Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

Oops, I left a pot of tomato sauce out all night

12,558 views
Skip to first unread message

levelwave

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 6:04:24 PM2/28/07
to
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?

~john

Peter A

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 6:15:09 PM2/28/07
to
In article <1172703864.4...@v33g2000cwv.googlegroups.com>,
SonVo...@gmail.com says...

Perfectly fine. When you cooked it, any bacteria in it were killed.
Being covered all night, no nasties that may have been floating around
could have gotten in.

--
Peter Aitken

Barry

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 6:26:50 PM2/28/07
to
On Feb 28, 6:04 pm, "levelwave" <SonVolt...@gmail.com> wrote:

> boil it when I get home will it still be ok to eat?
>
> ~john

some people store their opened ketchup in the cupboard

some restaurants leave ketchup on the table all day

I guess it's ok...

open the lid and see what it smells like
if it smells "funny" don't chance it.

it's not "if" the sauce goes bad.. it probably won't, but the sauce
could be a host for other goims. Like Dick, I mean Peter says...
something might have drifted over in it...that might leave you on the
toilet all night cramping.

kilikini

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 6:28:31 PM2/28/07
to

I've done that at least 100 times and it's been fine.

kili


merryb

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 6:41:14 PM2/28/07
to

Was there any meat in it? That could have a different result as
oppossed to a Marinara

Barry

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 6:44:18 PM2/28/07
to
On Feb 28, 6:28 pm, "kilikini" <kiliki...@NOSPAMhotmail.com> wrote:

> I've done that at least 100 times and it's been fine.
>
> kili

I think it becomes more acidic in times like those, the sauce I mean

Sheldon

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 6:44:28 PM2/28/07
to

Oh, just reheat, it'll be even better then had you ate it right away.

Sheldon


Karen AKA Kajikit

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 7:50:02 PM2/28/07
to
On 28 Feb 2007 15:04:24 -0800, "levelwave" <SonVo...@gmail.com>
wrote:

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...

Ward Abbott

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 8:42:01 PM2/28/07
to
On 28 Feb 2007 15:04:24 -0800, "levelwave" <SonVo...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>. If I


>boil it when I get home will it still be ok to eat?

Would you boil a bottle of ketchup if you left it out overnight?

The acidity of tomatoes will be a preservative.


Sheldon

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 8:48:15 PM2/28/07
to
On Feb 28, 7:50?pm, Karen AKA Kajikit <kaji...@jagcon.com> wrote:
> On 28 Feb 2007 15:04:24 -0800, "levelwave" <SonVolt...@gmail.com>

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

Mark Thorson

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 9:14:06 PM2/28/07
to

If it had no meat in it, no problem.

If it had meat in it, then you need to work out
the value equation:

value of sauce > probability of killing you x value of your life

Let's say the sauce is worth $10, the probability of it
killing you is 1%, and the value of your life is $100,000.

$10 > 0.01 x $100,000
$10 > $1000

Whoa! That's not right! It's off by a
a factor of 100. Even if we reduce the risk
to 0.1% and devalue your life to $20,000,
eating the sauce does not satisfy the value
equation.

Peter A

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 9:20:23 PM2/28/07
to
In article <45E636ED...@sonic.net>, nos...@sonic.net says...

Complete claptrap. What part of "sterile" do you not understand?

--
Peter Aitken

Sheldon

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 9:33:08 PM2/28/07
to
Ward Abbott wrote:

> "levelwave" wrote:
>
> > If I boil it when I get home will it still be ok to eat?
>
> Would you boil a bottle of ketchup if you left it out overnight? The acidity of tomatoes will be a preservative.  

C'mon, it ain't the same thing... ketchup is a condiment that's at
least 10 times more acerbic (and far saltier, and drier) than typical
pasta sauce, ketchup is essentially preserved tomatoes... but now we
know how you sauce your pissghetiOs.

Sheldon

Mark Thorson

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 9:34:25 PM2/28/07
to
Peter A wrote:
>
> Complete claptrap. What part of "sterile" do you not understand?

