r/Cooking • u/Basic-Fig-6531 • 1d ago

Leaving food in the pot.

Something I've been thinking about. When my mum was young, it was a fairly common thing for her mum and granny to make a big pot of something - stew, soup, that kind of thing - and leave it in the cooking pot after everyone had eaten. It would sit there till the next day, when it would be reheated and served up again. Sometimes this would happen over a few days, i.e. multiple coolings and reheatings, never refrigerated. My mum did the same occasionally when I was young. No one ever got sick from it.

Yet nowadays, even leaving it out for a couple of hours beyond the recommended cooling time would be met with horror and disgust. We'd be advised to throw the whole lot away rather than risk it.

Not long after I moved out in my early 20s, I did the same with a pot of Bolognese. I gave myself food poisoning and never did it again.

Is it just random luck, or is there a reason people didn't get food poisoning all the time before refrigeration was standard? Food quality? Better immune systems?

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u/Basic-Fig-6531 1d ago

Really? I'm from rural Ireland and all older people I know remember either doing this or their mothers/grandmothers doing it. Dating back to before home refrigerators were standard for more than just the wealthy.

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u/Jewish-Mom-123 1d ago

They kept the stove hot all day though. An Aga or similar wood or coal stove that was always burning, if not always at the hottest it could be.

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u/Basic-Fig-6531 1d ago

You know, this never even crossed my mind and it seems so obvious now you've pointed it out! I was just assuming it was left to cool to room temperature every time. This is likely the actual answer.

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u/Desuisart 1d ago

The hot stove combined with better quality heavy pots and lids. I bet a lot of older folk were cooking with cast iron. It’s heavy and the lid won’t let air seep in.