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Produce => Recipes => Topic started by: sarah on October 30, 2008, 11:34:48
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i always tend to cook too much rice. i have always been lead to believe that it is unsafe to keep rice so i usually throw away whats not eaten. this goes against my whole philosophyof trying not to waste food. so... am i right or am i wrong. is it or is it not safe to keep left over rice and reheat it later.? ???
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You are quite right to dispose of rice quickly.
Major cause of food poisoning.
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I freeze leftover rice. It's a problem if you keep it at room temperature, or possibly even in a fridge. Here's what the Food Standards Agency has to say :
It's true that you could get food poisoning from eating reheated rice. But it's not actually the reheating that's the problem – it's the way the rice has been stored before reheating.
Uncooked rice can contain spores of Bacillus cereus, bacteria that can cause food poisoning. When the rice is cooked, the spores can survive. Then, if the rice is left standing at room temperature, the spores will germinate into bacteria. These bacteria will multiply and may produce toxins (poisons) that cause vomiting or diarrhoea. Reheating the rice won't get rid of these toxins.
So, the longer cooked rice is left at room temperature, the more likely it is that bacteria, or the toxins they produce, could stop the rice being safe to eat.
It's best to serve rice when it has just been cooked. If that isn't possible, cool the rice as quickly as possible (ideally within one hour) and keep it in the fridge for no more than one day until reheating.
Remember that when you reheat any food, you should always check that it's piping hot all the way through, and avoid reheating more than once.
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It's fine for a couple of days in the fridge... or you can cook less! :P
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Well I'll be blowed! I have kept rice for maybe 2 - 3 days on the cooker top and heated it in the microwave many many times and I am still alive! What good fortune and luck is that!?
Old Bird
;D
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yes indeed cooking less would be good, but i often get it wrong. ??? :P
I freeze leftover rice. It's a problem if you keep it at room temperature, or possibly even in a fridge. Here's what the Food Standards Agency has to say :
It's true that you could get food poisoning from eating reheated rice. But it's not actually the reheating that's the problem – it's the way the rice has been stored before reheating.
Uncooked rice can contain spores of Bacillus cereus, bacteria that can cause food poisoning. When the rice is cooked, the spores can survive. Then, if the rice is left standing at room temperature, the spores will germinate into bacteria. These bacteria will multiply and may produce toxins (poisons) that cause vomiting or diarrhoea. Reheating the rice won't get rid of these toxins.
So, the longer cooked rice is left at room temperature, the more likely it is that bacteria, or the toxins they produce, could stop the rice being safe to eat.
It's best to serve rice when it has just been cooked. If that isn't possible, cool the rice as quickly as possible (ideally within one hour) and keep it in the fridge for no more than one day until reheating.
Remember that when you reheat any food, you should always check that it's piping hot all the way through, and avoid reheating more than once.
so...does freezing kill the bacteria spores? and whats the best way to reheat (i havent got a microwave) - boiling water or ...frying?
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None of the above.Get rid of it. :)
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I always freeze leftover rice. It is left to go cool then put in a bag and put in the freezer. Never had a problem. I am of the same thinking as Rhubarb Thrasher regarding how it is stored before freezing. I am aware that careless handling of food can cause problems but I wonder if far too much food is wasted because we have been brainwashed into believing that anything we buy and/or cook has to be eaten there and then (or by its Best Before date) otherwise you will be ill. I believe a little care in cooling and storing the food will keep you safe. Mind you, I don't think I'd eat something that's been in the fridge a week after I'd cooked it (not that it would be there that long...... ::) ::) ::) Wonder how my granny managed without a fridge all those years ago...??
twinkletoes
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Sarah - I usually cook a little less rice next time I want some then just before it is ready, I put the frozen rice in - bring back to the boil, cook a minute more then wash and serve in usual way.
twinkletoes
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the advice is probably more scarey than it need be. If you leave cooked rice at room temperature for a while, then bacteria may grow and produce toxic chemicals, and it doesn't matter how you reheat it, the chemicals will still be there, even if you kill the bacteria. If you cool rice quickly after it's cooked, then it doesn't matterif there are still spores there, because they won't grow into bacteria and won't produce toxins, so long as you heat it through thoroughly and quickly
I usually cook more rice than I need, especially to freeze it. It's somehow more well behaved than freshly cooked (loses the gloopyness you sometimes get)
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Don't any of you have dogs? Dogs love rice!!
