Timeline for Is it safe to put hot food in the fridge?
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| Apr 5, 2020 at 7:01 | comment | added | Arthur Yip | also, the thing about reheating, you might kill the bacteria that have grown in your food, but they may have already left you nasty waste products in your food that can't be eliminated by heat. | |
| Dec 4, 2015 at 16:09 | history | edited | Cascabel♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jul 6, 2014 at 4:17 | history | edited | TFD | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jul 16, 2013 at 5:17 | history | edited | Chris Steinbach | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Nov 12, 2010 at 15:09 | comment | added | Aaronut | As for your previous question: Yes, there is more bacteria in cooked stock, especially when it's been left out. Even if you killed every single bacteria during the cooking process (which is not the case), it can become contaminated again just as easily as the vegetables, and unlike vegetables, stock sitting around at room temperature (or worse, 60° C or so) is quite literally a breeding ground for bacteria. Unless you're in the habit of vigorously rubbing your broccoli with raw chicken, it's a lot safer than stock. | |
| Nov 12, 2010 at 15:05 | comment | added | Aaronut | An agar plate is not a pot of stock. Such a small quantity does not take very long to come down to room temperature. If you're going to divide your hot food into small portions that can be cooled within a few minutes, then by all means, cool it for a few minutes on the counter top. As I pointed out in my answer, though, the concerns here are when dealing with a single large quantity of food, and a full pot of stock will take quite a bit more than a few minutes to cool this way. So your point, while interesting, is not actually relevant. | |
| Nov 11, 2010 at 21:35 | comment | added | TFD | In recent history medical laboratory technicians used to make their own agar with blood or meat stock mix to grow bacteria. You poured the agar plates and covered them with their glass lids, and let them cool on the bench. When at room temperature you put them in the fridge. They where spotless for more than a week! | |
| Nov 11, 2010 at 21:32 | comment | added | TFD | So there is more bacteria in cooked stock than on uncooked vegetable matter with potential kitchen contaminants? What do you put in you stock, road kill? | |
| Nov 11, 2010 at 16:21 | comment | added | Aaronut | The only lack of science here is your own. A pot of chicken stock is clearly going to be harbouring more bacteria than a single lettuce leaf that happened to get a splash of meat juice. And freshly cooked food is more sterile but not totally sterile. Leaving food out at room temperature for several hours and then refrigerating it for several more days is simply careless, and dangerous. | |
| Nov 11, 2010 at 5:18 | comment | added | TFD | @Aaronut I think there is a lack of science here. "..especially if they don't contain meat or dairy products.." is an old wives tale, all "wet" food spoils, or more often is contaminated. It's not the meat dish that kills you, it's the splashes of meat juices growing bacteria on the salad greens. Freshly cooked food in closed containers should be much more sterile than raw food. And a couple of hours on the bench cooling will therefore not be a health risk | |
| Nov 10, 2010 at 23:47 | comment | added | Aaronut | @Marti: Sure, it's not going to go bad within a few hours. But you understand that it is cumulative, right? Stock that might have lasted 3 days in the fridge might only last 2 days if you left it sitting out at room temperature. | |
| Nov 10, 2010 at 20:05 | comment | added | Marti | @Aaronut, if your stock can't survive a couple of hours at room temperature, there's something wrong with it. | |
| Nov 8, 2010 at 15:00 | comment | added | Aaronut | "Long enough to come down to near room temperature" can be a substantial amount of time depending on what you are cooling, and all throughout that time your food is in the danger zone. Some foods are certainly OK to cool this way, especially if they don't contain meat or dairy products, but one shouldn't rely on generalities when talking about food safety. The fact of the matter is that you've recommended a practice that is less safe (albeit more energy-efficient) than the practice you are recommending against. Worse, you're arguing about it instead of making a simple edit. | |
| Nov 8, 2010 at 10:05 | comment | added | TFD | If you simmer a liquid up for at least ten minutes how much live bacteria is left? Leave it to cool in the cooking container with the lid on. Don't leave it out overnight, just long enough to come down to near room temperature | |
| Nov 8, 2010 at 7:55 | comment | added | BaffledCook | In the commercial kitchen there are special coolers and they are really expensive. Have you heard of the heat-chain - cool-chain? A food item should be kept cold. When you cook it, you should heat it fast, then if you should maintain the food warm, it should be at a sufficiently hot temperature, or if you cool it down, it should be cooled down fast. Within two hours below 4ºC (if I'm correct). | |
| Nov 8, 2010 at 2:52 | comment | added | Aaronut | What kind of test is that? Not only are we talking about refrigeration, not freezing, but taste tests have nothing to do with food safety. Some foods really need to be cooled quickly. Leaving your homemade stock to cool for an hour on the countertop is inviting disaster. | |
| Nov 8, 2010 at 2:33 | comment | added | TFD | Sure, cooling food faster is sometimes better, but there is a huge energy cost to doing this regularly, and what difference does it make anyway? Try it yourself, next time you do a big cook, put half on the bench to cool (labelled A), the other half on an empty freezer shelf (labelled B). Some months latter serve a portion of each to your family and see who can spot the difference? | |
| Nov 7, 2010 at 22:05 | comment | added | Aaronut | I take issue with your second suggestion; for many foods it's not safe to let it "cool on the bench". Typically if you need to cool a really hot food before putting in the fridge, then you do as GUI Junkie suggests - submerge the container in an ice-water bath. And if the food is in an untempered glass or aluminum container that might crack or warp, then transfer it to a stable container first. | |
| Nov 7, 2010 at 17:01 | vote | accept | Snowman | ||
| Nov 7, 2010 at 4:59 | history | answered | TFD | CC BY-SA 2.5 |