Reheating leftovers properly means you can enjoy meals safely more than once.
Leftovers are a staple in many homes, from turkey sandwiches after Thanksgiving to Wednesday night's ham appearing in Thursday's bean and ham soup. Storing and reheating leftovers is the key to making sure you or your family do not get sick. The food must be reheated within a certain period of time and to a certain temperature to avoid letting possible bacteria grow in the food. Follow these simple steps and enjoy your reheated foods with confidence. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Instructions
General Reheating
1. Keep stored food cool until just before reheating. Don't remove refrigerated food and bring it to room temperature before reheating it, as this could allow bacteria to grow.
2. Place the food in an appropriate container for reheating. Different methods will require different containers or utensils.
3. Check the internal temperature of the food with the food thermometer. Be sure it reaches 165 degrees for a sustained time of at least 15 seconds. When the food has reached this temperature it can be served. Make sure reheated food is served immediately, and eaten within two hours of cooking or do not use the food.
Oven Reheating
4. Wrap food to be reheated in the oven in aluminum foil or place in a baking pan and cover with foil to prevent drying the food out.
5. Reheat cold food at a temperature of 350 degrees. Check the food periodically and redistribute or stir if necessary. Oven heating heats the food from the outside in, so the center may be cold while the outside is hot. In order to ensure even reheating and not drying the outside stir or shift the food as it heats.
6. Reheat food that has just been cooked within the last two hours by a process called flashing, or placing it in a hot oven for a very short time. This process uses a temperature of 450 - 475 degrees, heating the food no more than 2 - 10 minutes depending on the quantity and type of food. In this method food should be distributed evenly in the container so that the heat is absorbed more easily.
Stove Top Reheating
7. Use a glass or metal sauce pan, skillet or cast iron frying pan to reheat food on the stove. Each different type of pan will vary as to how it heats and how fast the temperature rises. The best method for stove top heating is to use a low, even temperature over a longer period of time. Higher heat on the stove top causes the bottom to burn or brown before the bulk of the food is heated.
8. Add liquid if necessary to keep the food from burning while reheating if the food has absorbed all the liquid while stored. This is helpful for things such as pasta or vegetable dishes.
9. Stir the food before reheating to loosen stuck together pieces and distribute the heat evenly. Use a lid to maintain heat and steam in the dish and avoid drying the food, but check it regularly to turn and shift the food to be sure all of it is reheated.
Microwave Reheating
10. Place the food in an appropriate container for microwave reheating. For microwave reheating glass or microwave safe plastic is required; metal cannot be used. Some containers are designed to go straight from the refrigerator to the microwave; put the food in an appropriate bowl if the storage container is not microwave-safe.
11. Check the food for how much moisture has been absorbed before heating. You may need to add liquid to the food if it was absorbed during storage. Add a couple of tablespoons of water to the container if necessary, depending on the amount and type of food.
12. Cover the food to keep moisture in. If you use a container with a fitted cover do not seal it tightly or the steam may blow the lid off. Lay a paper towel or plastic wrap loosely over the top of an open container to hold moisture in while heating.
13. Heat the food in small increments of time, checking it frequently and stirring to distribute the heat. Heat on 50% power for more dense types of dishes to avoid uneven cooking.
Tags: before reheating, food appropriate, appropriate container, bacteria grow, Check food, distribute heat, drying food