Reheating rice - will I kill my guests?

[zippy539]

I'm having a lunch thing on Sunday and I was wanting to make kedgeree (sp?). But I'm a bit confused about the whole issue of re-heating rice. I thought you weren't supposed to reheat rice once it had been cooked, but the recipe I've got says you can actually freeze this dish after it has been cooked (which would be ideal!) then reheat later. Advice please!!! Thanks in advance to anyone who can help out.

I think you can get away with reheating rice if you do it to a very high temperature, to kill any nasties. Especially if it has been frozen soon after first cooked, or if you only cooked it "yesterday". Rice does breed the worst food poisoning bugs, otherwise.

Yes I agree with Zebra. I never eat rice salads etc as am terrified of the bugs!

I didn't know that!

I thought rice was ok. Is it the same with any pasta then??? I often save rice for ds1 and reheat it with curry or chilli - is it ok if I heat it thoroughly?

Don'r re-heat rice! It was form a short chain toxin which causes awful vomiting. Heating it doesn't destroy the toxin, even if the bacteria are killed.

Don'r know about pasta

Suzanne Olivier in her book "What should I feed my baby" actually recommends cooking up a load of brown rice and freezing it in ice cubes for reheating when needed ... she's normally pretty sound on nutritional and safety stuff, so don't tell me I've been nearly poisoning my dd.

I thought the problem with rice was if you cook it, then leave it around for ages and then reheat it? Not an issue if you freeze it immediately after cooking, or if it's stored in the fridge for use the next day? Do tell me if I'm wrong here.

We reheat rice all the time - in the microwave with some water thrown on it! I've never had a problem or gotten sick, but have only done this after a few days in the fridge. Maybe I'm living on the edge and had no idea!!

But rice isn't pasta, or do you mean pasta made from rice flour? As long as you cook it to piping hot and it wasn't several days old to begin with, I imagine you're fine, though.

To be honest I sometimes give cold rice dishes to my kids to eat at child minders. They haven't gotten sick -- yet! The worst danger I suspect comes from rice that's been left "warm" for hours. I wouldn't give my kids rice, for instance, that I cooked the night before and then sat out on the counter all night at room temperature. I'd dare to do that with pasta or spuds, but not rice.

I used to work with food poisoning experts; they always said rice was the worst. We went out to dinner together once and they wanted to divide our group 50-50 into those who would have the chocolate mousse with unpasteurised egg and those who would have another pudding; just to see who got Salmonella or didn't. Scientists, eh!?.

I would never reheat after it was left at room temp - I always store in the fridge when it has cooled and use it withing 3 days or so. Haven't tried freezing it - and wont now!!!

Thanks everyone! So if I make the dish at the crack of dawn, refrigerate it as soon as it is cool, then blast it in the microwave or oven before serving at lunchtime it should be all right?

It should be fine zippy, but I would warm it through on the hob rather than the micro, re-heated dishes tend to be much better that way. Don't forget hard- boiled eggs and serve with knobs of butter, fresh parsley and lots of fresh lemon juice - Yum! It's one of my favourite dishes

I've always wondered about rice and whether it was as dangerous as someone once told me so thanks for this.

I never heard that rice was supposed to be dangerous till a few years ago. If it were, the entire Indian subcontinent would have pegged it, wouldn't it? I certainly would have.

Found this by Googling, on the Bexley Council website

The Problem with Rice
Cooked rice can cause food poisoning, if left for several hours at room temperature. This is because bacteria in the rice can produce poisons at room temperature, which cannot be destroyed by further cooking or reheating.

The Solution
Never store cooked rice at room temperature. Either: keep it hot at 63 degrees centigrade, or above; or:
keep it cold, at 8 degrees centigrade or less.

Follow these simple guidelines for
handling rice safely.

