Slow cooker recipes often need to cook for 6 or more hours. As I mainly eat my main meals at lunchtime, that means getting up particularly early to prepare the dish.  Is it safe to delay the start of cooking dishes that use meats such as chicken/beef/etc?  If this is not safe, what process can I follow to have a safe meal ready at lunch without having to cook in the middle of the night?
121093
I put chicken breasts and a bunch of salsa into a slow cooker to be cooked while I slept. I forgot to turn it on. When I woke up I noticed and put it back in the fridge.  I plan to cook it tonight (and hopefully not forget to turn it on).  Is this a bad idea?  I will note that the salsa appeared to insulate the chicken because it was still cool to the touch (not COLD though) when I discovered it in the morning.  Total time out of fridge would be about 9 hours.  EDIT: This is not a duplicate of the suggested question because I had a thought that it might be ok due to the chicken being slightly insulated and still cool. I have realized it is still not safe from the answers.
76467
My housemate often manages to pick up reduced meat from the local supermarket (Sainsbury's in the UK) at the time he comes home.  It's usually silverside, topside or brisket of beef. Occasionally it's pork shoulder.  Without fail however my meat ends up "tough". Here's the exact procedure I follow for my standard "roast":   Take frozen joint of meat out of the freezer around 8-10AM. Prepare 2 onions, celery, carrots and half bulb garlic. Throw them in my roasting pan. Season joint with salt and pepper, pour extra virgin olive oil over it, sear it in a frying pan. Cook at 20degC less than the suggested temperatures for the suggested times according to my MasterChef book, specifically for that cut of meat. For instance tonight's brisket was 900g - I cooked it at 160degC for 1h30m. Rest for 10-15m while I make the gravy and finish off the potatoes in another pan.   I cook it at 20deg less because it's a fan oven.  Can anyone explain the factors that affect how tough the meat becomes? Am I not searing properly? Is the meat prone to being tough because it's not fresh (reduced stuff)? Is it not defrosting for long enough?  Thanks in advance,
26461
I left a round steak out for 7 hours in a container of cold water.  It was wrapped very well, hadn't been opened yet.  Is it ok to cook this? I planned on cooking it in the crockpot for 8 hours.
64018
When potentially hazardous foods are cooked, it is said that cooling from 60 to 21 C should happen in 2 hours and from 21 to 5 C in 4 hours, does this not contradict the 2/4 hour rule which states that if food is in temperature danger zone should be discarded if its more than 4 hours. Reference
66270
What cut of beef should I use for a beef stew?  I heard that you want a little bit of fat in the meat, but what part the animal is best to use?
49319
So, being new to cooking, I tried cooking a pan-seared ribeye steak for the first time recently.  I'm just getting new cooking utensils, and the idea of flipping the steak is something I'm not sure about.  Last time, I used the same utensil the whole way through.  I know, many are likely cringing at the thought.  But I was afraid of over-cooking so I was as attentive as possible to the steak.  I'm wondering if this is "safe".  I'm guessing most will say it is not, and that's fine.  I'd like to do better if it's not safe.  I bought a pair of tongs since then (I was using a spatula to flip before!) but I still only have one pair.  So, should I be placing the steak in the pan with the spatula, flipping with the tongs, and removing it from the pan with...something else?  Is it safe enough to use the tongs, and rinse them each time they touch meat before it's finished?  Should I be scrubbing them with soap each time?  Should I simply stick to different utensils?  (In which case I might just stop cooking--I don't have that many utensils, don't plan on buying more for this purpose, and quite frankly I don't wish to clean so many utensils when I'm finished cooking)  I know there are other topics, but they haven't been quite as specific as the questions I'm asking here, so I hope I can get a good response on the subject.
30803
I'm thinking of cooking some steak and storing it for later use in a cold salad. If I cook it to medium rare and cut it into strips and store it in the firdge, will it be safe to eat later? I know any bacteria mostly grows on the surface of the meat so that should be killed when cooked, but is there a higher danger of contamination on the now exposed, less cooked surface area?   If I put it in a clean container I'm guessing the pink parts are just as prone to further contamination as the outer surface.   If kept in this condition, how long should I expect this meat to stay good for in the fridge?  What would be different if we were talking about a partially eaten steak stored for later consumption?
64129
I wonder if there any difference in how many times I eat per day?  Let's say I eat one big meal in the morning at 2000 kcal (at 9am). Is that any different than having 4 meals at 500 kcal throughout the day (at 9am, 1pm, 5pm, 9pm)?  I think I will be hungry by the end of the day if I eat just once in the morning. But I won't be hungry if I eat 4 times a day at smaller portions? How is that possible?  Which way is it better to eat? Maybe twice a day at 1000 kcal? (9am and like 4pm?)
