uli - but left overnight on the stove top, even with a tight fitting lid, it will still be in the "danger zone" for more than an hour.Why would you risk it!Last week our overnight low temperature was 20 deg C.Bit difficult to keep food below 5 deg if you leave it out on the bench or stove top.
herself,
Jan 7, 10:12am
OP said she left it on the bench NOT the stove top. I would reheat it VERY well before eating. What did my great grandmother, grandmother and my own mother do back in the day!None of them owned refrigerators (Mum got one in 1962!) and not one of us got food poisoning!
lyndyhopper,
Jan 7, 10:42am
I cooked a stew a couple years ago in summer.I left it over night on the stove top. Pot was too big to put in the fridge.In the morning I opened the lid and it stunk.It had started fermenting.I couldn't believe it.I tought that maybe the flour paste that I had used to thicken it the previous day was the reason for the fermentation. So, of course I threw it out.I hate waste but I knew for sure I wouldn't be fine reheating that.
elliehen,
Jan 7, 12:14pm
But nearly every house had a 'safe' - a box-like structure with perforated sides jutting out on the cold south side of the building.
Even in summer, that 'safe' kept foods cool and 'safe' to eat.
lythande1,
Jan 7, 5:48pm
Like that matters! What's the difference! Heat it to boiling and let it simmer for a while and it will be fine.
prawn_whiskas,
Jan 7, 7:35pm
It would come down to OP's personal hygiene in the kitchen, if shes a clean cook who doesn't lick spoons and dip them back in what ever is being cooked then it will be fine.If she was using contaminated utensils then I would biff it.
herself,
Jan 7, 8:12pm
herself wrote:
she left it on the bench NOT the stove top.
Like that matters! What's the difference! Heat it to boiling and let it simmer for a while and it will be fine.
* Quote
lythande1 (447 )6:48 am, Sat 8 Jan #17
I was pointing out that it was taken off the heat source and left to cool.My next sentence was - "I would reheat it VERY well before eating."
ant_sonja,
Jan 8, 1:10am
Interesting topic – I’d re-heat and eat but then again I have what I would call a ‘cast iron’ stomach :) I grew up in Europe and spent a lot of my childhood at my Grandma’s who abhorred waste of any kind – I blame the wars ;-) We never got sick eating stew that was left out and reheated etc. My Grandma went as far as scraping mould of the top of yogurt and such, mouldy bits would be discarded and the rest kept for eating – she’d do the same the next day if needed - there's more examples but I won't elaborate lol Not once in my life have I had food poisoning of any kind – I trust my nose and judgement when it comes to these things though I do draw the line somewhere closer to the side of caution and refuse to go to the extremes my dear Grandma went to :)
socram,
Jan 8, 3:26am
Agree with above!We had no fridge, no 'cool box', no waste. I can't see how a perforated box can ever be cooler than the air temperature so if it is 27 degrees in the shade, that is the temperature of the 'cool' box.In the sun it may well be 35 degrees or higher.
I'd also trust my nose, then my sense of taste, and if in doubt, yes, throw it out.
I think that part of the problem today is that life is so sterile and risk free that we have lost the ability to make a judgement and certainly lost a lot of the built up immunity.
Years ago, we had about two day's off work sick every two or three years, so we tend to wonder these days, whether all these sickies other people seem to throw, are genuine through a lack of immunity, or just skiving!
elliehen,
Jan 8, 7:21am
Of course it belongs Downunder, in a temperate climate.In Europe a 'safe' would become a hotbox in summer and a freezer in winter ;)
uli,
Jan 8, 7:29am
Hmmm - do you know how those "meat safes" work ellie! (Maybe not since you are a vegetarian) - They never become a "hotbox" .
vashti,
Jan 8, 7:42am
My grandparents "safe" was at the bottom of the pantry, it was slightly below floor level and sort of boxed in with wire mesh net on one side thatseeemed to be under the house. Both these houses were built up slightly so there was a lot of air flowing around. I can't really say wether they were effective or not, I was a bit young at the time. Memories ah. Edited to say my step father built a new house for mum and I while waiting for her divorce to come through (five years those days), he put the same type of thing in as I recall. Mum never used it as far as I know, we had a fridge.
elliehen,
Jan 8, 8:56am
They certainly never became hotboxes in temperate New Zealand.Farmers used to keep their dog tucker in free-standing meat safes.
