My husband left the beef in the oven overnight - can we still eat it?

blue_monkey_2

As the title says really. I was ill yesterday and so as not to waste the joint (I was NOT going to do a roast when I could hardly stand) I put it in the oven and my husband came in and took over the cooking but when it finished turned the joint off and left it in the oven until 'later'. Yeah right. The intention was to cook it, slice it and cook it up tonight with some gravy. However, it has been left in the oven overnight, sitting in a huge pool of fat - I just found it now, so can we still eat it as I intended?

I have two under 5's so do not want to risk it if it'll make us ill. The kitchen is not hot, quite cool infact, even in the summer. What do you think? can we eat it?

xx

aaroncaz

I wouldn't risk it!!

aaroncaz

Sorry, im quite funny abt food being left out, and i wouldn't give it to my child, just incase it upset their tummy!! and we know what a mess that can be!!lol

jinky67

I am really paranoid about food, but it should be okay if it was properly cooked in the first place.
PS I work in catering so I know what I'm talking about

angelavdavis

I would have thought it was fine - it wasn't a particularly hot night so the temperature wouldn't have been really high. Just make sure it is heated through before serving.

My mum leaves cooked joints in the oven as her fridge isn't big enough to take them and then she slices them up the next day and reheats thoroughly when she uses. No one has ever been ill from eating the meat.

Robothell

I'm in agreement with jinky67 on this one. I would leave cooked meat in the oven overnight not infrequently and have never suffered any ill effects. In fact, I was always told you should do that as putting a warm joint of meat into the cold fridge raises the fridge temp quite considerably and can break the "cold chain". As long as the meat was properly cooked and either the joint was covered or the door shut it should be fine.

Alfietinker

I would think if it's been cooked properly it would be fine - I often leave joints to cool before putting them in the fridge and forget about them overnight and I've never had any problems. I must admit I always reheat and eat them hot though.

aaroncaz

jinky67 wrote: »

I am really paranoid about food, but it should be okay if it was properly cooked in the first place.
PS I work in catering so I know what I'm talking about

I stand corrected!!

blue_monkey_2

Thanks for your replies. To be honest, if I was too worried I would have binned it and yes, it was already cooked and I am going to nuke in gravy for enough time for it to be well cooked through again - the gravy will keep it moist so it will not dry out. I would not have risked pork or chicken but thought you could be a bit more leniant with lamb and beef and which is why I sought another opinion.

They eat Pizza from the night before, I never really thought about that until now!! Thanks for the advice. If I don't post after today you know why..... :rotfl:

On another note though - my kids have been caught eating much worse than this. My son was walking ahead of me from school the other morning (he is 3) and when I got around the corner I could see he had found an old Dairylea Dunkers pot that someone had chucked out in the street and was.... wait for it.... scraping the contents out with his fingers and eating it....... Makes me cringe at the thought now, urghh!! God knows how long it had been there and what had been walking through it - I dread to think. Maybe I just don't feed my kids properly and they have to scour the streets for left-overs!!

bonnie_2

I cooked a beef curry last night in slow cooker and put it in the microwave to cool down, just remembered it and put it in the fridge, will still be eating it though.

emmaroids

if it was chicken or pork i would say no but beef should be ok,
there was a programme on uk food a while back were this guy cooked a joint of beef for about 20+ hours on very low, it was still pink in the middle and all the `grissly` bits were loverly and tender.
so beef can be left this way.