It's not sterile. As the pot cooled, the contraction
of the air inside the pot would have drawn in
unsterilized room air containing bacterial spores.

I used to prepare Petri dishes in my kitchen
using a pressure cooker, and I know how difficult
it is to prevent contamination. One of the lessons
I had to learn was to prevent unsterilized air
from entering the Petri dishes while they
were cooling.

Sheldon

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 9:47:41 PM2/28/07
to
Mark Thorazine wrote:
> Peter A wrote:
>
> > Complete claptrap. What part of "sterile" do you not understand?
>
> It's not sterile.  As the pot cooled, the contraction
> of the air inside the pot would have drawn in
> unsterilized room air containing bacterial spores.

Boiling at average atmospheric pressure (~212deg. F.) does not
sterilize anyway, but certainly reduces bacteria enough to make sauce
food safe for at least 24 hours, probably a lot longer... undisturbed
the sauce in question will be fine for two days... nothing, absolutely
nothing we eat is sterile. What's truly sterile around here is
Thorazine's pea brain.

Sheldon

Omelet

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 9:51:06 PM2/28/07
to
In article <1172703864.4...@v33g2000cwv.googlegroups.com>,
"levelwave" <SonVo...@gmail.com> wrote:

It's acidic enough, I would not worry about it...
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

levelwave

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 10:14:56 PM2/28/07
to
On Feb 28, 5:15 pm, Peter A <pait...@CRAPnc.rr.com> wrote:

> Perfectly fine. When you cooked it, any bacteria in it were killed.
> Being covered all night, no nasties that may have been floating around
> could have gotten in.
>
> --
> Peter Aitken


Thanks everyone... If you don't hear back from me in the next month or
so you'll know I was ill advised :P

~john

Mark Thorson

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 10:17:03 PM2/28/07
to
Sheldon wrote:

We can't say that in every kitchen that every pot of
tomato sauce would be safe under those conditions.
Maybe the number of fatal pots would be small, but
it won't be zero. How safe would it have to be
to satisfy the value equation?

If even one pot out of a thousand were bad, and
the value of one's life were a paltry $20,000,
it flunks the value equation.

I consider my life worth much more than $1,000,000
and I'd want to beat the value equation by at least
a safety margin of 10. Under those conditions,
your not beating the value equation even if
only 1 out of 100,000 pots of sauce is a killer.

I don't think anyone can make a reasonable argument
that the risk is that low. It may be low, but it's
not that low. Certainly, it flunks my value equation.

However, if I replace the value of my life with the
value of yours (and forget about the safety margin),
the equation is satisfied. Go right ahead and eat it.
Have seconds. Enjoy! :-)

Dave Bugg

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 10:17:31 PM2/28/07
to

That would be crappy ;-)

--
Dave
www.davebbq.com

Melba's Jammin'

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 11:14:12 PM2/28/07
to

Probably.
--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
http://web.mac.com/barbschaller - Winter pic and a snow pic
http://jamlady.eboard.com
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/amytaylor

cybercat

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 11:28:44 PM2/28/07
to

"Mark Thorson" <nos...@sonic.net> wrote

>
> I consider my life worth much more than $1,000,000

Well of course you would.


Mark Thorson

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 11:38:01 PM2/28/07
to
Melba's Jammin' wrote:
>
> In article <1172703864.4...@v33g2000cwv.googlegroups.com>,
> "levelwave" <SonVo...@gmail.com> 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?
>
> Probably.

And that probability would be . . . 1 in 1000? 1 in 100,000?

Aye, there's the rub.

Barry

unread,
Feb 28, 2007, 11:44:10 PM2/28/07
to
On Feb 28, 10:17 pm, Mark Thorson <nos...@sonic.net> wrote:

> However, if I replace the value of my life with the
> value of yours (and forget about the safety margin),
> the equation is satisfied. Go right ahead and eat it.
> Have seconds. Enjoy! :-)

My people used to tease me, "We'd like to buy you for what you're
really worth, and sell you for what you think you're worth"

Barry


sf

unread,
Mar 1, 2007, 2:58:45 AM3/1/07
to
On 28 Feb 2007 15:04:24 -0800, "levelwave" <SonVo...@gmail.com>
wrote:

Check in tomorrow with us tomorrow. If you can do it, you're fine.
If you can't - who should we notify?

