2 Year Old Ribs and 18 Month Old Pork Belly - Frozen :-(

[gaz0001]

Hi Smokers,

I was browsing the chest freezer and found 5 Kilos of decent pork that I did not know was in there.

It's been in the original packaging, frozen, 3 kilo Belly for 18 months and 2 Kilo Ribs for 24 months.

Visually it looks fine, but after a Google the general consensus is to throw it out after 6 months.

I don't really want to throw it out, it's a waste.
Also, don't wanna waste 7 hours smoking it up only to get ill or not make decent food.

Any advice?

 

[BigW.]

If it smells fine out of the wrapping, no freezer burn I'd use it.

 

[SmokinEdge]

The meat is still fine. Thaw it, then carefully go over the surface of the meat and skin off any freezer burn. It’s never more than 1/16 th of an inch thick. and trim the top and sides of the surface fat. Cook and enjoy.

 

[dr k]

If it's been in it's original vac sealed cryo vaced plastic it's fine. I just did a three year old brisket. It's when it's on a Styrofoam tray with plastic wrap that gets freezer burned in 6 months.

 

[chopsaw]

Pork can get funky in that length of time . It's the fat that gets an off flavor .
I'm no stranger to this , so I get what you're saying . Even in the original vac pack . Just be advised that the thaw time plays into it , and when it hits the air , the clock is ticking . Not " BAD " , just not good / off flavor .
I just did some cured pork loins . Smelled fine , looked fine , but I knew from doing it , it was gonna be off . It was .

 

[jcam222]

From a safety standpoint according to the feds meat is safe indefinitely as long as frozen. Quality can decline although I've eaten many things I frozen vacuum sealed for 2+ years. Sometimes I have noticed a bit of an off smell on the fat as Rich mentions. I trim a bit if it and never shows up as off-putting in the final cooked meat.

 

[Brokenhandle]

Not sure if you have pets, or dogs... but if you're concerned, they would like it. Thanksgiving time I got a turkey out of freezer, didn't realize it was bought in 21, so that one got cooked and shredded for our dogs... with rice added. So if you don't want to worry about it, that's an option.
Personally I wouldn't be concerned... think it will be fine.

Ryan

 

[sandyut]

as stated, if the packaging is intact as in no holes, its good to go! Ive found "aged" product in the freezer and its always been fine.

 

[chopsaw]

Beef is forgiving . Pork is a different story . I'm not saying his is bad , but when that bag comes off pork it needs to be dealt with . I usually try to rinse , dry and get some salt on the surface . Then get it smoked , or whatever .

 

[gaz0001]

I did not run the ribs. They didn't look great.

I ran the belly. 3 Kilo, each in kilo packages.
2 looked perfect. 1 had a bit of burn on 1 side which I removed.

Ran them for around 7 hours at 225f.
Pulled 1 at 195, other 200 and 1 at 207 - used my usual poke test.

Most of the meat was kinda tough, and the fat did not render properly.
Unsure if they were bad cuts from the start, or if the 18 months frozen had messed up the fat rendering.

It wasn't me though.
I've done 50 kg of belly on the same smoker using similar process.

 

[pineywoods]

Good reason to vacuum seal if you don't already. I've eaten food that had been vacuum sealed and frozen for 4-5 years and it been fine. It's not at all unusual for us to eat 12-16 month old vacuum packed frozen meat.