14102
If I leave fully-cooked food (particularly meat) out at warm temperature - say on the counter or in a crock pot that's been turned off -  how long will it stay safe to eat?  Does it make any difference if I re-cook the food afterward?
42027
I made a big pot of a very hot chicken soup. I put it in my small extra fridge at 11 PM, and it was still warm 9 hours later, at 8 AM.  Do I need to throw it away?
20902
I thought I remembered hearing the food agency  say that you should never reheat chicken meat after the initial cooking. However, I cannot find the statement of it anymore. Now I'm starting to suspect my memory.  Could this statement be true?  Is it unsafe to reheat chicken?
14525
I'm cooking two different dishes in the oven at the same time that each require different temperatures. One is a roasted vegetable dish that says to cook at 475 for 35-40 minutes and the other is parmesan crusted pork chops at 350 for 40-45 minutes. What do you suggest I do?
62427
I've come across this particular recommendation many times in  and cookbooks and probably even given it out myself once or twice.  Poultry is sufficiently cooked when the juices run clear, not red or pink.  In recent months and years, as I've grown more interested in and knowledgeable about the science of cooking, I've learned to be skeptical of such simplistic claims.  This one is repeated everywhere - even the  says it - but I've also run across various .  What I'd like to know is this:  What does it actually mean - chemically or biologically speaking - when poultry juices run clear?  Is it actually a reliable indicator that the food is safe to eat?  P.S. I am quite well aware that the way one is supposed to test for doneness is to use a thermometer and ensure that the internal temperature has reached 165° F / 74° C.  I always do this, but thermometers can break, run out of battery, etc., so I think it is still helpful to know if the juice test is ever a viable alternative.  But most importantly I am interested in understanding what is happening to the meat that causes the juices to change colour, and under what other conditions this can happen.
115120
Most of the recipes I'm using (mainly Modernist; stocks, caramelized vegetables, confit) suggest cooking at 15psi. My pressure cooker has two settings 12psi and 7psi. I've always had success just using 12psi in recipes where it says 15psi. However recently the 12psi mode has broken on my PC. I can now only cook at 7psi. How can I convert my recipes to use this lower pressure?  For example I would cook a chicken stock at 12psi for 90mins, I presume at 7psi the cooking time would need to be longer but by how much?
97778
In Short  Our kitchen suppliers have told us that the kitchen should only go in 6-8 weeks after the heat has been turned on in our new build. Their concern is how dry the house is, I assume the issue they're talking about (in technical terms) is relative humidity? Would I be right in saying as long as we are achieving a reading of 50% or less humidity-wise, there should be no issue?  The reason I ask is we're working off a deadline which will only allow us 5 1/2 weeks of lead time with the heating on otherwise the whole thing gets pushed back 1-2 months.  TL;DR - A bit more background below  House Area: 250m2 Construction Type: Concrete Block  Our floors have been poured 4 weeks ago:   Upstairs: 50mm liquid screed Downstairs: 100mm sand and cement   The plastering was completed 5 weeks ago (gypsum all around and skim on ceilings)  I have been opening all the windows during the day and removing all condensation with a window vacuum before I close them up again at night.  For the past week the house has been receiving heat at night via 2 x 2.5kw heaters running for 8 hours.  The heating is to be provided by a heat pump (air to water) and distributed via underfloor heating, we also have a heat recovery system which should take some moisture out.  Recommendations  We've be told not to install dehumidifiers as it will crack the plaster, so is there anything else we should be trying or anything that we are doing and should stop?  Another suggestion was to isolate the heat to the kitchen by taping up openings to other rooms? My thinking was the moisture would be drawn from other rooms once these temp barriers were removed?
28292
Possible Duplicate:          I cooked about 2lbs of pork loin in the crock pot for 8 hours on low last night.  It was on low from 12:00am to 8:00am.  From 8:00am to 12:00pm, the crock pot was turned off, and at 12:00pm the food was 'warm' but above room temperature.  Is this still safe to eat?  The crock pot was covered, but its anyones guess (guestimating using some math) how long the loin was at the safe high temperature.  I immediately threw it in the refrigerator, but if I do keep it, should it be brought up to 135&deg;F asap?  I'm waning towards throwing it out.  My wife is pregnant, and we have small children in the house too.
120367
I live alone, so I cook for myself. And often times I cook steaks/burgers on a pan, and later in the same day would return to use the same pan/oil without washing/using new oil.  Is this safe, or should one wash and use a new pan before cooking every steak/burger patties? I've actually done this for more than a day once (cooked burgers in the morning, steaks later that afternoon, and then burgers for the next morning).