"Frogleg" > a écrit dans le message de
...
> On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 22:18:31 GMT, Frogleg > wrote:
>
> >Would hate to live without my 'fridge (and freezer compartment).
>
> This has been an interesting discussion. I realized I keep a lot of
> things in the 'fridge that might be stored at room temperature (but
> *not* in July :-)
>
> I'm now considering the question in the light of convenience. That is,
> before domestic refrigeration/freezing, a good part of each day's
> meals would have to be cooked and eaten on that day. Nothing like
> having a turkey sandwich in January from slices frozen in November, or
> economizing on effort and expense by cooking two casserole dishes and
> freezing one. Unless the food safety folk are talking through their
> hats, last night's unrefrigerated pasta and meat sauce miay be dubious
> as this morning's breakfast, much less lunch or dinner. Even with
> canned/preserved stuff, once the container is open, many items go
> 'off' rather quickly.

Last nights unrefrigerated pasta will not be dubious this evening, and even
the meat sauce if well cooked, stored in as small a jar as possible with a
closed lid (to minimise oxydation and contamination) will hold very well
for a day or two out of the fridge, if you have a cool spot to put it in.
Evidently if you mixed the sauce in the pasta and leave everything in the
serving dish on the counter in august (or in an overheated flat) you get a
dessicated mess overnight, which won't kill you if you can chew it ;-)

Let's not forget that conditions of life were quite different then from
now, and that people knew far better what could be held, in what
conditions, and how long. And let's also not forget that these people were
raised in conditions of hygiene that were far less stringent than they are
today, and so could far better cope with the slight contamination levels
they faced and modern sanitation practices (and they are far more stringent
in the USA than in most of Europe) lowered our tolerance level to these
contaminants. (I don't say it's bad.) I just remember that in the 1970s
still some things were routinely done to food that would be absolutely out
today.

> We have whole cookbooks of 'leftover' recipes, based on the idea that
> Tuesday's roast becomes Thursday's hash, and Sunday's chicken,
> Wednesday's chicken salad.
>
> It must have been *very* hard work to shop for and prepare relatively
> 'new' meals each day.

Absolutely not, a lot of cooked meals can be kept a few days without
refrigeration if you respect these basic rules :
- If you at all can, use a preservation method, canning, laying underwater,
coating with fat, honey or salt, dessicate... etc.
- Keep different items separate
- Pack tightly in as small a jar as will fit, trying not to leave pockets
of air in the product
- Cover lightly, not airtight
- Store cool and far from drafts
- Know well the tolerance of your products, some hold overnight, some hold
a few days and some hold a few weeks.

And most cookbooks before refrigeration give the tolerance of the finished
product, stating how long the product keeps.*

Hope this helps,

--
Salutations, greetings,
Guiraud Belissen, Chteau du Ciel, Drachenwald
Chris CII, Rennes, France