On Feb 28, 7:50?pm, Karen AKA Kajikit > wrote:
> On 28 Feb 2007 15:04:24 -0800, "levelwave" >
> wrote:
>
> >I cooked up a big pot of tomato sauce last night for my dinner
> >tonight... well, I woke up this morning and realized I had left it on
> >the stove all night (covered - off the heat). It stayed out about 8
> >hours and the pot was room temp by the time I woke up this morning...
> >I placed the pot back in the fridge before heading off to work. If I
> >boil it when I get home will it still be ok to eat?
>
> If it was a meatfree sauce it should be fine. Tomato's very acidic and
> acid helps to retard germ growth - there's a reason why you don't need
> to refrigerate vinegar! But if it was a bolegnaise I'd say all bets
> are off...

Nah... were it simmered a good long time and no one lifted the lid it
will be safer than were the lid lifted, stired about to serve, poured
into another container, and then refrigerated after maybe an hour or
two. Next morning my bet is on the pot left undisturbed on the
stove. And to be really super safe for yoose paranoidals if you're
not going to use it right away then freeze it immediately... or if
it's for that evening's dinner reheat to a simmer and place the
undisturbed pot directly into the fridge to await another evening
reheat. With today's modern fridges there's no harm whatsover in
placing a hot pot in... only advice is if you have glass shelves is to
place the pot on a trivet to allow better air circulation. The
inclusion of meat makes the sauce no less safe... left undisturbed
it's as safe for 24 hours as if it were canned.

Sheldon