Fish curry - aibu?

[forky882]

I made a fish curry last night using haddock in a tomato-based sauce. There was a decent amount left over after dinner and I left it sitting in the pan (with a lid on) in the kitchen overnight.

I'd like to reheat it for dinner tonight, possibly adding in some frozen prawns and more tomatoes to make it a bigger meal. Aibu to worry I'll get food poisoning or is this perfectly safe? I'm not an experienced cook and reheating things does unnerve me!

Would it be okay to add in the frozen prawns when reheating, or do I need to defrost them first? Should I put the curry in the fridge now before reheating later?

Most kitchens in British houses are cold during the night. I would put it in the fridge now and eat it later. I’m not fussy about things like this though and we’ve never had food poisoning.

Don’t know how he doesn’t get ill from it

It's because he heats it thoroughly.

Seriously, is MN infested with those who will happily let veggie food cool overnight and then re-heat without seeing advice?

I'm sure it'll be fine, but I'd put it in the fridge next time. Make sure you heat it well (& ruin the fish in the process).

Why don’t you take the fish out and bin it, refrigerate the sauce, then use it for the prawns later?
I'm not sure bacteria will observe this difference. You eat it or you don't.

I always leave food to cool down overnight before putting it in the fridge. I want to be sure not to raise the temperature in the fridge by adding warm food. Never had a problem.

When I was growing up we didn't have a fridge, so everything, cooked or raw, was stored at room temperature, often for several days. We were all fine.

Theres no way I would eat fish that had been sitting out overnight. Just not worth the stomach ache risk!

With fish absolutely not (probably not with meat either). I ate one dodgy shrimp once and spent two days and nights (literally!) on a matras next to the toilet because I was throwing up so much.

I just wouldn't chance it with fish, especially as the curry would mask any warning smell.

No way. I wouldn't even eat anything vegetarian that had been left out overnight.

I'm shit for leaving things out overnight but even I draw the line at fish...

Overnight temperatures in a kitchen may well be equilvalent to the temp of a fridge (4) given the weather at the moment

So how cold is your kitchen? Bacteria thrive and grow between 5 to 63 degrees - cooler than that slows then down - hotter than that kills them (its why piping hot is far more important that being in a fridge!)

I would happily eat it. Been leaving food out to cool overnight all my adult life, following my mother's example. Only time in nearly 50 years that I have had food poisoning was from a Chinese takeaway, eaten 'fresh' (it clearly wasn't!), not reheated.

My aunt lived in a hot country in the 70s with no refrigerator. It was common practice to cook food and reheat it to boiling for five minutes each morning to prevent food poisoning.

I leave stuff out overnight quite often. Our kitchen is cold but never been ill nor has DP. But then we never have fish so I imagine it would be really rubbery and over cooked if you heated it up again.

I am more than happy to leave any type of meat overnight on the hob (it always tastes better!)

That said, I'd never do the same with fish and I don't know why!

Does the curry have yogurt in? That’s worse than the fish. Any dairy left overnight will spoil.

I wouldn’t chance it with the fish either.

So no I wouldn’t risk it and I’m quite lax about sell by dates and leaving food out!

Yuck no. Toss it. It's not worth the risk.

I wouldn’t but with fish I alwyas eat the lot as reheated I can’t imagine it’s great even if it’s not the left out overnight issue.

@amicissimma temperature in the fridge won't raise. If it raises directly around it it will be minuscule and insignificant.
Guidelines are to refrigerate cooked food as soon as steam has stopped coming off.

It's gone in the bin. I feel bad as I hate wasting food, but I didn't want to risk it!

I absolutely would have, I do it with kedgeree when we have it.