--
See return address to reply by email

kilikini

unread,
Mar 1, 2007, 5:38:50 AM3/1/07
to

ROFL!!!!!!!

kili


Peter A

unread,
Mar 1, 2007, 8:11:17 AM3/1/07
to
In article <45E63BB1...@sonic.net>, nos...@sonic.net says...

I see your point, but I still do not think that there's the slightest
chance of dangerous bacterial growth overnight.

--
Peter Aitken

Chatty Cathy

unread,
Mar 1, 2007, 8:28:07 AM3/1/07
to

Have done this myself (more than once) and we are all still alive and kicking ;)

--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

Janet Puistonen

unread,
Mar 1, 2007, 1:15:21 PM3/1/07
to

I agree. The food safety police have everyone crazed these days. Bring it to
a good long simmer and don't worry about it. And I wouldn't worry about
meat, either, unless the meat was not fully cooked in the sauce, which
sounds unlikely.

If you were a restaurant, it would be a different story, but you're not.


Dave Smith

unread,
Mar 1, 2007, 1:41:05 PM3/1/07
to
Janet Puistonen wrote:
>
> > Have done this myself (more than once) and we are all still alive and
> > kicking ;)
>
> I agree. The food safety police have everyone crazed these days. Bring it to
> a good long simmer and don't worry about it. And I wouldn't worry about
> meat, either, unless the meat was not fully cooked in the sauce, which
> sounds unlikely.
>
> If you were a restaurant, it would be a different story, but you're not.

My wife has a cast iron stomach. She will eat things that have been left
out or left in the fridge past the point where I think they were still
safe. I had one good dose of food poisoning and I don't ever want a repeat
of that experience.

blake murphy

unread,
Mar 1, 2007, 2:05:23 PM3/1/07
to
On 28 Feb 2007 19:14:56 -0800, "levelwave" <SonVo...@gmail.com>
wrote:

as long as you didn't overcook your pasta, you'll be remembered
fondly.

your pal,
blake

blake murphy

unread,
Mar 1, 2007, 2:06:47 PM3/1/07
to
On Wed, 28 Feb 2007 20:38:01 -0800, Mark Thorson <nos...@sonic.net>
wrote:

christ, do you want to live forever? what do you wear when you leave
the house? there are meteorites everywhere.

your pal,
blake

Mark Thorson

unread,
Mar 1, 2007, 3:26:32 PM3/1/07
to
blake murphy wrote:
>
> christ, do you want to live forever? what do you wear when you leave
> the house? there are meteorites everywhere.

I know of only one person being hit by a meteor,
and she lived. The risk of death appears to be
much less than one in a billion per century.

http://www.brainyhistory.com/events/1954/november_30_1954_116289.html

What's the risk of death from food poisoning?
About 1 in 60,000 per year.

Quoting from
http://www.fda.gov/cvm/Guidance/Guide122.htm

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
has estimated that known food borne pathogens
account for 14 million illnesses, 60,000
hospitalizations and 1,800 deaths to humans
in the United States each year. Total food borne
illness from both known and unknown pathogens is
likely to be responsible for 76 million cases,
325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths
annually."

How does that compare with something everybody
knows is dangerous, like driving?

Quoting from
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1127-03.htm

"'Here we are losing 43,000 people,' Mr. Mineta
said. 'If we had that many people die in aviation
accidents, we wouldn't have an airplane flying.
People wouldn't put up with it. They ought not
to put up with 43,000 uncles, aunts, mothers,
dads, brothers and friends whose lives are
snuffed out by traffic accidents.'

Food borne illness is about 9 times less likely
to kill you than driving, but driving is the
most dangerous thing most people do. For many
people, unsafe food handling is the second
most dangerous thing they do.

