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!

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

@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!

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

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?

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)

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

Eh??? Is marinade airtight?

Oh dear lord thank you!

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!

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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!