My mother used to cool off food before refrigeration. But the safety guidelines have changed. Thanks to better refrigerator efficiency, and concerns about food spoilage, it’s best to refrigerate foods immediately after cooking.

Apparently this poses no danger to the rest of the food in your fridge.

But there are times when you will still want to cool foods before refrigeration. When I cooked for my son’s bar mitzvah, we suffered from an extensive heat wave. My kids, home on vacation, opened the fridge frequently. The refrigerator could not keep up with the large quantities. Some of the food spoiled before it should have.

I’ve compiled a few tips to make sure your food will cool quickly and safely.

1. Cook some of the hot dishes close to serving time, so they won’t need refrigeration at all (except for the leftovers).
2. Ideally, place foods in the refrigerator immediately after cooking.
3. Divide large amounts into smaller containers. Leave as little air at the top as possible, unless you are freezing. Frozen foods expand by about eight percent.
4. Keep foods tightly covered at all times. It won’t cool off as quickly, but the cover will keep some bacteria away.
5. Choose shallow containers so the cold air can reach the interior of the food quickly.
6. Store hot containers away from each other. Your refrigerator is coolest in the back.
7. Stagger cooking times so the last dish will be cool before the next one is ready.
8. For very large quantities, plunge the bottom and sides of containers into ice water before refrigeration. Avoid immersing them completely.
9. Alternatively, ask a neighbor for refrigerator space, or rent or borrow a fridge. I could have used the refrigerator in our synagogue for our bar mitzvah.
10. Have a plan for cooling leftovers as well.
11. A less preferable option for cooling off food is to place it near a fan or air-conditioner.

How do you manage when you have a big cooking session in hot weather?

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Salvaging Food During an Electrical Outage 

Healthy and Tasty Summer Salads

Image: riebard

Despite living in a major American metropolis, Cooking Manager reader Miriam has been suffering from electrical outages on a regular basis. The most recent one lasted 52 hours, forcing her to evacuate to a friend. She brought along some cheese and other delicate items, but wondered about the rest of the food in her fridge.

Anyone, anywhere, can be affected by a sudden power outage. What should you do with your food when your power goes out?

The first thing to do is be prepared. Frozen foods last longer, especially if your freezer is full. Fill bottles of water, leaving room at the top, to add to your freezer when you have extra room. Make sure you have a decent pantry supply, so you’ll have food to eat without opening the fridge.You should also have one cooking method that is not dependent on electricity, like a gas burner.

Usually you’re going to have to make some tough decisions, because you don’t know how long the outage will last. Food in the refrigerator will stay cool for at least 4 hours, if you don’t open it. Even opening the refrigerator or freezer one time will significantly lower the inside temperature. But there’s no way to know for sure, because it depends on the temperature of your kitchen. And you may not even know when the power went out, unless you have an electric (not electronic) clock or 24-hour timer plugged into the wall to tell you when it stopped. Some clocks have a better that keeps them accurate even during an electric outage.

One website said to put the food in insulated buckets with ice. That won’t help most of us in a snowstorm, since the whole neighborhood would be affected and the ice would need to be replaced from time to time. And your freezer is already an insulated bucket with ice. Frozen food will generally keep for 24 hours. Avoid opening it to check how it’s doing. Put a quilt over the refrigerator or freezer to insulate it. If you have a thermometer in the refrigerator or freezer, you’ll know the temperature when you do open it.

Another option, in the winter, is to take the food outside. Your refrigerator is usually set to about 40 F° (5° C), and your freezer at about 0° F (-18° C). If you have access to the outside temperature you can assess what will happen. If you don’t want your milk to freeze look for an somewhere in-between, like an enclosed porch or garage.

When you do decide to open the refrigerator, you will need to assess the damage. Here’s a helpful guide for deciding whether your food is safe enough to eat.

What about frozen foods that are starting to defrost? It’s safe to refreeze the food as long as they still have ice crystals on them, or if the internal temperature of the food is 40° F (5° C) or lower. But the quality will suffer. Anything else should be cooked as soon as possible. After cooking it’s safe to refreeze.

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Photo credit: dyobmit

Reader Hadassah is planning to freeze meals in advance of a Bat Mitzvah dinner for about 100 people. She plans on serving quiches and casseroles, but soups and baked goods also freeze well. Here are ten important tips for freezing

Speed is important. The faster you get your food frozen, the fresher it will taste when you serve it. Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Don’t plan on freezing too many items at once, and allow space around the item you are freezing. Once the food is solid, you can stack it on top of other foods.
2. Choose shallow containers and casserole dishes, for quicker cooling and freezing.
3. The freezer temperature should be between 0° and –18° Fahrenheit, or –18° to –28° C.
4. Cool foods completely before freezing. For faster cooling, place the pan in cold water. You can cool foods in the refrigerator while still warm, then move them to the freezer.
5. Wrap foods carefully to keep liquids in, and air out. Place wax paper between layers so they won’t stick to each other.
6. Allow room in containers and bags for food to expand while freezing, but remove any air in plastic bags. Zipper-type bags work well for storage, and can be washed and reused.
7. Don’t use aluminum foil to store tomato-based or other acidic foods.
8. Allow plenty of time for defrosting in the refrigerator: 24-48 hours for casseroles. You can also reheat frozen or partially frozen food in the oven. Don’t try this with a glass dish. Keep breads well-wrapped while defrosting to keep crusts crisp.
9. Cutting casseroles in serving pieces before freezing saves time later, and allows faster freezing and defrosting. But you risk the pieces drying out sooner, or getting too brown in the oven. Rolls and mini-pizzas are easier to store and serve than larger loaves.
10. Reheat cooked food thoroughly, to an internal temperature of 165° F. (75° C.). Bring soup to a full boil.

Photo credit: @joefoodie

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Estimating Quantities

Whenever you prepare fruits and vegetables, it’s important to check the outside for holes and blemishes. Sometimes a large, angry-looking discoloration can be just on the surface and cut off with the peel. It usually means that the fruit was scratched or scraped somewhere along the way. But other times, an insect or worm can dig into your fruit through a small hole and ravage the insides.

You wouldn't want to meet this tomato in the dark

That’s what happened with this ripe, red tomato.  Something had gotten inside this one and I had to throw out about a third of the tomato. It was so disgusting I wanted to toss the whole thing, but the rest was delicious.

Insects are smart—they often choose the best-looking fruit.

Of course, I washed off the knife that had touched the black stuff.

Here are instructions for making a  simple, free cover for spices and grains bought loose in the store or market.

I often buy spices, grains and legumes in plastic bags at the market. But it’s hard to keep the bags closed properly, and the contents often spill out into the drawer or freezer. This wastes precious food, and leaves a mess.

Then I saw this great idea for recycling a plastic drink bottle to make a pour spout for a plastic bag. You’ll need a a plastic bag that is thin and flexible, like a sandwich bag—this spout won’t work with a crinkly pasta bag. But you can convert a used bread bag to a container for small grains using the spout.

Here’s how to make your spout with its own hermetic cover:
1. Find a plastic bottle and matching cover. If you don’t have one, look on the street, or ask friends for some of their empties.
2. Remove the cover of the bottle.
3. Use a Japanese knife or sharp scissors to cut off 2-3 centimeters (about an inch) below the spout of the bottle. Smooth out the edges, but they don’t need to be perfectly straight.
4. Take the plastic bag containing the food or spice, and thread the mouth through the spout.
5. Fold the edges back 2 or three centimeters along the bottle opening.
6. Screw the cover back on, this time over the edges plastic bag.
7. Don’t forget the rest of the bottle into the recycling bin.
8. Repeat—you’ll want to have a few of these on hand.

Now you have a secure cover for your plastic bag, so you can pour out as much or as little as you need with no worries.

Source: Otiot Magazine
This post originally appeared on Green Prophet. Reprinted with permission.

This is the last of a four-part series  on grocery shopping, with a focus on produce.

Part I: Ten Questions to Ask Before Going to the Store.

Part II: Ten Questions to Ask When Buying Produce

Part III: Tips for Choosing Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

When you come home from the grocery store or market, it’s tempting to put everything in the refrigerator and forget about it. But taking extra time to deal with the produce will help you get the most from your money and give you a jump start on cooking.

Washing produce: I wash most produce shortly after getting home. It will keep slightly longer if I don’t, but this way I don’t have to remind kids to wash things, I can cook right away, and I have less water dripping over the floor. And it saves time and water.

To wash produce, use water and a scrub brush. I soak sandy items like fresh greens, then rinse. Produce infested by snails or insects has tell-tale holes or trails. Cut around these, and keep an eye out for the critters.

Always examine fruit for soft spots, black spots, insect holes, snails, worms, and insects. If something is soft put it aside to eat or cook right away. Ideally, you’ll do this every couple of days. Make note of which produce needs to be used first, starting with the leftovers from your previous trip.

Tips for storing specific fruits and vegetables:

• Strawberries. Always make time to sort strawberries right away, as one soft one will ruin the rest. Take the soft ones to eat right away, and put the firmer strawberries in a plastic container for the next day. Cut off brown spots for the ripest ones and serve immediately, or as soon as possible. Or cook them into something else.
• Grapes. Scoop out the grapes that have fallen to the bottom, cut off brown, wash, and serve. These are the tastiest anyway. Store the rest in the refrigerator.
• Potatoes: Store them out of the refrigerator but away from sunlight. Green spots should be removed before eating as they are a sign of solanine, a mild poison. I keep potatoes in a well-aired drawer. If you must keep them out, cover with a cloth.
• Onions: Store outside the refrigerator away from the potatoes, as th e onions will cause potatoes to sprout.
• Tomatoes: should be left out of the refrigerator for best flavor, until an hour or two before eating. Place them in one layer on a cloth. Rotate from top to bottom every day or two, checking for soft spots. Soft ones should go in the refrigerator and can be used in cooking.
• Peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, eggplant: Wash and scrub if necessary. Store in the vegetable bin in the refrigerator. Once you start a pepper, removing the seeds and membrane will help the rest keep longer.
• Bananas and avocados can stay on the counter until they are ripe, then transferred to the refrigerator. Bananas freeze well, with or without the peel.
• Greens: These include celery, parsley, dill, kale, leafy lettuce, broccoli, etc.  Soak sandy or buggy items in water for several minutes, adding a tablespoon of vinegar or salt will loosen bugs. Brush grooves with a scrub brush and examine cracks for dirt or insects. Use as soon as possible. To freeze herbs, shake off water after washing and place on a flat baking pan in the freezer. Transfer to a bag once frozen and use in cooking.
• Cabbage: Store in the refrigerator. Examine for bugs, especially the outer layers.
• Root vegetables including turnips, carrots, beets,  etc: I wait to scrub or peel these when I’m ready to use them or the day before. In cool weather they don’t need refrigeration.
• Sweet potatoes don’t like the cold so keep them out in a basket or drawer.
• Onions and garlic: Store outside of the refrigerator so they won’t get bitter.
• Citrus fruits can stay out in mild weather. For the record, they get infested by insects on the peel so scrub them off if that bothers you.
• Apples: Best refrigerated, but can stay out in a pinch.
• Mushrooms: Mushrooms need to stay dry. To clean, wipe with a damp rag or paper towel. Cut off ends before using and store in the refrigerator.
• Melons: These often grow near manure so wash carefully. Refrigerate if ripe. Remove all seeds after opening.
• Watermelons: They can stay out while unopened, but refrigerate a couple of hours before serving. Use quickly once opened.
• Pitted fruits including peaches, apricots, plums, cherries and nectarines. Sort out ripe or blemished fruit, wash and store in the refrigerator once ripe.
• Pears: Same as pitted fruits.

Please share more tips in the comments.

Part I: Ten Questions to Ask Before Going to the Store.

Part II: Ten Questions to Ask When Buying Produce

Part III: Tips for Choosing Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

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Has Your Freezer Become a Dungeon?

Ms. Krieger wrote that she forgets about food that’s in the freezer more than a week or two. I think two weeks is pretty good—many cooks forget about it as soon as they close the freezer door.

I have several suggestions that I hope will help. But a system only works if you use it. So pick one that you can live with, and give it a few tries before giving up.

• Keep a written inventory. Keep a whiteboard or page near your refrigerator with a list of everything that goes into your freezer. Cross items off as you remove them.
• Place things you want to use in a visible location. When you put something in the freezer , don’t push the older foods to the back. Bring older foods forward instead. Also, divide your freezer into sections, keeping the cooked foods near each other so you can look through them easily.
• Keep things neat. Stack foods in similarly shaped containers. Combine smaller items into boxes or larger containers.
• Plan menus and shopping lists with your freezer in mind.
• Label your food and include the date. Some containers let youset the month, or use a whiteboard marker.
  
• Go through your freezer on a regular basis.

But Ms. Krieger, I don’t find anything wrong with keeping well-wrapped foods in your freezer for longer than two weeks. Yes, it’s good to rotate things. And your freezer shouldn’t be so crowded that you can’t take advantage of a sale or spontaneous baking session. Cleaning is  a good idea too, once in awhile. When you are really in a pinch, you’ll (probably) remember what you have.

When I was extremely ill for a few days, so I pulled out all kinds of good things that get us through. Just before Passover this year, when I was busy  with cleaning, we ate two delicious containers of lentil soup that had been in the freezer all winter. I hadn’t forgotten about them. I just like to cook fresh soup in the winter, so I had no need for the frozen ones.

Your freezer is a) a place for foods that need to be frozen, like ice cream, b) an aide on a daily basis for making quick meals, so long as you remember to defrost and c) an emergency storage system for a time of stress or illness, whether for yourself or a neighbor.

Use your freezer wisely and thoughtfully. Don’t let it become a dungeon of  forgotten scraps.

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I read in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that there’s been a seven-fold increase, over the last twenty years, in the number of children hospitalized with intestinal ailments caused by campylobacter, a bacterium commonly found in raw poultry. More than half the children admitted to the hospital for intestinal problems tested positive for the bacterium.

The newspaper (print, Hebrew version) reviewed safe methods for handling raw chicken:

1. Buy fresh, refrigerated chicken.
2. If you do buy frozen, be sure it has been handled properly. Patches of ice on the sign indicate chicken that may have been defrosted and refrozen.
3. Defrost on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator, to prevent contamination of other foods.  [Placing the tray on newspaper or a plate will contain drips.]
4. Use utensils that set aside for raw meat.
5. Before cooking, wash the utensils and your hands.  If you have open cuts, wear gloves.
6. Raw chicken breast can remain in the refrigerator for two days before cooking.
7. After cooking, chicken can be stored for two to three days.
8. For cleaning surfaces in the kitchen, a paper towel is recommended.

I’ll have to think about that last one, as I use rags. Even if I don’t wash the rag in hot water, I doubt the bacterium would survive until the next use.

According to this article, the number of cases of campylobacter infection has decreased in the U.S. The article blamed the high number of Israeli cases on shnitzel, the fried chicken breasts that are a lunch staple.

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Is This Food Safe to Eat?

Last week I ran out of baking soda while making sourdough bread. The last time I had checked, we had a full container. We buy it in bulk at the shuk (open-air market). But my husband used it to make dishwasher detergent.  Since I don’t know a good substitute, I had to run to the corner store for some more. We’re going to be buying twice as much from now on.

In my post Avoiding the Emergency Trip to the Store, I mention the importance of being well-stocked. Today we’re going to look at the pantry and freezer and talk about foods to stock up on.

Most things, with a few exceptions like salt, sugar, and cocoa, will eventually spoil or attract bugs. How much of every item you need depends on space, family size, how often you shop and whether you get unexpected company.

If you get a good price on something you use, or you don’t shop often, it’s worth the effort to find extra space: Under the bed, the back of a closet, bathroom cabinets (for bottles or cans), or even behind the sofa.

The rule of thumb is to keep at least one unopened container of everything you use regularly. So if you are about to open your last bottle of oil, it had better go on your shopping list. For items that come in smaller containers, like tuna, you will need more. Calculate how many cans you use between shopping trips. Add on a few in case you have unexpected company or your shopping trip is delayed.

If you often cook in bulk, like I do, you will need a larger supply of the required staples. I try to keep at least three bottles of oil, rotating the old ones to the front when I buy more. I needed four teaspoons of baking soda for my sourdough, not the one my husband thought would tide me over.

Since this is a cooking blog, I left out many processed foods. I’ve noted in parentheses things that I don’t generally keep on hand, but you might.

Baking supplies:

• Oil. Keep in a cool, dark place.
• Sugar
• Flour. Freeze if you can, or for the first 24 hours to kill live insects.
• Baking  Soda
• Baking Powder
• Cocoa
• (Chocolate, chocolate chips, coconut, flavorings)
• Vanilla
• Salt
• Honey

Grains. I keep these in the freezer if I can, except for the pasta.

• Oats
• Bulgur
• Rice. Brown rice contains oil and gets rancid at room temperature.
• Assorted dried beans, lentils, chickpeas, and peas.
• Unpopped corn.
• (Quinoa, wild rice, cornmeal)
• “Instant” yeast granules

Canned goods:

• Crushed or whole tomatoes
• Tomato paste
• Tuna (or other canned fish or meat)
• (Canned fruits and vegetables)
• (Canned soup or broth)
• (Powdered soup)

Sauces and condiments.

• Tamari or soy sauce
• Mustard
• (Catsup)
• Vinegar
• (Bottled lemon juice)
• (Salad dressings)

Dried spices and herbs. Some people keep these in the freezer.

Nuts and seeds. These contain oil and should be stored in the freezer.

(Boxed cereals.)

For unexpected company or if you frequently host meetings:

• Soft drinks or juices.
• Snacks, pretzels, etc.
• Crackers, cookies, etc.

Frozen items:

• Packages of fruits and vegetables.
• Concentrated juices.
• Meat and fish.
• Bread.
• Cheese. Some types freeze better than others.
• If you have room, keep milk in your freezer to save trips to the store.

Avoid overstocking and most of all, don’t buy things you never use because  you think you should. You only want a generous quantity of foods you use regularly.

Tip: Avoid buying items for one recipe. You’ll find yourself with most of a container left over and nothing to do with it.

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Ripe and Unripe Avocados

Reader Ilana sent me an interesting question: How do you tell if an avocado is ripe? Well, sometimes it’s difficult because avocados ripen unevenly. The lower wide part, surrounding the seed, ripens faster than the thickest part of the avocado’s neck.

I’ve had avocados get brown and spoil before ripening. I presume it has something to do with the way they were grown or stored. Usually an avocado ripens on the counter within a week. To make it ripen faster, put it in a paper bag in a drawer and check it every day.

The avocado on the left is ready to eat. You can tell because the skin is starting to get brown and wrinkled. The unripe one is textured, like all avocados to varying degrees, but not wrinkled or shrunken.

When you press the skin of a ripe avocado it will give. It’s similar to a pear: Hard means unripe, soft but firm is ripe, and mushy is over-ripe. But unlike  pears, the very soft brown spots on avocados are bitter and inedible. You can’t miss the spots when you open the fruit. Cut off the brown and eat the rest.

When I opened the ripe one this is what I saw:

Ripe Avocado

The slight brown streaks tell me that the avocado is slightly overripe and would have been perfect the day before. But that’s how it is with all fruit: It’s tastier the day or two after the peak of ripeness than it is the day before. We can’t always get to fruit on the right day, so it’s best not to be too fastidious about eating perfect fruit.

The flesh of over-ripe (but still edible) avocados is all yellow, very soft, and might have bitter mushy brown spots. That brown spot on the lower right is where the stem was attached.

If you cut through the skin of an avocado and meet resistance, it’s not ripe. Remove the knife, leave the fruit for a day or two, and remove the original cut edge.

With a ripe avocado, the skin pulls off the flesh easily. The thin skin of the variety pictured above may tear but the thicker-skinned varieties will not. Even if the skin is thick you can feel the degree of ripeness, although the color change may not be as obvious.

After it’s ripe, store it in the refrigerator. Use it for avocado salad or cube it into a vegetable salad. Stuff it with chumus, spread it on bread or eat it at is. That’s what I did with this one.

To cube an avocado can cut it in half, remove the seed, and cross-hatch it with a knife just through to the skin. Then slide the knife between the flesh and the skin to remove the cubes. Or slice the fruit in wedges including the skin, then  peel off the skin by hand. Use a spoon to scoop out flesh that sticks to the skin. Also use a spoon if you’re going to mash it or eat it plain.

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