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Nagging Question
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Should You Put Hot Food in the Fridge?Let those leftovers chill |
Should I put hot food in the refrigerator right away or after it cools?
There’s nothing wrong with letting food cool in the kitchen for a half hour or so before putting it in the fridge if you want to conserve energy. (Refrigerating warmer food means your icebox has to work harder to maintain its chill.) But the longer food is left out at room temperature, “the greater the chance of bacteria multiplying and growing,” says Dr. Carl Winter, a food toxicologist and director of the food safety program at the University of California–Davis. Sinister bugs such as salmonella, campylobacter, and E. coli all grow much faster at room temperature than in a cool environment.
The USDA advises chilling as promptly as possible and says you should never leave food out for more than two hours (or, when the temperature is above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, just one hour).
If you’re dealing with a serious quantity of food—say, a large roast or a vat of chili—you could try stirring it in an ice bath or dividing it into smaller portions before you refrigerate to cool it more quickly.
Finally, to cover or not to cover? Covered food cools more slowly. But uncovered food is susceptible to cross contamination, like condensation dripping into it from other items, or from the fridge itself. So if it’s a large amount of food that might take a long time to cool—for instance, a stockpot full of soup—cover it loosely until it chills a bit, then seal it.
CHOW’s Nagging Question column appears every Friday.
I always cool soups, stocks, stews, chilies, etc., in an ice bath, stirring frequently. If you just stick a big batch of the hot stuff into the fridge, it will stay in the "danger zone" for hours.
Increase surface area, divide large dishes amongst portions (convenient if you pack your lunches anyways), and keep a cold fridge. I've had things in the back of the fridge for weeks not go bad...
Also worth noting that putting something large and hot in the fridge can also warm up other foods in there.
as "pikawicca" recommended, restaurants usually use ice baths to cool down soups, sauces and other liquids. For things like roasts, you can put them on a rack (like the one you use to cool cookies etc.) and put that on a tray in as small a size as possible (ie. don't dice your roast, but put in manageable sizes so that you can use it later but it will still cool quickly) and leave it uncovered for a few hours, then wrap it up. Depending on the item, 30-45 minutes in the freezer can work wonders.
Also, try to cool things in single layers, it will make them cool faster.
For large batches of liquid commercial kitchens may use something like a "Rapi-Cool," which is large plastic stirring paddle filled with water and frozen for cooling a pot that is too big to put into an ice bath. These paddles are a bit large for a typical home kitchen stock pot, but the principle still works.
I keep a one-quart bottle of frozen saltwater (saltwater freezes at a lower temperature than plain water) in the freezer for cooling batches of stock. The saltwater stays in the bottle, so it doesn't affect the food. By putting the pot in a sink full of cold water and stirring with the frozen saltwater bottle, I can cool a 13-quart stockpot to a safe temperature that won't heat up the fridge too much in about 20 minutes.
Love the saltwater bottle idea! I like to use an ice pack (the kind for sports injuries) under a bowl if I have just a small amount of food to cool off.
"Achewood" handled this topic a while back, too:
http://achewood.com/index.php?date=04...
I've often put batches in the freezer for a half hour to cool down more rapidly, then seal it up in the fridge to keep for a few days. And yes, making smaller sections of the food will allow them to cool faster.
We just moved out of a house that had an unheated mudroom. I called it "the walk-in" during the winter. I'm going to miss it -- it was the ideal location to chill down soups and stews before putting them in the fridge or freezer.
If your fridge is less than about 5 years old, the warmer food shouldn't make a difference. It's older fridges that allow the other food to warm up.
Thanks for all the cool info everyone. I am making chili tonight for tomorrow. Now I know what to do.