Why is it safer to refrigerate food after it has cooled to room temp, rather than when it is hot?!
Answers: A friend of mine had mentioned that it is safer (in terms of bacterial growth) to refrigerate your food after it has cooled to room temperature, rather than putting it in the fridge when it is hot. Needless to say, he couldn't remember why. Anybody want to give this one a shot?
The most critical thing in cooling food down is the time it takes go from hot(over 130deg) to safe (under 40 deg). Ideally it should go from hot to cold in less than three hours.
The main reason not to put it in the fridge is as stated above, it may make other foods in the fridge warm. Leaving it out for twenty minutes or so is fine. If you need pot grips to put it in the fridge, it's too hot. Best to stir it if it's a liquid, which will cut the cooling time in half.
But another thing that is very important is the size of the container you are storing it in. Nothing liquid should be stored in a container deeper than 4" or it will take too long to cool down.
There are a lot of tricks we use in restaurants to cool down a lot of food quickly. If it's a medium sized pot (under 3 gallons), we may put it into a sinkfull of ice water and stir it until it gets down to about 60 degrees. Or if its a BIG pot, we may put a sealed plastic milk container in it filled with ice. They also sell special "ice wands" for this.
The other critical thing about cooling something down is airflow. If you have a muffin pan, put it on the counter upside down and then put the food you want to cool on top of it. The exception is putting a pan on an aluminum cookie sheet, which can act as a heat conductor.
Never stack hot foods on top of each other or you will effectively be making two 4" deep pans into one 8" deep pan. If you do put hot food in the fridge it should go up high until it is near a safe temp.
The rule of thumb is that the time it takes to cool something is relative to the cube of the distance to the center. So what that means in English is that it take EIGHT times longer for something to reach the right temp in an 8" deep pan than a 4" deep pan. If you put 5 gallons of soup (or beans or whatever) into a big plastic bucket, it may not reach a safe temp for several DAYS. But if you put it into five one gallon soup tureens, it should reach a safe temp within the recommended four hours after cooking. I put my soups in pots filled with ice water in the fridge since water is a better conductor of heat than air is.
putting hot food in the fridge raises the temp , which is bad for the food you already have stored in it.
Actually, it isn't safer [as far as bacteria goes] ... but it DOES keep the other things in your fridge from being reheated by the hot thing you shove in there.
Chilling rapidly and keeping food under 40F is the safest way, just ask your local health inspector.
when u put hot foods in the refrigerator it spoils a whole lot quicker.... well with certain foods it does
Your friend is wrong. The reason people leave food out til it cools is to protect food already chilled in fridge and to save on energy costs from overworking the fridge. It is always best to chill food as quickly as possible to limit bacteria growth. The key is to strike a balance between the two. Reheating food properly and completely is also important, and don't keep leftovers for more than 72 hours.
No, it should be refrigerated even hot. Do not let it sit out even to cool.
you can let food cool first before it goes in to the frig it will not spoil in a small amount of time
I don't think that is true....it just heats up the fridge.,,,which also is really no big deal.
don't put warm food into the fridge because more bacteria could form, your fridge may smell a bit weird, and it spoils quicker