Had to throw away 40 lbs of pork shoulder after dry aging experiment went south

I tried dry aging a couple of pork shoulders in my walk-in cooler at 38 degrees for 14 days straight. By day 10, the pellicle looked fine but on day 14, there was a greenish spot near the bone that smelled like ammonia. Lost about $80 worth of meat and learned you really need to keep humidity below 75% or the bad bacteria take over. Anyone here ever tried longer than 7 days on pork without a dedicated dry aging bag?

2 comments

2 Comments

sage3081mo ago

oh man, that "greenish spot near the bone" is exactly what happened to me too. I tried a similar thing with a 10 day pork shoulder in my garage fridge and it went bad right around that same timeframe. The ammonia smell hit me as soon as I cracked the door open and I knew it was over. 40 lbs is a brutal loss though, ouch. I learned the hard way too that pork is way more tricky than beef for dry aging, you basically have to keep an eye on it every single day or it can go south fast.

jason_lewis31mo ago

That same ammonia smell hit me last year with a venison shoulder I was trying to cure. @sage308 I feel your pain on pork too, I had a similar issue with a 15 pound picnic shoulder I tried to age for 10 days. The worst part was I found the green spot on a Friday night and had to wait until Monday to toss it because the dumpster was locked for the weekend.