STORAGE

Store uncooked rice in pest proof containers with lids.
Do not use old tin cans as scoops - instead, use clean plastic or metal scoops.
Practice good stock control.
PREPARATION & COOKING

Wash rice thoroughly before cooking and remove any foreign bodies (e.g. stones).
Use clean equipment.
If possible, cook only the quantity required for each service period and throw away leftover rice.
COOLING AND STORAGE

1. Cool Quickly
   Try to cool cooked rice and place it in the refrigerator within a maximum of 1.5 hours of cooking.
   Cooling large quantities of cooked rice may take several hours. To reduce this time to 1.5 hours or less,
   divide the rice into smaller portions, or into shallow dishes.

2. Store in the fridge
   Once cool, cover the rice and store in the fridge until needed.
   Cloths and towels should not be used as a cover because they can carry harmful bacteria. Instead, use
   clean lids, aluminium foil or clingfilm.

REHEATING

1. Small Quantities
   Only remove small amounts of rice from the fridge for the cooking period - enough for about 1 hour.
   Keep the rest covered up in the fridge until needed.

2. Breaking Up Clumps of Rice
   Rice that has been kept in the fridge may stick together and form clumps.
   Do not use your hands to break up these clumps. Use clean utensils instead.

3. Reheat Thoroughly
   Rice must be reheated until it is piping hot throughout. A temperature of 75 degrees centigrade for at least
   2 minutes must be reached.

Ain't the Net Grand?

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Bexley Council would have forty fits if they went to Indonesia! Their custom is to make the day's food in the early morning (rice, with a bit of meat, if affordable, and some veg and chili sauces) and lay it all out on the table, covered with a cloth or bit of net. People then help themselves throughout the day, ensuring enough is leftover in the evening for next day's breakfast. Only wealthy people have fridges, so the rice is open to all the bugs, though in the face of malaria/dengue/TB/anthrax/encephalitis etc, food poisoning is a mere bagatelle, I suppose.

I didn't realise rice was so dangerous - 've lost count of the times I've put leftover rice in the fridge (+ curry, chilli, chinese etc) and eaten it the next day.
Perhaps I should be dead too?

DO NOT RE-HEAT RICE!!!!!! my mum is a trained chef and you should never, ever re-heat rice!-so she tells me

Christ Sue, that's terrifying !!

I'm the same as you iota with regards to the take aways thing.

Fio2 - I totally agree with you. My dh is a trained chef and he recently passed his intermediate food hygiene and is currently studying towards his advanced. He NEVER reheats rice, the risk IMO is far to high. If you are unlucky to get ill it causes terrible vomiting that can last for weeks apparantly. For his advanced food hygiene he is accomanying EHO's on inspections and I tell you, he says he will never eat a takeaway again after what he has seen.

sue, thats how things have always been in whatever home I've lived in as my dad is Thai...maybe I'm immune to the perils of reheated rice from years of exposure.

I did wonder about that Pie, because I knew you were half Thai. Maybe you do have some super-immunity now!

I've been told that a good remedy for upset tummy is rice water - the stuff you cook the rice in. I think it's to do with the starch binding together your innards? How weird that something that can make you ill also provides the cure!

sue, in Thai hospitals they give you rice soup which is basically the rice water with a few grains of actual rice floating around and dried shrimps. I remember asking my mum to bring in roast chicken with all the trimmings, she tried to but as it was 40c ouside the airconditioned hospital she couldn't face having the oven on.

Didn't eat the rice soup though, just insisted I be let home.

It would seem to be a southeast Asian cure all though.

I don't see this mentioned here, except maybe in hmb's message, but we have a rice cooker, which keeps rice warm and is left on for at least 48 hours. My mother likes to have rice every day, and when she was staying with us, I believe she had rice from the rice cooker for 4 days straight. So, I know it is okay to keep the rice warm for long periods of time.

When I was at university, a whole hall of residence was horribly poisoned by re-heated rice, and I know from our cafe at work that food hygeine precludes it. However, it must be ok under certain circumstances or M&S etc wouldn't be allowed to sell so many rice dishes for re-heating, would they?