Topic: The extraordinary longevity of velvetted chicken

[Peripatetic Phil]

On 18 April 2023, 19:12:41 I reported on a rather poor attempt at chicken bhuna which had been made with pre-velvetted chicken, as opposed to normal BIR-style pre-cooked chicken.  I later discovered that it had not only been velvetted but also marinated in soya sauce. whence the rather poor chicken bhuna.  So, with quite a lot of the velvetted chicken left over, I made a chicken with chilli and black bean sauce earlier this week, which lasted me two or three days, after which I made a further (and final) portion today, using up the last of the velvetted chicken.  Now, this chicken was already two days past its hotel "use-by" date when I received it, and that was about a fortnight ago, yet the chicken with chilli and black bean sauce that I made this evening lacked any trace of taint, and tasted just as good as if I had used fresh chicken.  Now I do keep my refrigerator at a steady 3℃ rather than the more normal 5℃, but even so, for chicken to last this long without any decay whatsoever seems quite remarkable to me.  To what extent it was the marination, to what extent the velvetting, or to the lower-than-average storage temperature we shall never know, but it certainly confirms my belief that, as I wrote in an earlier post, "use-by dates are for the guidance of the wise and the blind obedience of fools".
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** Phil.