Should I throw out my dinner? (NEED ANSWER FAST)

In My Humble Opinion
1

Last night I thought I would be efficient and start cooking the dinner that I plan to eat tonight – lamb bourgignon. I simmered the sauteed lamb pieces slowly in a stew of red wine (a Burgundy of course!) tomato paste and shallots for over an hour. All that would remain to finish the dish would be to add the mushrooms and cook a bit longer, which I would do tonight. The hot stew needed to cool for a while before going into the fridge, and since it was already 11 PM, I put it out on the windowsill to speed up the cooling. You can see where this is going… I meant to put it in the fridge after half an hour, but forgot. I remembered in a panic at 4 AM.

So essentially the lamb spent 5 hours outside. The temperature last night was 13 degrees C (55 degrees F), relatively cool, but not fridge cold.

What should I do? I would hate to throw out this lovely dish, but am of course worried about food poisoning. In addition to being in a relatively cool environment, I am also considering that between the onions, the red wine, and the tomato, the food itself would be relatively acidic and less attractive to most bacteria.

What do you all recommend?

(posting this to IMHO as I am looking for opinions on food safety rather than a discussion of cuisine)

2

I wouldn’t eat it, but I’m vegetarian. If I wasn’t I suspect I’d risk it, with the thought process being the wine would act as a preservative, and meat is regularly aged outside of a fridge with no ill harm - 5 hours seems not that long. I’d be interested in a more educated response.

3

The lid was on? It went from near-boiling to room temp without being exposed to air?

4

It’s not the best situation, but I’d still eat it. 55 degrees is pretty cool, plus the wine and the tomato paste are pretty acidic, and would inhibit growth.

Not to mention you’re heating it up again, which would kill any buggies that have started. I don’t think it’s been out long enough for their to be toxic by-products.

Not to mention I’ve eaten things that have sat out for much longer in much hotter temperatures and been fine.

IANAL, IANAD, IANAWhatever, don’t sue me…

5

Feh, I’d eat it. I’ve eaten food much less refrigerated on a regular basis, and not worried a bean about whether it had wine in it or not.

No responsibility if you get food poisoned though :smiley:

6

If it was covered the entire time I might give it a shot. If it was uncovered (even part of the time) I’d throw it out.
My reasoning is that while covered and cooking the inside of the pot was sterile environment. If the lid stayed on it would stay that way.
If you took the lid off vets are off.

7

I have eaten things that were left out of the fridge for a night in similar conditions to what you describe, and nothing happened to me.

The food was cooked – that already killed bacteria that might have been there, so any potential new contamination would have had to begin from zero.

As other people said, the wine and the tomato sauce create an acidic environment that is not conducive to bacterial growth.

Also, a temperature of 13C is not fridge-cold, but it is not that hot either.

Even if some bacteria might have gotten a “foothold” during those 5 hours (which are actually less, given that the food was hot to begin with, and first it had to cool down enough for invading bacteria to be able to survive there), it is very very dubious whether any toxic by-products had had time to accumulate.

Finally, you are going to cook it again to finish the dish, so you are going to kill whatever bacteria might be there.

Of course, depending on whether you kept your half-prepared boeuf bourgignon in its pot, with the lid on, or left it on a plate and smeared the contents of your trashcan all over it, the amount of potential bacterial contamination will be different… But I am assuming just a run-of-the-mill “leave this there in a pot” situation.

All in all I think you will be safe. I am not a doctor (although my father was), but interestingly enough he loved to cook and he would regularly make stews by first frying the meat early in the morning and leaving it right there in the pot, out of the fridge, until lunch time, when he would finish the stew with the potatoes, the vegetables, etc.

If he, being a doctor, had no qualms about leaving a half-finished stew out of the fridge to finish it some 6 hours later, I think you shouldn’t either.

8

All I can think about now is how in college I would ROUTINELY eat room temperature and two, three and even four day old pizza… :eek:

Yeah I would still eat it without even hesitating, but you people are giving me pause :smiley:

9

Five hours? And it was still hot from the stove at the beginning of those five hours? It wouldn’t even occur to me to throw it out. Seriously. Have you never, say, made a packed lunch at 8am and eaten it at 1pm?

Very few foods will go off in that length of time. Maybe, I don’t know, some kind of seafood-and-cream concoction left out in an 80F room might give me pause. But a freshly cooked dish with an acidic sauce, cooled in its original cooking pot? And it’s going to be cooked some more? Tuck in.

It would obviously be wise to make sure that it is thoroughly heated through before eating, but I bet you could eat it cold and not suffer any ill-effects.

10

I’d eat it.
I tend to pick at food and quite often I’ll fix something and 3 or 4 hours later I’m still picking at it and it’s been sitting at room temperature on the the table next to me.
Other than some things taste a little yukky when they aren’t hot anymore it’s never hurt me.

11

“I’ve eaten things like that in the past and I’m still alive” isn’t necessarily good advice.

The people who would perhaps offer the contrary advice are now unable to speak it.

12

Perhaps you need to change your user name then? :smiley:

13

Unfortunately, no, the lid was off. I took it off to speed the cooling. But good observation though. The next time I want to cool something (even for a short period of time, not overnight), maybe it would be safer to leave the lid on.

14

Toss.

15

With the lid off, I’d be more worried about dirt and bugs (being on the windowsill and all) than bacteria. I’d toss it with that detail thrown in, otherwise I’d have eaten it.

16

Almost every time I use my crock pot, it stays out over night. I don’t even attempt to put it away.

17

Meh. I’d eat it without giving a second thought.

18

Eat it. It’s fine.

19

If you’re not going to eat it, I will.

20

I’d eat it. I’ve eaten much more suspect things than your lamb before and lived to tell.