How long is too long to leave cooked food (bolognese) out before refrigerating?

[Mymaloy]

Did a massive batch cook and then had to go out on an emergency. The food been cooling for 4.5 hours now before I got home to put in fridge.

How warm is your kitchen? Though cooling for 4.5 hours would be fine in my book though I eat anything that doesn’t have actual mould on it.

DH is still alive and will happily leave cooked meat on the worktop overnight and well into the next day. He's a medic too.

I'm not quite so brave but 4 ½ hours is absolutely fine.

Thanks. I don’t want to throw away all my work. But a lot of internet sites say 2 hours. We are in Scotland and kitchen is coolish I would say

We always leave it out cooling for hrs at a time! We've never been ill. 4 hrs in this weather, absolutely. It'd be a travesty to bin it!

If it's been in sealed containers for 4.5 hours it will be absolutely fine. Even if it's been sitting in a pot it will still be fine, possibly just a bit drier than otherwise.

There really isn't as much of a need to wait for food to cool before putting it in modern refrigerators/freezers as there used to be. Most of them cope absolutely fine, and provided you aren't putting a searing-hot cast iron pot or pan against the plastic wall of your appliance then there is really nothing to worry about.

I usually cook, eat, plonk the remainder in a tupperware, then straight into the fridge/freezer. If it's cool enough that you can hold the container in your bare hand just fine, then it's cooled enough for the fridge.

Yes, food legislation goes say 2h but that applies to something like a hot buffet - after 2h it would need to be taken away.

As you're going to thoroughly reheat your bolognese to piping hot (I assume!) it will reduce the bacteria to a safe level & will be fine.

Thanks. I will put in fridge much quicker next time!

Is this actually a serious question? Come on for gods sake.

What's the point of this? There are thousands of threads on MN - if this one isn't for you, post on one that is.

Easily done, OP - I'm quite reassured by the answers you have had!

Sometimes I leave out overnight, sometimes I put straight in the fridge while hot. It makes literally sod all difference.

Unless your kitchen is boiling hot it'll be fine.

In this weather absolutely fine.

It will be fine. I leave out overnight to cool (unless we are having a tropical summer). Now kitchen is about 14 ish overnight. Fine in my book. I’m a decent cook and as far as I know I’ve not poisoned anyone!

If the lid was on since it was cooked nothing can really get in to start multiplying. If it wasn't well covered more of a problem, but I would say fine for that long even then.

Edit: And freezing kills a lot of bugs too.

As a chef we re advisedto get food refrigerated in 90 mins which is hard.It has to be below 7 degrees.
Normally we split the batches or put ice or cold water under the pots or tubs.
I'm amazed people think a good boil up can kill all bacteria...it can't.
Same with freezing you can't kill the bugs only halt their growth.
I can see how people confuse the messages and wish food hygiene was compulsory in schools.😂

I don’t really understand the poster here either. Were they trying to say it’s ridiculous cos of course it will be ok?

I would always leave the pan overnight before putting it in the fridge.

Not sure which particular bacteria people are worried about with mine cooked one day and then boiled.

I was thinking about someone saying upthread that if it is sealed then that’s better as bacteria can’t get in to multiply. Is this the case? Is bacteria in the air getting in that way?

That should be fine. You are cooking it again. I leave things to cool overnight sometimes.

I was going to say about 8 hours unless it’s a hot day. You don’t want to put it in your fridge too early as it’ll warm up the space with all the other stuff in it.