Nuts. I cooked some chicken in a crock pot overnight, and originally took out two packages of half breasts as I wanted to see which had the better amount for the recipe. I apparently left the larger package out overnight–about eight hours, to be exact.
I immediately put it back in the fridge when I stumbled across it first thing this morning, but now I’m not sure what to do. If I just dump it in the crock pot (we’re at the tail end of a kitchen remodel, so we have no stove or oven at the moment) as soon as possible, is it salvageable for safe eating?
I won’t say you should eat it, but I’ve done it a billion times without any problems. If everybody is pretty healthy in your home, it *probably *won’t make you sick.
FDA rules are IMHO extremely conservative. If you cook meat to their suggested temperatures, you wind up with hockey pucks. I made a lovely filet mignon once and cooked it to exactly the FDA’s ‘rare’ temperature. There was no red or pink to be found in the meat. Blech.
NO!!! Your health is not worth a few bucks saved, just count your losses and hit yourself across the head for being so careless with your food.
That last part is a joke, pregnant critters shouldn’t hit themselves.
I’ve done this with frozen chicken accidently left out approx 30 hours (in the oven :smack:- not the greatest place to put something temporarily) still sealed in the package. I was able to “cook it safe” by broiling it on high for 55 minutes for the meaty side then flip it and 10 minutes for the rib side. It’ll be cooked through but it’s also going to be a bit dry (typical raw cooking times are 45 and 5). Coat it with olive oil and some salt on top before you cook it. I’ve been eating it all week with no problems.
In looking at the thread if you’re pregnant might not be worth chancing it (or handling it).
cats don’t seem to like putrid stuff but may eat that because still fresh.
dogs love rotten stuff. they bury stuff and let rot. they find gut piles and dead animals in the woods. they will haul animal bones, hides and parts as chew toys for a week or two. they eat their own and other animal shit. they eat their own puke.
dogs can tolerate a wide spectrum of ‘food’ that is how they evolved.
okay, so I have a related question:
how long can you let COOKED chicken sit out?
Suppose I take chicken out of the oven, left it to cool, and then forgot about it overnight. Next morning, put in in the fridge, and ate it for dinner the next day, as planned. Did the overnight exposure put me in a danger zone?
my guess is that you are safe for a much longer time (i don’t know the actual reccommendations). the raw meat bacteria would have been killed and the meat is now much drier.
i think it is fairly common that people eat left out next day meat and not suffer if it is dry and well cooked, rare cooked or moist could be different. i’ve seen people leave out well cooked dry meat for most of a day for eating later as a routine for them (they just covered it to keep dirty house flies from landing on it).
I’ve done the same thing many times myself and never had any problems, though if you’re pregnant I don’t know if you’d want to take the risk. And eight hours would be about the limit I’d feel safe keeping it out.
And you’re right about the cooking temperature rules. I was grilling some chicken yesterday, and I think the recipe said it had to be 175. It got to about 150 before the outside turned into a charred shell.
Could you crock pot it or stew it? You know, cooking it near or above 200 F for several hours? Wouldn’t that put paid to any nasties in there? I’m thinking it would, but I’ve been wrong before.