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Why not just cook the amount you need than play Russian roulette?
Rhubarb,why would they give advice that is more scary than it need be.?
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I just meant that the advice for the safe storage of cooked rice actually isn't much different from that for any cooked food, it's just that written in black and white it looks a bit worrying.
As Alexei Sayle said - "never buy a king prawn curry at a car boot sale"
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Yes Trevor - my Millie has extra rice mixed in her food - you are right they love it. She especially likes it with fish.
twinkletoes
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If you have a reasonable quantity left try using it straight up to make a rice pudding. I use any type of rice for this. Add cooked rice, to milk, double cream, sugar, vanilla extract simmer until the liquid is absorbed. Can't give you the exact quantities, but I will say 50:50 cream to milk, sugar/vanilla to taste. Cooked rice will probably absorb the double the volume of liquid (I cup of cooked rice to 2 cups liquid). This really is lovely and a good excuse for a pudding as don't want to be saving the rice. ;D
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I usually cook more rice than I need, especially to freeze it. It's somehow more well behaved than freshly cooked (loses the gloopyness you sometimes get)
To reduce gloopyness, cook in water for two minutes less, drain, and transfer to the micro & cook for 2 mins.
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Actually Pesky Wabbit, I only cook rice in the microwave now. For me gloopy rice is usually down to overcooking, or not washing it enough first. If it's gloopy, I wash it with lots of cold water and reheat
has anyone noticed how varaible the quality of rice is now, and how the cooking time can be really different for the same stuff?
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No gloop for me! Rice in tub, boiling water on top to twice height of rice, microwave 9 mins, stir & serve.
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Basmati rices are different. Waitrose basmati is rubbish, but tesco basmati makes really nice rice.
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I watched a Delia programme years ago.
Re cooking Rice.
Only stir initially....then leave it alone.
Once strained,return to saucepan,place a clean tea towel over the top for a few mins.......No gloop.OFF the heat. ;D
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I do boil-in-the-bag rice, so no problems, any complaints I say "I followed the instructions on the box".
But after reading this thread I did go and pop a rice pudd in the oven, no boil-in-the-bag needed for this one.
Sinbad
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And by the absorption method, never a gloop!!
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I'm afraid I cheat and use a rice cooker. 1 cup of rice is 2 adult servings and 2 cups of water per cup of rice. I always cook a little extra for freezing as it's good for emergencies, egg fried rice etc. Once it's cooked I take the amount I want for the freezer and cool it fast with cold water. Let it drain properly for a few minutes then bag it in single portion sized bags. I've been doing this for years and never had a problem.
Frozen rice is a great thing for me as I use it in lots of things. In the winter I add it to soups to thicken them, stews, and even a few cake recipes. It's all in the handling and preparation.
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I don't want to put you in danger, so please do what you feel comfortable with. But I (or the other people in the Netherlands) have never even heard of leftover rice being a health hazard.
My parents are from Indonesia, so I have been brought up with rice. My mother always cooked too much and leftover rice was either reheated in a steamer the next day or fried with vegetables.
Because that's what fried rice is in Asia: it's reheated leftover rice!
Throwing away rice is one of the major sins in Indonesia. Rice is a gift from the gods, to throw it away is an insult. And I may not be a true believer in gods, I do respect the value of rice. Or any other food, for that matter.
Never have I been ill because of the way my mother dealt with rice. And I do the same myself now for many years. I'm 46 years old and have never suffered food poisoning or even a mild stomach ache from rice.
The reason for warnings that are more scary than they need be? Avoiding any claimes if things do get wrong. As they sometimes will.
