Reheating rice - will he be ok??

[thereallochnessmonster]

Dh cooked risotto on Sat eve. Reheated it for tea last night. Now he's reheated the rest for lunch! Will he be ok? Thought you were only meant to reheat rice once?

Erm as someone who has a (student) history of reheating the previous nights kebabs even I would draw the line at that.

Risky.

I know rice is always touted as really dangerous but I never ever had a problem. Wasn’t even on my radar till I started using Mumsnet.

You’re only meant to heat most things once tbh. I’m sure he’ll be fine.

So he re-heated all the leftovers from Saturday’s risotto yesterday, and has just re-heated the leftover leftovers? Not a good idea....

Ah, no, wait a mo - he only heated his portion last night, not the whole thing, so the rice he heated today has only been cooked then chilled. Ah, phew!!

I know rice is always touted as really dangerous but I never ever had a problem. Wasn’t even on my radar till I started using Mumsnet

Same here. I reheat rice all the time and never had a problem. Just about everything I eat breaks some food hygiene rule or another - my lunch (leftovers that often include rice) sits unrefridgerated for about 6 hours every day for example and I have never had a problem.

Was the rice cooled really quickly and stored immediately in a fridge? Was it then heated to a very high temperature for a few minutes before eating? It's the inadequate cooling down and subsequent inadequate re-heating which cause the bacillus to reproduce and do its nasty business!

Yes, cooled as quickly as poss, then nuked in microwave. We ate it last night and are fine!

Am OK with reheating it once (though I'm sure I reheated rice more than that when younger and less worried about stuff....)

They do it in Japan all the time. It’s fine.

I'm having reheated risotto from Saturday tonight. I'll be fine!

Then you've followed the correct way of re-heating rice, so all is good! Having suffered the consequences of the incorrect reheating of rice (Chinese takeaway and my dh & bil in an Indian restaurant), I would always be very careful and make sure it's been cooled down fast, refrigerated, then nuked!

But how do you best cool down rice, esp if it's in a big pan?

And how long is too long for it to be out after being cooked?

He won't die (unless he is immunosuppressed for example and then gets food poisoning and could be v. poorly.) But if he is affected then he will remember it for a loooong time.

My dh eats anything and often reheated rice twice or used it within 48 hours rather than 24. Hewas generally dismissive of my worries about reheating stuff until the day that he was ill having reheated rice. It is about the only food hygiene regulation he regularly reminds me of and always, always, always checks if he fancies a bit of reheated rice.

Rice does cool down pretty quickly if you decant it into another dish. The general rule is that you have 90 minutes from when the dish is ready to get it to fridge temperature; e.g. at least -5 C. I've put a pan into the sink & surrounded it with freezing cold water for a few minutes.
As rice is so quick and easy to make I tend not to bother with the faff of re-heating it and just make a fresh batch, however, all of the above would apply to anything you intend to save and reheat, especially if it contains protein.

Your OP inferred that the rice was cooked/cooled/cooked again/cooled again/away to be cooked

That’s a no.

Reheating leftovers once? Fine.

I reheat rice all the time, did it at dinner time today in fact.