Food de-frost question.

[wiggydiggy]

One thing that always comes up in food safety training is taking care with rice. Failure to make sure its not left out too long before refrigerating or freezing can leave it prone to a specific bacteria that's resistant to the heat that kills 'normal' bacteria. Can't remember the specific bacteria but it's one that comes up in every block of training .

I'm probably inviting food poisoning here as I often cook rice and don't get around to putting the spare in the fridge until the day after. Yes I'm lazy lol.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I'm probably inviting food poisoning here as I often cook rice and don't get around to putting the spare in the fridge until the day after. Yes I'm lazy lol.

I try to follow the guidelines with rice but have often left it out for 2-3 hours before refigerating, with no ill effects. Also in Australia I lived with some koreans who used to do about 1kg of rice in a rice cooker at the start of a week, leave it in there for 4 or 5 days and just scoop out what they wanted to take cold for their packed lunch. None of them ever got ill!

 

[wiggydiggy]

I try to follow the guidelines with rice but have often left it out for 2-3 hours before refigerating, with no ill effects. Also in Australia I lived with some koreans who used to do about 1kg of rice in a rice cooker at the start of a week, leave it in there for 4 or 5 days and just scoop out what they wanted to take cold for their packed lunch. None of them ever got ill!

I'm badly in need of buying a new rice cooker, I've given up trying to cook rice and just accept whatever gunky mess I get at the end.

 

[Alex321]

I'm probably inviting food poisoning here as I often cook rice and don't get around to putting the spare in the fridge until the day after. Yes I'm lazy lol.

I do the same, and have never had an issue. I've eaten it 2-3 days later without ever having put it in the fridge - though it has always had a lid on the pan.

 

[Alex321]

And as for pre-cooked food taken out of the freezer, that will quite often go straight from freezer to microwave for re-heating. I do always make sure to stir that a few times during cooking, to make sure it is all heated evenly.

 

[Dave7]

I take them out of the freezer some time in the evening and put in the fridge, they will then be fully defrosted for tomorrow's evening meal.
Takes a bit of forward planning.

I've never been sure about microwaving from frozen, then again it's what you do with bought frozen ready meals so maybe it's OK?

I took it out of the freezer last night and put it in the fridge. It was still solid this morning.
TBH it is looking much more promising now and has maybe 3 hours before I plan to eat it.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Instructions on frozen food always say to defrost in the fridge.

It doesn't work! It can take days and still be icy, which makes it more dangerous (as it may not reheat fully)

Best defrosting method IMO is in a fan oven set to minimum (ours actually has a defrost setting). Keeps the air moving so defrosts quickly, but without the tendency of a microwave to partially cook it.

 

[slowmotion]

I took it out of the freezer last night and put it in the fridge. It was still solid this morning.
TBH it is looking much more promising now and has maybe 3 hours before I plan to eat it.

Last week, a friend in Cornwall gave me a magnificent fresh fish that he had caught that morning, a Cornish bass. I gutted it and decided to freeze it and eat it a couple of days later. When the time came, I took it out of the freezer the night before and put it in the fridge to defrost. It was quite a big fish and was still frozen solid at noon the next day. Dr Google told me to wrap it tightly in a waterproof plastic bag and immerse it in a sink full of warm water. It defrosted in about twenty minutes.

 

[wiggydiggy]

Last week, a friend in Cornwall gave me a magnificent fresh fish that he had caught that morning, a Cornish bass. I gutted it and decided to freeze it and eat it a couple of days later. When the time came, I took it out of the freezer the night before and put it in the fridge to defrost. It was quite a big fish and was still frozen solid at noon the next day. Dr Google told me to wrap it tightly in a waterproof plastic bag and immerse it in a sink full of warm water. It defrosted in about twenty minutes.

Doesn't even need to be warm, I've defrosted things in similaly quick time just in cold water. When camping one time on a working farm I bought some of the locally made sausages from the freezer. 30 mins in some cold water they were ready to cook.

 

[figbat]

It’s all about thermal transfer. Water is a far better thermal conductor than air, and if you have a decent mass of it it’ll ‘pump’ heat into the frozen item without cooling itself too much.

 

[slowmotion]

Doesn't even need to be warm, I've defrosted things in similaly quick time just in cold water. When camping one time on a working farm I bought some of the locally made sausages from the freezer. 30 mins in some cold water they were ready to cook.

Yes, Dr Google said cold water was fine, but I was in a panic because we had a couple of people coming to feast on fishy that evening and I wanted to make doubly sure.

 

[Fab Foodie]

One thing that always comes up in food safety training is taking care with rice. Failure to make sure its not left out too long before refrigerating or freezing can leave it prone to a specific bacteria that's resistant to the heat that kills 'normal' bacteria. Can't remember the specific bacteria but it's one that comes up in every block of training .

B.cereus
It's an old microbiologist joke:
'I got food poisoning last night from eating rice'
'B.Cereus'
'I am! I was vomiting everywhere!

Bacillus cereus is a common spore-forming bacteria. In it's spore form it can survive very harsh conditions including the preparation of rice by boiling. If the rice is not eaten immediately or left around say at a party without being kept sufficiently cold, the spores germinate and as the bacteria multiply can produce 2 forms of toxin in the food - one for vomiting and one for diarrhoea (nice). These toxins are not always destroyed when the rice is reheated. If you ingest enough B.cereus it can also produce toxins in your gut too - double-trouble!
So, in short - if you cook any food and wish to consume it at a later date - cool as quickly as possible in a covered container (to prevent recontamination), most foodstuff wil survived chilled like this for several days. Alternatively once cool - whack it in the freezer.
When you wish to reheat - thaw at low temperatures in the fridge or fairly quickly with a microwave for example.

I tend to cool stuff when cooked either by putting the pan (if stew-like/soup/stocks) in a sink-full of cold water (preferably without the plastic bowl) and it cools fairly quickly - then portion into tupperware etc and whack in the freezer.
From the freezer I often partially defrost the tupperware tubs in a bowl of hot water for a short period before emptying into a saucepan to heat-through or just nuke from frozen.
If defrosted in the fridge it should keep in the fridge a couple of days.

Just go from hot to cold or cold to hot as soon a possible - avoid it staying warm for any prolonged period!

 

[biggs682]

We often freeze excess food in the Chinese takeaway tubs and then remove from the fridge when required.
Leaving them on the draining board for an hour before popping them into the fridge to de frost for tea the following day .

 

[Dave7]

Well I am still here.
Had the curry late afternoon and enjoyed it!!!

 

[Moon bunny]

One thing that always comes up in food safety training is taking care with rice. Failure to make sure its not left out too long before refrigerating or freezing can leave it prone to a specific bacteria that's resistant to the heat that kills 'normal' bacteria. Can't remember the specific bacteria but it's one that comes up in every block of training .

Bacillus cereus