What temperature to keep a curry/food warm in the oven?

buildersdaughter

It's 63 degrees - the temperature you set the oven at is not necessarily the temperature of the inside of the oven.
The mechanism of a fan assisted oven mean that you can set the thermostat lower, as the oven has fewer 'hot and cold spots' than with conventional heating, and if you open the door it loses less heat. You can get thermometers to put in the oven to show you the actual temperature. For this purpose I'd set at 65-70, but the food will dry out quickly.

Food safety: on the whole I agree with those who say don't attempt to keep a takeaway hot for more than a few minutes - think 30 minutes maximum from cooking.
Fresh home-cooked food is a little different - you have control of it, and assuming it's a dish that has been well cooked through, and isn't something like shellfish, I think you can risk an hour.

PS: nice to be back, following computer problems!

s_glover

blackstar wrote: »

thanks, is that fan assisted or not?

This is the temperature of the food not the oven.

blackstar

63 degrees centigrade in the oven, if fan assisted you would drop 20 degrees so 43 with the fan, I think, I maybe wrong

Owain_Moneysaver

blackstar wrote: »

63 degrees centigrade in the oven, if fan assisted you would drop 20 degrees so 43 with the fan, I think, I maybe wrong

I think you are wrong. :rotfl: The food can't be hotter than the oven.

blackstar

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

I think you are wrong. :rotfl: The food can't be hotter than the oven.

Thanks but if it dropped 20C to 43C then the food for sure would not be hotter than the oven.

melanzana

Oh honestly, just keep well covered and out of the plastic boxes (if takeaway) and keep in a warm oven say 80 to 100d Celsius. That's a fan oven. Warm the oven up high beforehand then lower it down. I have done this often and no one has suffered. I add a splash of water to the sauces surrounding the dish where applicable to avoid dry out.

Rice is a different matter. I would just use a few of those microwave pouches myself and forget about the rice accompaniment from the provider just to feel safe about it. Job done.

Will be fine.

suki1964

blackstar wrote: »

Thanks but if it dropped 20C to 43C then the food for sure would not be hotter than the oven.

Are you being really dense?

You have to heat the food so the internal temperature rises to 73oC

Now the faster you can do that, the less chance you have of bacteria multiplying and giving you gut rot

What everyone here is saying, is, if its takeaway, you have no idea of the kitchen conditions and storage of the product, so "keeping warm for 3 hours" is asking for trouble

Get the take out, get it as cold as possible as quickly as possible then store in the fridge

When you want to serve it the safest way is to microwave it - stirring a few times during heating - and make sure its bloody hot all the way through


With rice, its a different matter. Rice has a bacteria which isn't killed through heating. What Im worrying about is that rice could have been cooked 24hrs before you order, reheated, then you take it home and keep it warm or cool and reheat. That is seriously asking for trouble, which is why I, and others have advised not to

Now you can go ahead and keep your meal warm in a moderate oven for the time you specify, thats your choice, but no one is going to advise it