I took a large pack of ground beef out of the freezer and it has been in the fridge for no more than 10 hours. There are still ice crystals on the meat. I'm on call and turns out I won't have the opportunity to cook it until next week (the works in another city). I guess I have two options   put the meat back in the freezer and refreeze thaw out the meat, quickly cook it, and put the left overs in the fridge.   Any advice?
41997
I've often been told by people that I shouldn't refreeze meat (particularly hamburger meat) once it has been thawed.  However, this seems a little silly to me.  I can't imagine how meat that hasn't been bought fresh and local could find its way to my kitchen with out thawing and being refrozen a couple of times.  How much damage can one more thawing and refreezing really do?  Can it really be that dangerous disease wise? Or is this just one of those urban myths?
33947
I accidentally left meat in the trunk of my car, it's so cold outside it froze, can I still use it?
79587
From my experience it is always best to marinate meat for a decent amount of time, so the meat can "soak" up the marinade and be more flavourful.  However, I came across this recipe here:   In the directions, it says: Add pork and marinade for a minimum of 6 hours or overnight, but no longer than 12 hours.  I was wondering, why does it say "no longer than 12 hours"? Isn't it good to let meat marinate for as long as possible?  Thanks.
26945
It strikes me as an unsafe food practice to follow Cook's Illustrated's advice for soaking dried beans for 24 hours unrefrigerated.  I've also seen them suggest you soak steel-cut oats unrefrigerated overnight.    Is there some reason why these practices are okay?  Would there be any harm in refrigerating them, particularly the beans, while soaking?  From Cook's Illustrated:     Dissolve 3 tablespoons salt in 4 quarts cold water in large bowl or   container. Add [one pound] beans and soak at room temperature for at least 8 hours   and up to 24 hours. Drain and rinse well.
118914
This question is the flip-side of the commonly asked food temperature safety concerns. I'd like to know, if a meat-based soup stock (chicken/pork/beef/etc) were to be held constantly at a safe hot temperature of 165F/73C-180F/82C, how long could it stay at this temperature and still be considered safe to eat?  Obviously, it would reduce over time, but suppose it's reconstituted with water regularly so that it could continue being held... Is there ANY sort of time limit (even completely unreasonable spans like, months, years, etc)?
66624
I would like to be able to can and then sell my own hot sauce. The hot sauce I make is a low acid meat (ground beef) and tomato based sauce. I had sent it in to get a shelf life expectancy, and was advised the acidity level was too low and the only way I could make the sauce in a way that it was shelf stable was if I used a retort or sold it as a frozen product. Neither of these are options I can consider at this time.
57748
We took our left-over turkey carcass and parts and simmered them for a few hours with water in a pot with some herbs and veggies.  After removing the solids, and separating the fat, we placed it in the fridge to be frozen the next day.  When we pulled it out, the entire bowl - not just the top - was completely gelatinous.  It is truly like Jello.    Is this OK?  Why did this happen?   We plan to vacuum seal and freeze it if safe.
86918
We've had Sake chilling in our fridge for about a year now. It has been opened. Is this still safe to drink or is it time to throw it out?
91301
I am trying to finish soups faster. I have very heavy iron kettle and it takes years to become cold. I use a water container with ice with it but the hot water still takes a lot time to become cold. I have already put ice cubes into the soup and some cold water but it is still hot! How can I freeze my soup fast without destroying the content of my fridge or freezer? It is now almost two hours waiting it to become colder but with this heavy iron kettle and a lot of hot water, it is taking years.  Could I put the soup into small plastic bags and the plastic bags into the cold water and then the cold plastic bags into the fridge (I have no special plastic bags, perhaps they will break)? I need to somehow make the soup smaller to increase the area, to get it cold faster. By increasing the area, I am sure I can get it cold faster. Ideas to do that?
81721
I have fallen into a slump at the minute where i just don't feel like preparing food when i get home from work, and i would prefer to cut up a larger batch of potatoes in one go and store them in the fridge/freezer in the correct portion sizes, so when i get home i can just throw them into the oven.  The problem i have had with this up to now is, if i put them into the freezer and then try to cook them, the defrosting process turns them to mush. If i put them in the fridge, they have gone off by morning.  Is there a better way to store potatoes that have been cut up?
720
I am defrosting a cooked chicken to use in a curry it will be thoroughly heated at a high temperature. If I have too much curry will i be able to freeze it, as the cooked chicken was frozen before?
49034
Having made stock and strained it, can the meat and vegetables boiled up in the stock be used for anything, or should they go in the bin?
61209
I get that keeping food temperature low will slow down chemical reactions and preserve food, but sometimes my sister preserves food by heating it every 6 hours or so (up to 1-2 days). Does this help preserving the food? If yes, how does it work?  If it matters, the food currently in question is , but I would appreciate a general explanation. In case anyone is wondering, she doesn't store it in the fridge because it is full.
17513
I do not have enough time to bake my bread.  Can I refrigerate it or let it sit on the counter and bake it later in the day?
9439
I generally defrost meat on the kitchen counter. A friend of mine suggested that this was dangerous and suggested that I defrost meat in the refrigerator. I am no biologist but it seems to me that as long as the meat doesn't get warm defrosting it on the counter should be safe.  Generally, I remove the frozen items from the freezer and place them on a plate on the counter in the packaging they were frozen in. When they are mostly / completely thawed I place the meat in the refrigerator.  Am I wrong and should I be defrosting in the refrigerator?
71468
I'm making veal stock that's later going to be reduced to a glace viande.   In the past, I was always close enough to observe the process and strain the stock . I also realize that an hour or two and even longer isn't an issue when making stock.  But today I will be away for most of the day and my stock pot will remain unattended on the lowest possible heat on the stove. I don't expect any problems from this procedure. But it prompted a question:  How long could a pot of bone stock be simmered? Is there an upper threshold when unwanted substances are extracted from the bones? When the flavour profile does not get "better" but starts to deteriorate?    Clarification:     I am not talking about cooking a day or two, I know that this is typically no problem. And yes, if necessary I could add water to counter evaporation. For this question, you may assume "no time limit". I am familiar with the concept of . But for a perpetual stew, parts of the stock are removed and new ingredients added. I'm asking explicitly about one unchanged stock: a pot of bones in water, optionally some spices and mirepoix.
46966
We sometimes buy trout from a local breeder who'll get them fresh out of the water for us, and then cook them a few hours later. They taste great, but the flesh tends to fall apart in a way that doesn't happen with fish from the super market. It's often barely even possible to get them out of the pot without them completely coming apart. We tried leaving them in the fridge for a day so they wouldn't be quite as just-killed-an-hour-ago-fresh, but that didn't help.   We usually prepare them by cooking them in simmering (not boiling) water.  Is there some way to prevent this?