How long is too long to marinate?

I had some lamb leg in a marinade that I had planned to freeze but forgot before heading out of town for three days… Is there any bacteria/health risk for having lamb marinated for 4 days now? Marinade is mostly red wine, rosemary, garlic, etc. Was in a covered container in the fridge.

I’m sure it is safer than leaving the lamb in the refrigerator without marinade. An acidic marinade can make make meat mushy if left for too long. That;s just a matter of texture, though, not a hazard.

Alcohol, salt, and coldness will prevent issues for at least two weeks.

^^^This. The acid will denature the proteins and make mush out of your meat.

All of the above posts are correct, but I think a lot of it depends on the cut of meat. I marinate skirt steak all the time and cook it after its marinated for anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days.

Thanks. That is essentially what I thought- It will be safe to eat, but not necessarily pleasurable due to mushiness.

Maybe I should sous vide it for an extended period of time?

Just to emphasise the mushiness, you mean? Sous vide for too long can cause mushiness in itself, so proceed with caution.

you’ve made sauerbraten!

After the sous vide, just throw it into a blender. It’ll be a gourmet protein drink!!!

I’ve marinated skirt steak on a Sunday morning and not cooked it until Thursday night without any issues .

don’t Audouze for more than a day or so.

Beware of any over-marinated Wine Berserker!

I’ll get back to you on that.

I would nix the sous vide for an EXTENDED period of time, just because IF the meat becomes mushy from the marinade, wouldn’t it make it worse by doing sous vide for a long time?

Low temp would not be the best idea. Leg of lamb isn’t the best cut for that technique, a lot of different muscles that don’t all cook at the same time/temp combo, let alone the marinade timing.

Lamb shake… mmmmmm.

I was thinking with that long in the marinade, it is probably essentially fully cooked, so maybe carpaccio is the way to go?

I was hoping to have an update, but my schedule wasnt conducive for cooking it anytime soon, so I pulled it out of the marinade and threw it in the freezer. Yes, that should make things better.

Oh man that’s great. I think the only thing that can top that is the freeze-thaw-freeze-thaw-cook method. I’ve done it a few times when I get in a time crunch that sounds like what you’re going through. I’m generally a food safety guy but I just can’t stand throwing animal protein away. Though I’d never serve anything cooked that way to others…

I don’t think three days in a marinade with red wine is going to make your leg of lamb too mushy. I’d probably butterfly and grill on a hot grill. A sear will help with textural issues towards the outside and the rarer inside meat should be less affected because the marinade won’t have penetrated as much.