Posts: 24,926
Threads: 4,391
Joined: Nov 2024
Reputation:
0
(If Mint says "no", then I sure won't.)
A friend was moving after a divorce and gave me the stuff in his freezer. I noticed the quail was from 1993, 1995, 1998 etc.
I was going to throw a bucket from 1996 in the woods and saw that it looked pretty good. So, I washed it and fried a couple of legs and a beast and it tasted good. There was no hint of freezer-burn.
However, I read that freezing didn't kill bacteria - it only slowed it down. So, would bacteria multiply after 15 years and cause problems, especially when frying birds, which sometimes just barely get cooked long enough because you have to guess when they're really done?
Posts: 12,924
Threads: 470
Joined: Feb 2010
Reputation:
0
[quote Dennis S](If Mint says "no:, then I sure won't.)
A friend was moving after a divorce and gave me the stuff in his freezer. I noticed the quail was from 1993, 1995, 1998 etc.
I was going to throw a bucket from 1996 in the woods and saw that it looked pretty good. So, I washed it and fried a couple of legs and a beast and it tasted good. There was no hint of freezer-burn.
However, I read that freezing didn't kill bacteria - it only slowed it down. So, would bacteria multiply after 15 years and cause problems, especially when frying birds, which sometimes just barely get cooked long enough because you have to guess when they're really done?
Not from a home freezer.
BGnR
Posts: 50,838
Threads: 670
Joined: Mar 2024
mmmmm, fried beast. :-)
Two first concerns would be loss of freezer power in the interum and then freezer burn (taste).
Then loss of flavor with age.(taste again)
If you cooked it to (the recommended temperature) you should be OK.
I don't see why , even fried, you can't stick a meat thermometer into the thickest section and se what it reports after a minute. It doesn't cool off beyond the surface that fast.
Posts: 3,721
Threads: 449
Joined: May 2025
I wouldn't eat frozen quail from 2007 let alone 1993.
I don't think anything from 1993 is safe to eat.
He can't be a friend if he gave you frozen stuff from 1993-1998.
I can't believe you ate frozen food that's over ten years old. That quail could have been defrosted and frozen a dozen times by now. I sure hope we won't be changing your screen name to "the late Dennis S"
Posts: 24,633
Threads: 1,093
Joined: May 2025
The ultimate test is to try it...
As y'all can guess... I would try it.
Posts: 24,926
Threads: 4,391
Joined: Nov 2024
Reputation:
0
So far, so good. It's been a couple of hours. One concern is that it's in 5 or 6 containers, so any one of them could be bad. I gave a bucket to my brother-in-law. I wonder if I should warn him of the negative consensus here.
Wait a minute. I remember an ice storm in that town that caused a 10-day power-outage in 2001. There's no way it would have survived that, because his house is all-electric and it would get up into the 40's during the days. I'm throwing it out (unless mint wants me to Fed-Ex it to him.)
Posts: 46,542
Threads: 2,629
Joined: May 2025
Reputation:
0
I think it is really odd that a friend would give someone food that had been lying around in their freezer for over a decade, whether they are moving or not. Why doesn't either he or his ex-wife want the food, anyhow? I'd throw it all out, no question.
