When to refrigerate

[MI-cocinero]

My friend and I are having somewhat of a debate about when cooked food should be refrigerated. He claims that immediately refrigerating cooked foods while they are still hot causes a shock to the food and changes occur within it that alter and damage the taste. His practice is to let foods cool somewhat before refrigerating, sometimes all the way to room temperature for a few hours. I have always heard that this isn't safe due to bacteria growth that occurs while food is warm and couldn't find anything on the internet about the taste being altered. He still claims that it does happen and that it is especially bad with refrigerating hot chicken.

What's the answer? When's the best time to refrigerate? Should one wait at least a little while so the food isn't out-of-the-oven hot? Is the taste affected?

Thank you!

[AndyG]

Refrigerate before the food cools down. This minimizes the time bacteria might get going, and taste is affected the least.

[siduri]

I've heard that putting a large, hot thing in the fridge will make the whole fridge warm up to a more dangerous temp, and that you have to let it cool somewhat, if not completely. Am interested to hear what the experts say.

[Blueicus]

Basically, the general rule is:

2 hours to get the food from 60 degrees C (or higher) to half the temperature.

4 hours to get the food down to 4 or 5 degrees C.

Roasts and other small quantity cooked foods should have no problems doing that by being left out at room temperature for 2 hours then put into the fridge afterwards but when you're dealing with denser or larger products (such as a large 50L pot or soup or stew) then not even putting it in the fridge will do and more drastic measures need to be taken, including splitting your food into shallower containers, using an ice bath to almost submerge the vessel and then continually stirring it to redistribute the hottest (innermost) part of the food, etc.

Putting a giant vat of hot food, as siduri says is not only not too productive in cooling large quantities like that but does raise the temperature of the fridge and that isn't a good thing. Small quantities should be fine but some foods don't respond well to rapid cooling (but only very few).

I find that most baked goods and custards suffer if immediately put in the fridge due to rapid condensation that drips back into the food and harms the product. I prefer to let it sit out at room temperature on a cooling rack and wait about 1 hour before putting custards into the fridge and even longer for cakes.

[Luc_H]

All of the above are excellent answers but to answer the original debatable question then quick refrigeration does not affect taste negatively.

high protein foods like foods with lots of meat (stews, chili, meatloaf) will taste better if cooked, cooled, refrigerated and reheated the next day because protein takes time to acquire flavour (to infuse).

As pointed out, if condensation affects the quality of the product then cooling at room temperature is advisable. example: custard, thick velvety sauces, baked goods like cake and bread.

Most of what I said is repetition but just reinforces the comments above.

Luc H.