Leg of Lamb: Tips & Techniques

[DTBarton]

Did the lamb have a sell by or use by date? I have also encountered strong smeling meat from cryovac packages, usually pork or lamb, ocasionally poultry. I rinse the meat really well and pat it dry. Usually, the rinse and dry clears it right up. If it still stinks, ditch or return. I feel like I've gotten to be able to tell the difference between cryovac smell and genuine bad meat, which is pretty rare in my experience.

[BarbaraY]

I, too, have found that cryovaced meat often has an unpleasant odor when first opened. I rinse it off and find that usually takes care of the problem.

Does it still smell bad in the marinade? If so I would take it back to Costco. I usually have good luck with their lamb.

[MelissaH]

Back around T-giving, we bought some lamb shoulder at Wegman's in Syracuse, about an hour from home, because we were there anyway and we couldn't find what we wanted closer to home. They opened a cryovac package, cut off the chunk we wanted, and wrapped it. We immediately went to the checkout, and then rested the meat (along with a few other refrigerated items) in a cooler with some ice.

As we drove home, we noticed a slight sulfide-like odor in the car. Once we got home and unloaded the car from all the day's errands, we noticed the smell in the kitchen. We opened the lamb, to start prepping the stew for dinner in a couple of days. And then we realized that it was, in fact, the lamb that stunk.

We called Wegman's immediately and described the problem. They told us to throw it out, save the receipt, and next time we were in the neighborhood to stop back at the meat counter. As it happened, we were back down there about a week later, and brought the receipt to the meat counter. We found the person who had helped us and who we had spoken to on the phone, and he signed off on the receipt. A quick stop at the customer service desk, and we had our money back.

We haven't bought lamb for stew since. We wound up getting some beef chuck and using that in our day-before-Thanksgiving stew instead.

MelissaH

[dano1]

as said, cryo'd meats can have an off smell when first opened. This will dissipate after a couple of minutes though.

[MelissaH]

Ours still stank after being open for better than half an hour. It was big-time off.

MelissaH

[Soup]

thanks everyone.

Base on your advice, my wife threw it out. I didn't have the heart. I just couldn't do it. But better safe then sorry. I can smell a trace in the marrinade but not as strong as when I first opened and washed it. But better safe then sorry.

So instead we are roasting a couple chickens.

I hate seeing food go to waste. I wonder if I could braise the meat to kill off anything?

[Pan]

Killing off dangerous creatures isn't the only issue. If it smells stinky, it's undergone a chemical reaction, and the chemicals resulting from that reaction themselves may be bad for you.

[Kevin72]

Along the lines of what Pan said, if it smelled that bad then no matter what you do you'll still get a lingering taste of it in there. I had a similar experience with some beautiful double-cut pork chops from the butcher once (butcher paper seems to have the same effect) and cooked them anyways. And that smell had permeated the meat.

[budrichard]

You can kill hamrful organisms by the correct temperature, what You CAN NOT DO is to render the byproducts of those organisms safe if they have produced toxins. -Dick