Sausage Saturday night?

October 22, 2010 3:30 PM

Another "can I eat this" question. This time: pork sausage.

I put it in the fridge to thaw either last night or the night before, I don't remember. It had been frozen for about three months. If I use it tomorrow night for a stew (cooking it before putting it in the stew pot), should it be okay or do I need to cook it tonight?

posted by youcancallmeal to food & drink (12 answers total)

Is it actually thawed yet? If it's a significant amount of sausage and you only put it in the fridge last night it's quite possibly still frozen inside, assuming your fridge is kept appropriately cold. If you put it in the night before then it's probably thawed but only recently.

Either way it's probably fine, just make sure you cook it thoroughly before putting it in the stew and ensuring that everything in the stew comes up to a boil.

NB: I'm assuming the sausage was made under safe, sanitary conditions, whether homemade or commercial.
posted by jedicus at 3:33 PM on October 22, 2010

It's from Whole Foods and still in the package that it came in.
posted by youcancallmeal at 3:34 PM on October 22, 2010

Oh, one other thought. Was it frozen promptly after buying it or did it languish in the fridge for a while first?
posted by jedicus at 3:34 PM on October 22, 2010

It was frozen right after buying. I knew I'd be a slacker about using it.
posted by youcancallmeal at 3:36 PM on October 22, 2010

Still Tasty says 1-2 days in the fridge is fine. I'm willing to bet longer will be fine, depending on a couple of factors:

If the sausage is in link form, it will do better.
If the sausage is sealed, such as a Jimmy Dean type packaging, it will do a lot better.
If it is bulk sausage that isn't well sealed, well, I'd guess 50/50.

Check the smell as pork sausage will be easy to tell if it is bad by a rancid smell due to the fat content of sausage. Cook thoroughly. And if you really aren't sure, throw it out. I'd be willing to lose a couple pounds of sausage to not go through food poisoning.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 3:37 PM on October 22, 2010

It's fine.
posted by proj at 3:42 PM on October 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

Totally fine. Worst case, you are looking at three days in the fridge, part of that time frozen. I would not hesitate to eat sausage in the fridge for five or more days, as long as it smelled and looked OK.
posted by ssg at 3:42 PM on October 22, 2010

Yay! Then Saturday Stew, it is! Thanks! (if I die, we know what happened...)
posted by youcancallmeal at 3:55 PM on October 22, 2010

casting another vote for SAFE. enjoy.
posted by ChefJoAnna at 4:59 PM on October 22, 2010

Yeah, I'm sure it's fine. It just may not taste quite as awesome a when you bought it.
posted by dubitable at 6:30 PM on October 22, 2010

awesome a -> awesome as. Doh.
posted by dubitable at 6:30 PM on October 22, 2010

Another vote for totally fine. I do this all the time. I'm not dead yet.
posted by brianogilvie at 6:44 PM on October 22, 2010