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Garjan, I've a friend who is of mixed race..father Chinese. My friend's father impressed upon all 10 children to eat (or otherwise save to re-use) all the rice they had - he said that someone, somewhere, stood up to their knees in water, stooped over, to produce the food which peeps so carelessly throw away :o My friend also, btw, told me to only eat noodles in a chinese restaurant cos these have to be freshly cooked to order ;)
Saving left-over rice is safe, as long as sensible precautions are taken re: the temp at which the leftovers are kept?
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I must admit this advice did surprise me. I thought rice was completely safe to eat after two days in the fridge. Cooked meat or fish I would throw away. After hearing this I immediately threw away the left over curry rice and chinese rice as it is just not worth being ill. I have beetroot in the fridge which is one week out of date, according to the label, I know I should have grown, cooked my own, but surely beetroot should be OK, unless it is going mouldy. I would never have dreamed that cooked rice should not be kept, unless it has meat or prawns in it. Plain rice should be OK, but perhaps not. I will not chance it and will only cook want we need in future. I must admit I eat many things that I would not give to children, grandchildren, visitors, and I am still alive at 65. My mother said I used to eat sand from the beach as a child and ate coal when pregnant, but I am completely off left over rice now. I quite like burnt toast as Mum always burnt it and scrapped it and said it would do me good. I expect nowadays that is wrong. At least the smell of Mum cooking breakfast and burning the toast got me out of bed for school.
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Hi Hyacinth,
that's the other reason my parents had for not throwing away rice: it's the result of back breaking labour.
And yes, you need to store the leftover rice in a cool place, preferably a fridge.
My take on food is, that you need to be sensible. It is perfectly okay to eat products that are over the Best Before-date. But you have to smell it and to look at it. This requires some knowledge on how a product is supposed to smell and look. Knowledge a lot of people don't have anymore, or they don't trust their own judgement.
My co-worker doesn't want to eat the lettuce I bring for lunch, because it needs washing. And she thinks my carrots have cancer and are therefore not edible, because they are knobbly.
Well this is a bit off topic. Sorry.
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I don't remotely worry about food poisoning from cooked rice, but I do sometimes think about Arsenic
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/08/29/eababy129.xml (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/08/29/eababy129.xml)
We get ours in 10 kg bags, origin Pakistan. If I was still at the Uni i'd test it, if only for interest sake
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....and burnt toast is carcinogenic...it's a well-known scientific fact ::) ;)
I'm wondering why you throw away cooked meat, etc....can't you just throw it in your freezer, borlotti? Same with left-over rice..
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Yes I do freeze cooked meat meals, but sometimes defrost and we eat some but would not refreeze the left overs. There are only two of us now and sometimes cook too much. Remember the times when the children were always hungry and their was no food left. I probably cook, buy too much. The rice thing did surprise me as I thought it was OK, but would not keep it in the fridge and reheat. Also I know you have to be careful about fish, prawns if kept in a warm temperature then throw away, do not freeze.
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I wash basmati before I cook it and there is a total absence of gloopiness. I use Elizabeth David's recipes for cooking rice and they always work.
Last night we had (watch out for the double whammy :o :o :o) PRAWN RISOTTO!!! :o :o :o and I cooked double quantities.
So not only do I have cooked rice in my fridge but also cooked prawns - mixed. If you don't hear from me in the next few days suspect the worst!
On the other hand it could be down to Hyacinth's CHOCLUT. Oops sorry, naughty me, not to talk about the choclut in other threads. :-[ :-[ :'( :-X
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Up to two days in the fridge is fine.
How to cook `perfect` rice? I`m well read on this and have been to a class in Goa with a reasonably well known cook over there.
So many ways-but believe me-two times stock to one of twice rinsed rice-16-17 minutes in the microwave (medium setting)depending on the rice and leave for up to 10 minutes-perfect :)
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well thanks for all the feedback on this everyone, its given me plenty to think about. :D. i guess the answer is to not cook too much in the first place. i think i will try freezing any leftovers from now on (having cooled it down quickly first). i like the idea of rice being the food of the gods. :)
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"Ambrosia" - it once had a loftier status.
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Hence Ambrosia Creamed Rice?
Ugh, really don't like Ambrosia creamed rice...
