Storing food after cooking, HELP

[cookingagain]

I was wondering if you could help me.

Last night i made turkey mince with tomato sauce and garlic, like a bolognese sauce. Well i finished cooking this at 10pm last night and wasnt sure whether to put it in the fridge straight away as it was still very hot. The question is, do i wait till the morning to put it in the fridge or is that not safe? I put it in the fridge at 8am

I really dont want to get any food poisoning, please help

Thanks

 

[GB]

Put it in the fridge. Never let meat sit out overnight. Especially mince. I would not let that sit out for more than 2 hours myself.

 

[bowlingshirt]

You let it sit at room temperature from 10pm to 8am ?

You could have put the pot in a cooler filled with ice to cool it down quickly before putting it in the fridge.

 

[Andy M.]

You should have refrigerated it right away. I realize our parents always wanted to cool things down before refrigerating, but that was not the safest approach.

The danger zone for the growth of bacteria in foods is 40F to 140 F. Foods within this temperature range breed harmful bacteria at the most rapid rate. Consequently, You want to minimize the time food spends in the danger zone. Take it of the stove and put it into storage containers and pop them into the fridge right away.

Several smaller containers with the lids off will cool food faster than one big container or containers with the lids on.

 

[skilletlicker]

But if you have a lot of something you might raise the temperature in the whole refrigerator into the danger zone. I like to move it into a large stainless steel mixing bowl or a thin stainless pot and put that into the sink filled with cold water until the food cools to near room temperature. It doesn't take very long.

 

[jennyema]

I would defintely NOT eat that sauce, sorry.

 

[skilletlicker]

What is turkey mince?

 

[jennyema]

What is turkey mince?

Ground turkey

 

[skilletlicker]

I know a lot of people won't like this and I'm not recommending the practice but I have made late night chilli or spaghetti meat sauce and intended to put it into the ice box after dinner but fell asleep instead. Discovering the pot in the morning, more often than not, I put it into the ice box, not the garbage.

I may be lucky or an example of God looking out for fools and drunks, but I haven't gotten sick yet. Again, I don't recommend the practice (see my first post in this thread) but doubt that my experience is very unusual.

 

[bowlingshirt]

I have made late night chilli or spaghetti meat sauce and intended to put it into the ice box after dinner but fell asleep instead. Discovering the pot in the morning, more often than not, I put it into the ice box, not the garbage.

Would you eat at a restaurant if you knew they did this ?

 

[Caine]

Some people's concern for "food safety" borders on paranoia. The turkey is cooked, and it is submerged in a very acidic tomato sauce. Sitting outside of a refrigerator overnight, unless you're living in Death Valley without air conditioning, is NOT going to allow for the growth of anything harmful.

As for eating in a restaurant that does this? I'd be more worried about one of the employees passing on hepatitis C than I would about getting anything from their meat sauce.

 

[GB]

There is a reason for food paranoia Caine.

If there was nothing to worry about, as you say, then there would be no need to stick it in the fridge ever.

Drive without a seatbelt if you like, but I will always wear mine. So far I have never needed it, but I don't want to be in a situation where I do need it and am not wearing it. Same with food safety. It just takes that one time to make you wish you would have done things differently.

 

[skilletlicker]

Would you eat at a restaurant if you knew they did this ?

No, I would not. Furthermore I would not save it my own home if it was going to be served to small children, the very elderly or those with already impaired health. If I owned a restaurant I suspect a cook who did it would be summarily fired. It seems to me to be a question of varying degrees of risk. I don't see anything inconsistent in this with routine risk assessment in other areas of life.

GB, I always wore a seatbelt long before it was required by law.

 

[ironchef]

Skilletlicker, I'm glad that you put that you don't recommend doing it, even though you've done it.

Caine, you've obviously never taken any Food Safety and/or Sanitation courses, nor do you practice proper food safety at home if you're giving that type of advice. In general, you routinely give very bad advice and information regarding food. Misinformation is worse than no information at all.

 

[GB]

I am with you skilletlicker. We all do things that we know may not be the best things to do. I have eaten things that were left out too long. I knew I was taking a risk, but I chose to do it anyway. If someone asked me if it was a smart more I would have said no, but that does not always stop us from doing stupid things

 

[Michael Cook]

According to ANSI you have one hour to get hot food below 70 degrees and an additional 3 hours to get the food below 41 degrees F for a total of four hours in the danger zone. Hot food should never be put into a refridgerator as fridges aren't designed to lower food and the thermal imballance can raise the temp of the other food to unsafe temps (over 41 F)For that you need a blast chiller.

Cold water baths work really well, water is a great thermal conductor. I can get 8 quarts of boiling chicken stock below 70 F in less than 10 minuets using ice cubes and opposite stirring directions.

Sad but true, the overwhelming occurance of "food poisoning" come from cross contamination from either the cook or diner not washing their hands after doing poopy things.

Wash your hands, and use a paper towel to turn off the water afterwards or you'll just recontaminate yourself.

 

[skilletlicker]

According to ANSI you have one hour to get hot food below 70 degrees. . .

I'm assuming the clock starts on that one hour when the temp of the hot food drops to 140. I've never timed it but a gallon or more of stock simmering at about 190F in a good heavy stock pot will take quite a while to drop to 140. I'd bet it's more than an hour, maybe a lot more.

 

[Michael Cook]

I'm assuming the clock starts on that one hour when the temp of the hot food drops to 140. I've never timed it but a gallon or more of stock simmering at about 190F in a good heavy stock pot will take quite a while to drop to 140. I'd bet it's more than an hour, maybe a lot more.

Yup, till then it's good for service all day. Water based liquid does hold heat a long while, that's why a blast chiller or water bath is so important before putting hot food in the fridge.

 

[jpmcgrew]

I do the ice bath method if its a big batch of sauce or pour it in a big wide roasting pan giving it alot of surface to cool quickly I have also used a small portable fan set on large amounts of ground meat mixes like for burrito fillings several pounds) and that works like a dream.

 

[jpmcgrew]

Micheal! Whats a chill blaster? Is it a plastic tube filled with frozen water? How well do they work in a big pot?