spice and spoilage

[mindstalk]

You know that myth about the Middle Ages using lots of spice to covered up the taste of bad meat? It doesn't work. At least, I don't think it does. I just cooked some ground lamb that was starting to smell off, despite being thawed and open for only 2-3 days, in some really excellent store-bought pasta sauce (Rao's). End result: still smells and tastes bad. Adding some chipotle hot sauce didn't help much. I ended up throwing most of it out; hopefully the few bites I did swallow won't come to much -- or if they do, do so quickly, before my flight...