Mark Thorson

unread,
Mar 1, 2007, 3:31:54 PM3/1/07
to

You say that without knowing the dimensions of the pot,
the volume of the headspace in the pot, the ingredients
of the sauce, the ambient temperature, and the pathogenic
bacterial spore count of the air. And yet you "think"
there isn't the slightest chance of a problem. That's
correct -- you "think" that, but you certainly don't
know that, nor are you in a position to make an educated
guess.

Chatty Cathy

unread,
Mar 1, 2007, 3:54:37 PM3/1/07
to

Mark has his tinfoil hat, so no worries there, blake....

OBFood: Gonna have these at the weekend....

Barb Schaller's Famous Orgasmic Chocolate Brownies

1 cup unsalted butter (8 oz)
4 ozs unsweetened baking chocolate
2 cups granulated sugar (15 oz)
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup chopped nuts, optional (walnuts or pecans)
1 1/3 cups cake flour (6 oz)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

In microwave oven, on medium-high power, melt butter and chocolate in
2-quart microwave-safe bowl, about 3 minutes. Stir until smooth. Mix in
granulated sugar, then beat in eggs, one at a time, with wire whisk. Mix
in vanilla and almond. Stir in nuts. Combine cake flour, baking powder,
and salt and fold into chocolate. Spread batter in 9x13" pan lined with
baking parchment and bake in preheated oven at 350°F for about 33-35
minutes. Do not overbake; toothpick may have fudgy crumbs on it, but not
wet batter.

Notes: First Place, Plain Brownies, 1997 Minnesota State Fair. Adapted
from recipe in Cook's Illustrated magazine, March/April 1994. Please
note that I do use real chocolate, unsalted butter and cake flour. If
you do not, don't complain to me about it. And I don't believe the
nutritional analysis at the bottom of this page!

Per serving (excluding unknown items): 197 Calories; 12g Fat (51%
calories from fat); 2g Protein; 23g Carbohydrate; 58mg Cholesterol; 72mg
Sodium Food Exchanges: 1/2 Starch/Bread; 2 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates

--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

levelwave

unread,
Mar 1, 2007, 8:04:27 PM3/1/07
to
On Mar 1, 1:58 am, sf wrote:

> Check in tomorrow with us tomorrow. If you can do it, you're fine.
> If you can't - who should we notify?

I've been munchin' on it for 2 days now and haven't killed over yet.
Looks like we're in the clear...

~john

sf

unread,
Mar 2, 2007, 12:17:22 AM3/2/07
to
On 1 Mar 2007 17:04:27 -0800, "levelwave" <SonVo...@gmail.com>
wrote:

Wheew!
;)

blake murphy

unread,
Mar 2, 2007, 1:18:59 PM3/2/07
to
On Thu, 01 Mar 2007 12:26:32 -0800, Mark Thorson <nos...@sonic.net>
wrote:

>blake murphy wrote:


>>
>> christ, do you want to live forever? what do you wear when you leave
>> the house? there are meteorites everywhere.
>
>I know of only one person being hit by a meteor,
>and she lived. The risk of death appears to be
>much less than one in a billion per century.
>
>http://www.brainyhistory.com/events/1954/november_30_1954_116289.html
>
>What's the risk of death from food poisoning?
>About 1 in 60,000 per year.
>
>Quoting from
>http://www.fda.gov/cvm/Guidance/Guide122.htm
>
>"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
>has estimated that known food borne pathogens
>account for 14 million illnesses, 60,000
>hospitalizations and 1,800 deaths to humans
>in the United States each year. Total food borne
>illness from both known and unknown pathogens is
>likely to be responsible for 76 million cases,
>325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths
>annually."
>

i'd be willing to bet that a very small percentage of those deaths
occurred because of unsafe practices in home kitchens. yes, some
people will insist on infusing garlic in oil, but i bet few of them
get botulism. some foolhardy persons will cut up vegetables after
using the boards for chickens. oh noes!!! but the bodies aren't
exactly piling up in the streets.

your pal,
blake

Nancy2

unread,
Mar 2, 2007, 2:58:00 PM3/2/07
to
On Feb 28, 5:04 pm, "levelwave" <SonVolt...@gmail.com> 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?