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dear grawrc
Enjoy, hope to hear from you tomorrow. Only heard about the dangers of reheating rice lately, and am still here, I hope. What the h..ll is carcinogenic, perhaps Mum knew best and said a bit of burnt toast did me good. After having had food poisoning after a pensioners dinner at the Guildhall in London sleeping next to the toilet for three days, I would not risk any food that was out of date. We had prawns as a starter and with over 500 people I am sure they were left out of the fridge, I have, never, ever been so ill. That was my reward for being a pensioner, but cannot prove that it was that what made me ill but certainly will eat at home from now on. There was an investigation into the food and another suspect was the horse radish sauce, if I remember rightly, but was so ill didn't really care. Any way the caterers were cleared, but I do not want to go through that experience again. I wasn't the only one that was ill, but we did have a lot to drink and perhaps they said as OAP's we couldn't take it. Next year I will stick to my burnt piece of toast which never upset my stomach. Stuff mass catering.
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Carcenogenic means likely to cause cancer but don't stress about it cos just about everything you do or eat can cause cancer. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. Bit like reheated rice really. These things are so unimportant in the grand overall picture of your life. Take care but do what you want to do. My FIL is 97 and eats cargenogenic stuff every day. that's the way he likes it!! His son (my husband) ate sensibly and did all the right "health" things but dropped dead 18 months ago when he had a massive heart attack. Who knows and what does it matter. Just get on with living while you can.
Prawns that are not quite right can really really make you ill. My Dad refused to eat them because of a bad experience like yours in France when he was a young man. I just don't care: I'll eat anything.
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"65 and still alive", what a slogan! I am too.
I took my husband to a small Egyptian restaurant the moment it opened, to have a quick meal before going to the cinema. The young man in charge said very honestly that he would not be able to cook us fresh rice in time, so he could not recommend a rice dish. He had rice left over from the day before, but he personally would not be willing to eat it.
This was the first I had heard that one day old rice was dodgy. We chose to eat it, had a very nice meal, and no problems afterwards.
I also often cook too much rice (same reason - used to cooking for big family who complained if there were no second helping, find it hard to rein myself in to only 2) and had never thought of freezing it, so thanks for the idea. There is a little bowl of old rice hardening in the fridge as I speak, which I will now chuck out.
We are all wary of mass catering, suspecting that there has not been enough space to keep food cool, yet it has to be cooked ahead.
My worst experience ever was buying a dish of clams and rice out of a warm, sunny display window in Spain. My teenage son warned me against it, so naturally I defied him and ate it, which he did not.
We were cycling across the Pyrenees at the time and I was so weak and ill and sick and helpless, he had to fasten my luggage onto his bicycle. I was very grateful to him, but all he said was that if he didn't carry my luggage, we would never get anywhere.
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1. Hate waste, but I have always been told that cooked Rice is a danger point. I will only keep it for 2-3 days in the fridge - which is at 2-3C. Wonder where the idea originated?
2. Charcoal? Great for indigestion? Etc. And SO tasty!
3. Amazed that there is a worry over cooked meat or fish - if refridgerated.
4. When did you last do a 24 hour check on your fridge temperature. It might surprise you?
5. A bit OT but - Guildhall + drink? Can't resist. At the Premiere of the BofB film celebration, the lovely Pikemen had 'had a few'. As they ceremoniously marched off, they lowered their pikes - but not quite enough. Two stuck into the oak door lintel!!
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Tim there are all sorts of concerns over the way people manage their fridges and the health hazards that lurk within them. Normally I survey the fridge every Saturday before shopping and sort out what should no longer be there, but if I'm particularly busy it doesn't happen and I sometimes find things growing in a corner that shouldn't be there. Temperature is good: it's displayed on the front of the fridge and there is even a designated cold area at a lower temperature for putting "vulnerable stuff" such as raw meat (on lower shelf) and cooked food (on higher shelf).
