat it? I used to be a massive believer of use by dates, but think I'm slowly turning into my mother....

I'd definitely eat it! I'm of an age that learnt to cook before use by dates , so never really look at them. If it smells OK I'd be happy - bacony stuff goes a bit slimy and rank when it's off, that's when I chuck it out for the birds!

If it seemed fine, and I was going to cook it thoroughly, I would definitely eat it.

I had yoghurt that was 12 days past its used by date on my cereal this morning...

Doesn't seem to be that we'll cured. It's still dead.

Hell yes - it's preserved and before the tyranny of Best Before dates etc it would probably have been kept in a cool pantry for yonks.

It's been in a sealed package since I bought it, at back of fridge. If anything had managed to survive and grow on it, I'm doing it in the oven at 180 for 15 mins - that should kill anything

yes I would eat it - it is cured

Oh yes - cured meat lasts indefinitely I thought. I've got an absolutely ancient chorizo in the fridge that I'm still using!!

Thanks for helping me make my mind up!

Yes I would, but what I mainly wanted to say was: I love your name, it made me smile, remembering my sixth form biology days.

I inadvertently gave ds some out of date jam that was ahem significantly a little more out of date than that and he was fine. Not that I would suggest actively doing it but if it's less than a couple of weeks out of date and seems fine and you don't have anything important to do tomorrow and it seems ok when cooked too, I'd risk it. Oh and if you reckon you have a decent nicely cold fridge too.

I wouldn't risk it if it wasn't cured meat though!

And I have no formal knowledge to back this up - just gut instinct. No pun intended.

I read it as placenta not pancetta!

I've done this, it was fine.

Read 'Pickled, Potted and Canned', fascinating history of food preservation. Kind of stops you fussing about Nanny State dates.

If it looks fine and smells fine, then it's fine. This system hasn't let me down yet!

(did anyone else initially read the thread title as "placenta" not pancetta?)

Thanks Hestons - I am a biologist! We thoroughly enjoyed the pancetta, but I'd definitely draw the line at eating 13 day old placenta...

Yep placenta here too. Was a little disappointed after imagining a whole different type of carbonara