Re-Using Marinade

[paperboy98]

Marinated a skirt steak last night in the fridge. When I take it out to cook, would it be safe to throw a couple of pork loin chops in the same marinade? Seems OK, but also seems like something to verify first. Thanks Bros.
Paperboy98

 

[Kevin]

I wouldn't. Cross contamination is a bad thing.

 

[jemezspring]

I wouldn't. Cross contamination is a bad thing.

How is that cross contamination?

I too have wondered why I can not safely reuse my chicken marinade in a 24 hour period. Sometimes I make a marinade in the afternoon, cook the chicken at night and then add more chicken to the marinade and then cook the next afternoon. Why is this unsafe? Sorry if I am being stupid but when I have posted about this topic before all everybody says is just "I would'nt", OK that's fine but WHY? I need an explanation.

 

[Chef Jim]

Because the marinade police will come to get you. IMO if it has had raw meat in it, no way on anything else, but more raw meat, why not?

 

[expatpig]

I understand that there is a pending marinade violation in Lubbock Tx. Risky business, why chance it? It can't be that expensive to make more.

 

[Kevin]

How is that cross contamination?

I too have wondered why I can not safely reuse my chicken marinade in a 24 hour period. Sometimes I make a marinade in the afternoon, cook the chicken at night and then add more chicken to the marinade and then cook the next afternoon. Why is this unsafe? Sorry if I am being stupid but when I have posted about this topic before all everybody says is just "I would'nt", OK that's fine but WHY? I need an explanation.

Because the first use of this marinade was for beef. The original poster asked if it would be alright to use the same batch of marinade for pork. That is cross contaminating raw beef with raw pork. I would not do that. If you want to safely reuse the marinade for basting the same product that it was originally used for while cooking, boil it for a few minutes to kill the coodies.
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[expatpig]

Aha! now I know why not to reuse, all meat has bacteria on it and when you add it to marinade, you contaminate the marinade. When you add more raw meat, you have a higher level of contamination and so on. If you boil the marinade between you would be fine. Why not make more to begin with and reserve it.

 

[Kevin]

Aha! now I know why not to reuse, all meat has bacteria on it and when you add it to marinade, you contaminate the marinade. When you add more raw meat, you have a higher level of contamination and so on. If you boil the marinade between you would be fine. Why not make more to begin with and reserve it.

Thank you:clap2::clap2::clap2:

 

[el_matt]

My two pennies...
Same type of animal, and it's all been in the safe temp. zone, no reason not to use it.
Different animal, boil the marinade to kill any bacteria that one may have that the other doesn't.
Always boil marinade prior to using as a baste, or table sauce, for the same bacteria reason.

Matt

 

[Mister Bob]

Two more pennies

I'll throw my two pennies in with el_matt's two pennies. I'm not a food scientist, but forums are for opinions, so here's mine:

Same kind of meat, all been kept in the safe zone, in the same 24 hours. No problem. No difference if you threw 12 thighs in the bag, or marinated 6, took them out and marinated 6 more.

Two different meats, two different kinds of bacteria...that sounds like cross contamination and a bad idea.

Boiling the marinade in between would probably work, but I still wouldn't want my pork marinating in whatever the beef left behind in the bag.

 

[BBQ Grail]

I wouldn't use it because I would not want the beef juices that naturally would leech into the marinade to change the taste of my pork chops.

Now I might reconsider if I'd done the pork chops first...

 

[expatpig]

I think we might need a microbiologist to chime in on this topic and put it to rest. For me, not really an issue, because I'm not the only one that eats my cooking. I won't take the chance. Would it bother you that a restaurant that you go to cuts costs by re-using marinades?

 

[jemezspring]

Because the first use of this marinade was for beef. The original poster asked if it would be alright to use the same batch of marinade for pork. That is cross contaminating raw beef with raw pork. I would not do that. If you want to safely reuse the marinade for basting the same product that it was originally used for while cooking, boil it for a few minutes to kill the coodies.
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But if you cook both to their 'safe' temps, 160 for both I think, wont they be alright? If you hit the safe temp would'nt the same coodies get killed whether pork or beef?

 

[jjdealer]

Re-heating to 165 kills all bacteria.

 

[Ron_L]

From the FDA...

Marinating Mandate

Marinades used on raw meat, poultry, or seafood can contain harmful bacteria. Don't re-use these marinades on cooked foods, unless you boil them first.
Never taste uncooked marinade or sauce that was used to marinate raw meat, poultry, or seafood.

This is from this page...

http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/HealthEducators/ucm083037.htm

But the same text is repeated on almost all of their food safety pages geared towards consumers. I also found references to boiling the marinade for at least one minute before using it on cooked meat.

I couldn't find anything on reusing a marinade for a different type of raw meat, but there is a bunch of info on keeping different raw meats separate to avoid cross-contamination, so I would think the same advice would apply here. Unless you're marinating in a $100 whiskey :-D I would just make up a second batch. Why take a chance to save a couple of bucks?

 

[cgwaite]

Food poisoning is not a very nice thing to experience. The more I've learned about cooking, the more I wish to remove the possibility of food contamination when I prepare food. There may be certain situations in which you can use marinade (i.e. reheating to 165*, etc) but why would you take the risk? I am sure that there are many people who have re-used marinade without any issues. That fact does not make it safe.

The cost of using new marinade, IMHO, is money well spent to eliminate the possibility of any food-borne pathogens from gaining entry into my food. Maybe that is a little "over-kill", but that's just the way I roll.

 

[jemezspring]

From the FDA...



This is from this page...

http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/HealthEducators/ucm083037.htm

But the same text is repeated on almost all of their food safety pages geared towards consumers. I also found references to boiling the marinade for at least one minute before using it on cooked meat.

I couldn't find anything on reusing a marinade for a different type of raw meat, but there is a bunch of info on keeping different raw meats separate to avoid cross-contamination, so I would think the same advice would apply here. Unless you're marinating in a $100 whiskey :-D I would just make up a second batch. Why take a chance to save a couple of bucks?

I still see nothing about reusing a marinade that was used for one raw meat then another raw meat. I can see how adding new meat to the marinade would add more bacteria to the mix, thus upping the chances of getting ill. Is that it?
I just cant see how, if all the bad bacteria is killed at a certain temperature for both meats, why it would not be safe. Trust me I do not want to get sick. I 'm just looking for clarity.

 

[kcchiefdav]

I don't suspect anyone is going waste their research dollars on trying to find out if there are pennies to be saved by safely reusing marinades. I have a degree in biology and a minor in micro(which means i'm not at all qualified to answer this). The only major problem that I can think of with this method is the different kinds of microorganisms passing their DNA to one another and with that passing along antibiotic resistances. Which seems like an unlikely enough scenario. Another minor problem might occur if your marinade contains sugar...the bacteria would really feast on that(even within the safe zone) and after a 2nd round with a new meat, the number of bacteria in your batch of marinade(and on your meat) could really get high. Both of these problems become non-issues if you cook the meat long enough and clean up your workspace nicely afterwards...but since none of us are perfect, I'm gonna keep making extra batches of marinade.

 

[expatpig]

Ditto!

 

[MRI_Guy]

As others have said - just make more marinade and don't take the unnecessary risk.

I am sure that 99 times out of 100 the marinades will be fine. However, I don't want to take the chance that one of my children, nieces, nephews, etc will be that 1 out of 100 that ends up having problems.

Another factor - the second time that a marinade is used - there will be less salt, sugar, flavors, etc to be absorbed by the meat for your next cook. So not only will your second product possibly have cross-contamination issues, but probably be less flavorful as well.