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Didn't I hear that rice had bugs in it when reheated. Yes I have been to the Guildhall many times, as I worked for the City Police at Wood Street (only as a typist/later word processing operator), opposite the Guildhall and as staff we could go for lunch in the canteen (not the main hall) and when I left the police worked for the Institution of Structural Engineers (as word processing/desk top publishing supervisor for 10 years) until the clever university students overtook my knowledge and I went back to being a Secretary. The Institutin had their annual dinner at the Guildhall and as staff I handed out the seating plan and smiled. Also slipped out through the speeches and had a quick ciggie. Very enjoyable, apart from the last one when I had retired and had a free ticket (as a civilian police pensioner) and then got food poisoning, or perhaps it was the free alcohol.
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So, where does that leave the frozen/chilled rice you buy in the supermarket? Do they do something differetn to it then?
Sinbad
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I check the fridge every day. It helps me decide what to cook for dinner! Today we had Fridge Fritatta. I found a few onions, just starting to put out shoots, 3 mushrooms, a packet of bacon with a use by date of today, 2 tomatoes that were just going soft and a wrinkly yellow pepper. All fried up in a pan, covered with eggs and cheese, 15 minutes and done. The family loved it. Daily fridge checking is the way to go.
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Displayed temperatures? I'm sure you know your onions, but D-n-D's fridge read out seems to have little to do with reality.
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Ah that's in hand! It gets checked independently on a regular basis. Mind you I suppose that could be wrong too!
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Still to this day people are unaware of the dangers of rice.
My belief is that its not necessarily a problem to reheat rice.
The danger lies within the storage of rice prior to reheating.
It is paramount that rice is never left at room temp. My Mum always taught me as a little girl never to use a cold rice dish on a buffet, but unfortunately I still see this happen to this day.
Personally I would not reheat rice myself as having once had food poising in Egypt and thinking that I was going to die, its just not worth the risk.
Tim, I am glad you brought up awareness of fridge temps too. I have an display on my fridge and moniter it closely, ideally the food should be below 5c but legally you can sell cold food stored up to 8c.
Fridge designs are a huge bee in my bonnet, you still see fridges sold with the salad compartment at the bottom of the fridge and no doubt people will place raw meats above those compartments.
I have a drawer at the bottom of my fridge for raw meat that keeps the meat lower than the reg fridge temp and then the salad boxes are above that and hope to see the day that all fridges are designed in that manner.
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Im sure you are all aware that uncooked meat should never, Never, NEVER be stored on the same shelf as ready to eat foods, nor on a shelf above.
Uncooked meet contains all sorts of bacteria esp. bad strains of E.coli that are fatal -which is why you have to cook them. By placing prepared food next to, or under this you are risking contamination.
Numerous times I have seen this happen on the supermarket reduced/bargain counters; at which point I demand to see the manager - who always tells me he knows its against hygiene standards, but then I see it again a few weeks later. The trouble is they don't teach the shelf stackers.
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My OH says my rice is always perfect (unless I've had too much wine whilst cooking). I boil it until it's not quite done and still has a slight chalky bite to it. Drain it, put back in the saucepan with a squeeze of lemon and leave with the lid on for 5 minutes. Fluff it up with a fork and hey presto - perfect rice! Saw it on the tele but I can't remember who. Wasn't Delia or Nigella (look-at-my-wonderous-bossom) Lawson, as I find them both equally annoying.
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Have only skimed this thread so sorry if this has been mentioned already, but a useful site for checking on how much to cook, to avoid waste, is this one:
http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/perfect_portions (http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/perfect_portions)
And the measurements are in cups or mugs, so it's easy.
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When running a restaurant many years ago, pre - prep was vital to ensure all ran well.
All un cooked meat was wrapped dated and kept in a seperate fridge, -- idealy all
domestic fridges should have a raw meat section.
The rice was cooked then ran through cold water until it was clear, drained very well
then turned into a dry colander which was placed on a plate and covered with a clean teatowel- then
refridgerated on the top shelf. Would not reccomend storage in plastic sealed containers, only
for freezing maybe.
We were regularly inspected by Health and Safety and they were OK with with our system.
Glad to say, we didn't have much leftover - not enough to fridge or freeze.
floss