BTW.am puzzled here. why do you have to eat meat to have knowledge about a design feature of old New Zealand houses!
kaddiew,
Jan 8, 7:28pm
Slightly OT. when I used to stay with my grandmother in the early-mid 60s I was fascinated to see her storing her butter in a large biscuit tin in a hole in the ground.
ferita,
Jan 8, 7:32pm
I hope you do not work in the food industry. You will kill someone with that advice.
Explain to us why food left in the "danger zone" (5°C - 57°C) overnight is safe to eat! Especially hazardous foods like meat.
ferita,
Jan 8, 7:36pm
Also to the super intellectuals who are saying to reheat it hot, sure that will kill the bacteria but not the toxins that the bacteria give off when they die. The toxins that make you really sick.
fetish,
Jan 8, 8:09pm
I'd chuck it rather than risk it, and have done in the past, and before anyone says they've used something similar and it was fine, do you want to be responsible for someone getting food poisoning !As just because you get away with something once, or even a 100 times, does not mean that you will the next time, or the person you so easily advise to will.
I hate seeing people advise to others unsafe food safe health practiceson here, not everyone by anymeans, but there are some that do, and really before you do that, you should go sit a microbiology course, then come back and see if you still feel the same, and I'd bet noone would.
Food while not cheap, is still cheaper than damage to your or your family/friends health !
lyl_guy,
Jan 8, 8:16pm
Of course there's a risk of Food poisoning from your scenario.That was your original question wasn't it! Agree with you fetish, it IS scary to read what some here have written. questions the intelligence, surely!
cookessentials,
Jan 8, 8:42pm
I still have a food safe, as elliehen describes, I keep my pumpkins and all my preserves in it and it keeps beautifully cool even in hot summer where we often have 30+ degrees. It has a metal bar running through the top for the hanging of meats and other goods. My old Aunt in England also had a food safe and was as described by kuaka, in that it was free standing. And as we are all IN New Zealand and not Europe, most people understand exactly what ellihen and others are talking about. Friends of ours ( who own a large historic Masterton house and do weddings from there, where I often help out) have an ice house which is a curved brick building where large blocks of ice were hung back in the day and all the meats were hung in there to keep chilled.it is a very fascinating building. Now, the original post was about one night of a stew left out overnight.I am sure it would be fine and so long as it is heated right through, it will be ok.
lyl_guy,
Jan 8, 8:48pm
Just had a thought. I hope people aren't getting mixed up with the old processes of curing meat by hanging to dry (after being salted etc) for days or weeks on end!It's not the same thing as leaving cooked meat at room temp.
wron,
Jan 8, 9:19pm
I'd biff it if it was chicken but like most of the posters just reheat thoroughly, bring to a simmer for a while.
lyl_guy,
Jan 9, 2:53am
Would you think it's OK for a restaurant or cafe to serve you and your family a meat stew that's been sitting on a bench all night! Forget OSH or PC'ness etc. just think of how YOU would like it!Hmmmm.
vix.tribe,
Jan 9, 3:20am
I wouldn't risk it either, but then it's been horribly hot here, even overnight.And I have a HUGE aversion to vomiting.If there's even the slightest hint of food not being ok I'd be throwing it out.
vix.tribe,
Jan 9, 3:29am
And a question that's more pertinent than the bench vs stove one. is anyone who will be eating it pregnant! Or has immune system issues! While your average cast-iron stomach rugby player might be fine eating it, your average 3 month pregnant woman wouldn't be.Nor would an elderly person with a compromised immune system.
uli,
Jan 9, 3:44am
Great advice in that link you gave lythande1:
".Small portions of vegetables, soups, sauces and casseroles do best when reheated in the microwave oven. "
I think I would give that one a miss - or even anything cooked in a microwave.
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