My wife just cooked some 'plof' (an Ashkenazi Jewish recipe). A one pot chicken, rice, onion, carrots dish. All those are in their respective layers.
She just finished cooking it. We're going to go to sleep. She has set her timer to wake up in a few hours to put the whole pot into the fridge.
Is this gradual cooling safe? Especially for a meat dish? Does it matter whether it has meat in it or not?
I don't want to put this hot pot into the fridge because it will raise the temperature of my refrigerator.
Best Answer
There are several things in general that you can do to increase the speed at which food cools down, but two of the most effective are:
Increase the surface area. Spread it in a wide, shallow pan, like a sheet pan, rather than a deep pot. This will allow more cooling.
Use an ice water bath. Place the container with the food into an ice water bath, being careful not to spill the water into the food. Using a zip style bag to hold the food before putting it into the bath also can help.
A variation of this, especially for hot stocks or stews, is to freeze water in clean water bottles or zip bags, and place those into the food in addition to the ice bath.
For a pilaf, the first method should work very well.
You can also bring physics to the party: