Gumbo Spoilage - HELP!

[clumsycook]

Made a big batch of shrimp, sausage, ham, and chicken and okra in a 5 gallon pot yesterday. Let it cool on the stovetop and then put it in the fridge last night. This morning when we took it out, it was cooled, but bubbling. The shrimp is soft, everything else tastes fine, but there may be the slightest "off" taste. Is it spoiled?

Made it for a big party tonight - don't want to kill everyone!

[klkruger]

Possibly. Fridging a pot that large is never a good idea. The center of the pot--especially--takes too long to cool. Either the contents should have been transferred to several small containers and cooled before fridging or the entire pot should have been placed in the sink and surrounded by ice water, stirred frequently, ice replaced as needed, till quite chilled, before fridging.

Spoilage bacteria rarely cause illness. Pathogens and toxigens do--but they neither have nor create off flavors or odors.

[Tri2Cook]

It's an old one but I'll say it anyway... when in doubt, throw it out.

If I decide to eat something I'm not sure about and spend some time kneeling before the almighty porcelain that was my choice. Serving it to a bunch of unsuspecting people isn't cool.

[Mayhaw Man]

Coupla things, the first not having anything to do with spoilage-

You should have waited to put the shrimp in until just before you served. They cook in a minute or two and they will be much more enjoyable if they aren't overcooked moosh. Unlike here, you pay alot for them, so they should be treated with care.

Now, for the gumbo, as said above, you should have broken it up into seperate containers. I usually use some half hotel pans that I have if I need to break something down and cool it quickly.

Also, you should not ever seal gumbo, or any soup, while hot and stick it in the fridge. It holds in the heat even more and slows down the cooling process and raises the chances for trouble.

As for serving tonight, I (and this is just me-I am not a food scientist-just a cook) would probably make sure that it was heated all the way through to almost boiling, turn it to a low simmer, keep it there for a while, and feel confident that I had killed anything that might be growing in it (and there probably isn't anything anyway, but it's better to be safe than sorry).

[rooftop1000]

just to throw in another way to cool stuff fast

the day before cooking freeze a couple of clean soda bottle filled almost to the top with water.

Its great for cooling stocks and soups just drop them in the pot and put the pot in a sink 1/2 full of cold water

tracey

Edited September 28, 2008 by rooftop1000 (log)

[petite tête de chou]

Made a big batch of shrimp, sausage, ham, and chicken and okra in a 5 gallon pot yesterday.  Let it cool on the stovetop and then put it in the fridge last night.  This morning when we took it out, it was cooled, but bubbling.  The shrimp is soft, everything else tastes fine, but there may be the slightest "off" taste.  Is it spoiled? 

Made it for a big party tonight - don't want to kill everyone!

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What do you mean by "bubbling?" How fresh was the shrimp you used? Of all the ingredients you mention the seafood is usually the first to spoil and might be the cause of the "off" flavor. If it were me, I wouldn't serve it if I thought it had even a *hint* of off flavors or spoilage. Fry a few chickens instead and make biscuits.

[HungryC]

If you don't have smaller containers to divide up the contents of the large pot, you can fill a couple of gallon ziploc bags with ice and drop them into the pot (once it has cooled on the stovetop to non-finger-burning temperature). This starts the cooling from the inside out, preventing that hot-fermenting-core problem common with small surface area/large volume containers.