What's this on my bolognese (pic)?

[mambojambodothetango]

Made a bolognese yesterday evening, it was on and off hob for a while as I was cooking other things, lid was on and off. Too hot to refrigerate last night so left it on stove top with lid on overnight. What are these yellow bits on the surface? Just crystallised fat? Not fly eggs, I hope???? With the heat we've had food spoiled in last few days so I'm paranoid. Any thoughts?

Refrigerators in houses were reasonably uncommon until the 1970s. Roast on Sunday, cold leftovers on Monday, remnants cooked as shepherds pie or similar on Tuesday. Most of us lived.

If it was hot at 10.30, it will have taken hrs to cool down. There was a heavy lid on it, so nothings got in. I would suggest it’s fat which has been coloured a little by the tomatoes and herbs you’ve used. Looks like a nice spag Bol btw. I would use it!

I hat % fat was the mince? It looks like fat. If it had been covered I would refrigerate and then reheat. I left my bolognaise to cook from 2200 to 6am, it had lid on, then put it in fridge this morning.

I'm sure it's just fat - but I wouldn't be eating meat which had been left out all night in these temperatures either.,

Leaving it in a cast iron pan with a lid on makes it even less likely to be safe to eat. It has been sitting for hours at the perfect temperature for bacteria to reproduce, nicely insulated by the cast iron.

Hot food which isn't being eaten straightaway needs to be cooled quickly and refrigerated. As had been said, a wide shallow container with no lid, then straight in the fridge.

This, and you can also cool more quickly by placing in a sink of cold water (in a waterproof container obviously) and changing the water every 30 minutes.

What sort of flies do you have in your part of the world that can lift the lid of a cast iron pan??

It's congealed fat, but whether you eat it after it being out all night is up to you.

It’s just fat which has solidified as it’s cooled. Have to say I’m fairly relaxed about this kind of thing and have form for eating left out leftovers - I would!

My ex-MIL always used to cook our food the night before we were coming over for lunch and just leave it out all night. I would always get an upset stomach when eating her food and I couldn't figure out why until she told me that she always left the food out. It would never occur to me to do this, especially not if there is meat or dairy in the food.

Not sure if that is fat slightly coloured by the tomato pure or if it's fly eggs, but either way I couldn't have eaten that. If you are used to eating food that has been left out you might be fine though.

@Goldmember I thought the same maybe Parmesan

I would reheat and eat it.

I've left stuffed mince/rice peppers out before and reheated in microwave and never been bad!

100% it's fat
100% I'd eat it, I've never given myself food poisoning.

It's the fat in the dish, colour is from the tomatoes. Totally normal. Seen it lots of times. Once heated will dissolve.

I would add some water, reheat till bubbling and keep at that temp a while, then eat. I know that won’t kill everything but most things. I’m ok with a small degree of risk 🤷‍♀️

(wouldn’t feed to guests tho)

Yes it's fat. Yes I would still eat it. I regularly leave a freshly cooked meal out overnight to cool down. I cook for a family. I've fed them food just like this from the youngest age. We've literally never had food related illness (other than the mushroom forage error 😊😊). We're very rarely ill in fact. Can't remember the last time anyone was sick.

It’s congealed fat that’s been stained by the tomato. Go for it.

I wouldn't eat any meat left out overnight. Especially not with a mystery yellow crust.

I would eat it. It was 10 degrees here overnight and my kitchen window was open so the room was cool. Not sure what yours was like but the whole of the UK isn’t at 26 degrees overnight.

I opened this post with great excitement - I thought we were getting an image of Jesus or King Charles or something. Bah!

ps, it's fat that's just taken on the red colour from the sauce and solidified (and I wouldn't be eating it either if it's been out of the fridge all night. Especially as it sounds like it was already heated/cooled/reheated several times during the cooking process, so definitely a no from me).

That's fat that has picked up the colour from the tomatoes.

I've literally just parcelled up by meat I made last night and frozen it. It was cool here last night though.

Its only the fat from olive oil or something. Not fly eggs.

If it was cold enough in your kitchen to solidify the fat like that then its not off. What does it smell like?

It will be fine to eat, i've done this loads. Just heat it up again add a bit of water so it doesn't dry out and boil it for a good 10 mins.

In fact it will taste nicer today than yesterday as all the flavours will have melded together and developed.

Just my personal opinion though.

Baffling that some people think that fat on cooled meat is worrying.

There’s no way any fat would solidify outside the fridge at summer room temperature

Congratulations it's not even 10am and you win the thread for stupidest comment I've read today.

That's tomato coloured fat.
I'd just put in the fridge/freezer now and make sure to simmer for several minutes when I eat it.
People are far too precious about food. It's perfectly sensible to rely on sight, smell and taste to assess whether food is safe.