Should be fine - tomatoes have lots of acid. I hope it wasn't in a
reactive pan, though. ;-)

N.

sf

unread,
Mar 2, 2007, 10:19:30 PM3/2/07
to
On Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:41:05 -0500, Dave Smith
<adavid...@sympatico.ca> wrote:

>My wife has a cast iron stomach.

I used to have one of those too.... but
<singing>
Oh, the times, they are a-changin'

chef...@gmail.com

unread,
Aug 26, 2018, 9:22:23 AM8/26/18
to
Ketchup has a ton of sugar and other preservatives. Not comparable to tomato sauce.

Druce

unread,
Aug 26, 2018, 3:08:01 PM8/26/18
to
On Sun, 26 Aug 2018 06:22:20 -0700 (PDT), chef...@gmail.com wrote:

>Ketchup has a ton of sugar and other preservatives. Not comparable to tomato sauce.

Wan't their once a Heinz tomato ketchup with no additives at all? I
guess people didn't like that. Gimme my xanthan gum!

Ed Pawlowski

unread,
Aug 26, 2018, 4:42:23 PM8/26/18
to
Simply Heinz. Has cane sugar instead of corn syrup.
TOMATO CONCENTRATE FROM RED RIPE TOMATOES, DISTILLED VINEGAR, CANE
SUGAR, SALT, ONION POWDER, SPICE, NATURAL FLAVORING.

Druce

unread,
Aug 26, 2018, 4:57:10 PM8/26/18
to
The only dubious one is natural flavoring. That term is deceiving
because it can be any kind of gunk. I also don't know what added
sugar's doing in there. The omnipresent pacifier.

Druce

unread,
Aug 26, 2018, 9:08:36 PM8/26/18
to
On Sun, 26 Aug 2018 19:53:26 -0500, Sqwertz <sqwe...@gmail.invalid>
wrote:
>Even regular Heinz doesn't have xanthum gum.
>
>Bruce is just an idiot troll.

That's a matter of perception.

>When he's not trying to get people
>here to play with him, he ties a pork chop around his neck so the
>neighborhood dogs will play with him.

I don't know if dogs are into gluten imitation meat.

dsi1

unread,
Aug 27, 2018, 3:49:58 AM8/27/18
to
On Sunday, August 26, 2018 at 3:22:23 AM UTC-10, chef...@gmail.com wrote:
> Ketchup has a ton of sugar and other preservatives. Not comparable to tomato sauce.

I use a lot of ketchup. Wonderful stuff. It is not comparable to tomato sauce since they serve two different functions. It is also important that ketchup contains sugar because it's used as a sweetener in Asian cooking. Preservatives are fine with me since I don't refrigerate it. It's a cheap, generic, reliable, and important, product. Here's some spicy garlic eggplant with breadfruit. The base of the sauce is ketchup.

https://www.amazon.com/photos/share/9IsEaYOiDq3uAb2evwzltp8XzyanO0wqgVaZ4QKmUG

Ophelia

unread,
Aug 27, 2018, 5:00:02 AM8/27/18
to


"dsi1" wrote in message
news:8524ea58-d5f0-4099...@googlegroups.com...
==

That looks delicious .. but spice ... I wouldn't dare try it:)

dsi1

unread,
Aug 27, 2018, 5:10:17 AM8/27/18
to
On Sunday, August 26, 2018 at 11:00:02 PM UTC-10, Ophelia wrote:
> ==
>
> That looks delicious .. but spice ... I wouldn't dare try it:)

Those vegans have left so I can ramp up the heat level for my wife. What a relief! :)

1977...@gmail.com

unread,
Jun 20, 2020, 6:17:37 PM6/20/20
to
Are you related to my Uncle Bill?
0 new messages