To ask can you marinate something for too long?

[Redberets]

I bought some chicken pieces today (use by 27th) and put them in a jerk marinade to have tomorrow. My mums now coming over for dinner on Thursday and she loves jerk chicken! Would it be ok to leave them in the marinade until then? Obviously they won't go off but will they go weird/not nice tasting if I leave them in that long? The ingredients, if that helps, are various spices, salt, chilli, soy sauce and lime juice. Thanks!

[Redberets]

I now feel very educated in chicken storage. I managed not to eat it at 11pm last night and it's going in the freezer now. Thanks!

[Weedsnseeds1]

It's packed in modified atmosphere packaging to get the shelf life i.e. the air in the pack was replaced with Nitrogen. Raw meat has bacteria on it, however this cannot multiply without the presence of oxygen. Once you open the pack, bacteria can multiply ( even in the fridge, although more slowly than at optimum temperature) and the meat can go off before the use by date. The sniff it to see if it's OK advice is fine for spoilage bacteria, but pathogens ( the ones that will make you ill), don't smell, so you can have food that smells fine but can still make you sick.
Some pathogens are destroyed by cooking, but some form toxins and the toxins are heat stable, so cooking won't help.
You should freeze it as it won't keep until the 27th now.

[Aquamarine1029]

The acids in the marinade will break down the proteins and turn it to mush. Either freeze it or start fresh.

[verystressedmum]

And BertieBotts is right, you'd have a fit if you saw the meat factories! It's not what you might imagine at all

[verystressedmum]

Once the pack has been opened it won't stay fresh until the use by date as it's the gas inside the sealed pack that gives it the longer shelf life.
There's no sterile environment in a chicken factory, just a normal (cold) environment, it's only the gas that gives it a longer use by than butchers meat which is in the open.
A gas sealed pack has a use by of about 10 days from when the chicken was killed. Butchers meat I'd use the next day not longer, as you've no idea when it was killed and it degrades quite fast if it's not sealed. Meat in a factory is packed quite quickly.

[BertieBotts]

*problems = properties, sorry, I should go to bed.

[BertieBotts]

Meat packaging isn't sterile, really, you'd probably have a fit if you saw the conditions in a meat packaging plant! And air doesn't have magical bacteria-encouraging problems, it's just that it tends to dry food out.

That said it will be fresher and nicer if you freeze it so I think that's a good choice.

[Awfulatmaths]

The lime will break down the chicken if you marinate it for too long and it will be mushy.

[JoshLymanJr]

Redberets

I'd say that length of time is a bit much to leave chicken before cooking it, but by God that recipe sounds good!

[AfunaMbatata]

Oh dear lord thank you!

[JoshLymanJr]

And anyway, if it's coated in marinade then it's not actually exposed to the air is it?

Eh??? Is marinade airtight?

[Redberets]

Afuna I'm on the verge of just cooking it and eating it now in which case this thread will have been for nothing

Davros True! They probably say expresso too

1 tbsp allspice berries
1 tbsp black peppercorns
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped
4 spring onions, chopped (use the white part and most of the green)
3 scotch bonnet chillies, finely chopped
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
Juice of 1 lime
6 chicken legs (thigh with drumstick attached), skin-on (or 6 thighs and 6 drumsticks)

[Heratnumber7]

They will go off because they are open

Bollocks. The meat will be fine.

And anyway, if it's coated in marinade then it's not actually exposed to the air is it?

[Davros]

Don't know but I love you for knowing the difference between marinate and marinade. So many people just use marinade

[caffeinestream]

@LadyMaryCrawley1922 butchers meat has a much shorter shelf life than supermarket stuff because of this!

If it was only a day or so more, meh, no issue, but five days is pushing it slightly and you really don't want to mess with chicken!

[AfunaMbatata]

Mmmm could I have a recipe? I like all variations and I'm literally salivating.

[Redberets]

Afuna I know, I love it too! It's the scotch bonnet flavour that makes it!

[Oysterbabe]

And the difference with meat bought at the butchers is that the meat from the butchers will have a much shorter shelf life.

[Oysterbabe]

The gas mixture inside the packaging is different than air to help preserve the meat. Once you have opened the packaging and exposed it to air you have to use it.

[AfunaMbatata]

I don't mean age! Meh, too much

Btw I love jerk chicken and want some now

[Redberets]

Ok ok I'll freeze it

[kateandme]

Date only applies wen unfolded in original sterile packaged state.once opened that changes to 1-2 days.Wednesday maybe but I would say Thursday a tad too long hun.try freezing option.

[LadyMaryCrawley1922]

Ignore the stuff about it being open. People are obsessed with a the daft notion that chicken is hermetically sealed in the supermarket. What if you bought it in the butchers? It's no more open now than it was in its original packaging, and no more likely to go off if stored properly.

I think you can marinade too long, tbh, if there is acid in the mixture it can toughen the meat, if there is salt or spice it can get very strongly flavoured. It's not going to hurt you though.

[caffeinestream]

It's because you've opened the original packaging. It doesn't matter that you've resealed it - it's been exposed to the air and other substances/bacteria and will go off.

[AfunaMbatata]

It's ewww because once u open the packaging the meat starts to age.