Trying to be patient!

Be patient grasshopper! 42 to 45 and preferably the 45 is worth the wait over just 35 days. Ron

I’ll be blunt…white mold even just on the exterior of the bag surprises me. While you imply your refrig and that “drawer” was operational during those 9 days away I have to wonder what caused the mold to grow. Any way to see if your electricity had been off for a while? Flashing clocks, neighbors to talk with etc?

About that “average” you mention it reminded me what my high school math teacher used to say…something like the lake depth only averaged 3 feet, but the 6 foot man must have waded into the part 12 foot deep and drowned!

Now don’t panic…go ahead and wipe the exterior clean as you suggested. Then when you remove the meat from the bag, I would also skim/trim it and then steak out your meat and smell it. Your nose will tell you if there is a problem. That meat interior should smell earthy/nutty but never rancid! Let me know.
Ron

I understand your frustration…just a few years back we had a fire in our kitchen. Thankfully it was confined to where it started and THANKFULLY I was still in the kitchen shortly before heading to bed for the night! WHERE? In the freezer compartment of our GE refrig/freezer side by side. LLLLOOONNNGGG story, but after GE blew $1K in service calls a supervisor finally got involved and sent us a brand new one!