What foods should not be reheated?
You should never reheat eggs, as they become a dangerous source of bacteria. It is best to avoid reheating the fish. Seafood is quite difficult to cook even just once, and heating it can lead to digestive problems.
If you cook rice and have leftovers, you should store it in the refrigerator to prevent it from becoming a source of bacteria.
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We've Always Done It Wrong: 14 Mistakes When Reheating Food
photo: GettyImages Rare housewives prepare a dish for one meal. If you’re going to cook borscht for almost a week, why stand at the stove one more time? There's nothing wrong with cooking in reserve. However, ready-made meals must be reheated correctly. Otherwise it can cause serious harm. Here are the common mistakes we make when reheating food.
Let the finished dish cool for a long time
After preparing the dish, cover it and leave it to cool for a maximum of two hours. Then put the food in the refrigerator, otherwise bacteria will begin to multiply in it. Have you cooked a huge pot of soup or pilaf? You can divide the dish into containers to help the food cool faster.
Not heating enough
Some people don’t like to wait for the heated food to cool down, so the dish is heated just a little. And this is a big mistake. Experts recommend heating food to a temperature of 73 °C, at which bacteria have no chance. The ideal way to use a food thermometer is to insert it into the thickest part of the food to see if it is done.
The food should be piping hot. Heat food until it starts to steam and serve the heated food immediately. And a dish forgotten for half an hour or an hour can cause poisoning.
Warm up several times
Reheat leftover food once. When reheating, there is a higher risk of poisoning. In addition, the nutritional value of the dish decreases, and the taste is no longer very good. Therefore, try to heat only the amount of food that you can eat.
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We heat all food in one way
Many people, having a microwave at home, heat everything in it. Yes, indeed, stewed meat and other dishes with sauce in the microwave will heat up quickly and will not lose their taste. How to heat food without a microwave? Heat liquid foods on the stove, and heat crispy foods such as fried chicken or crispy potatoes in the oven. This way, dishes will retain their texture better than in the microwave. The main thing is to preheat the oven to a temperature of about 170°C.
Place the dish in a cold oven
Preheat oven completely before preheating. If you put food from the refrigerator into the oven at room temperature, the food will heat up slowly and bacteria will begin to multiply.
Defrost at room temperature
Leave food from the freezer overnight in the main compartment of the refrigerator. Never defrost food at room temperature - bacteria begin to multiply when the temperature rises above 8°C. If time is short, use the defrost function in the microwave. Please note that some foods, such as a whole turkey, can take up to four days to thaw in the refrigerator.
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Heat up large pieces
Cut food into small, uniform-sized pieces to help it heat faster and more evenly. Larger pieces will take longer to reach the optimal temperature.
Heat the meat and side dish together
Microwave foods of the same density. Large pieces of meat take longer to cook than small green vegetables. To prevent the greens from being overcooked and losing their beneficial properties, reheat your lunch in stages: start with meat, and after a while add vegetables.
Arrange the dish unevenly
Before putting food in the microwave, place it evenly on the plate so that the thickness of the dish is the same across the entire surface. This way the temperature of the finished dinner will be uniform.
Reheat without water
To prevent the dish from drying out, add broth or just a little water. Or you can try the ice cube trick. Throw the cube into the rice before heating it in the microwave. This simple trick will help keep the grains moist when cooking again.
We don’t look at manufacturers’ recommendations
On the packaging of some products, manufacturers write that the dish cannot be reheated. Don't ignore this recommendation.
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We do not use film for heating
In the microwave, a dish covered with cling film will be more juicy after heating. Just read the film instructions carefully; some wrapping materials may melt, ruining the entire dish. In addition, even cling film should not come into contact with food.
We do not use oven foil
Never put food wrapped in foil in the microwave. But when used in the oven it is very useful. Heated food in foil will remain just as juicy. To prevent the crispy crust from softening, cover the dish with foil not too tightly - this will allow the steam to escape and not settle on the surface of the dish.
We forget that we can make something new from leftovers.
Boiled potatoes can be fried, and chicken can be made into risotto or curry. Yesterday's rice will be very tasty if you fry it with an egg and vegetables. Well, add shrimp to the rice, and your gourmet dinner is ready.
Now we’ll tell you in more detail how to reheat specific dishes.
Paste. Heat the pasta and sauce in the microwave. Place the pasta evenly on a plate, cover with cling film, and turn on the microwave at 50% power. Cook for 3-4 minutes depending on serving size. If there is a lot of sauce in the pasta, it is better to reheat it on the stove.
Pizza. How to reheat pizza so that it tastes as good as fresh? A dry frying pan is suitable for this, preferably a cast iron one. Just heat up the pan and put the pizza in it. The hot pan will heat the crust all the way through, keeping it crispy. Heat until the tomato sauce is piping hot and the cheese begins to melt.
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Lasagna. It is best to reheat the dish in the oven at 160°C, covering loosely with foil. Just before it's ready, remove the foil completely to ensure a crispy crust. A quicker way: heat the lasagna in the microwave, covering the dish with cling film.
Fish. When reheating, it is easy to overcook the fish. A thin piece of breaded fish will reheat well on the grill at 63°C. White fish is best heated in the sauce on the stove to keep it juicy, or wrapped in foil and placed in the oven.
Fried vegetables
By far, the best equipment for reheating roasted vegetables is the top broiler or grill in your oven. This way, the vegetables retain their delicious flavor and texture.
Dutch oven or grill
- Turn the top broiler or grill to medium heat for a few minutes to preheat.
- Place the remaining vegetables on a baking sheet. There's no need for oil.
- Place the pan under the grill for 1-3 minutes, then flip the vegetables and repeat for another 1-3 minutes.
SUMMARY: To keep leftover roasted vegetables crispy and delicious, reheat them under the grill. Turn them over halfway through to ensure even cooking.
Chicken and Red Meat
Reheating chicken and some red meats can often result in dry, tough food. In general, it is best to reheat meat using the same method in which it was cooked.
You can still safely reheat chicken and other red meats without drying out the food.
Option 1: Oven
This method takes the most time, but is the best option for juicy leftover meat.
- Set oven to 250°F (120°C).
- Add the meat to the pan and then add a little butter or oil. Cover with aluminum foil to keep it from drying out.
- This method usually takes at least 10–15 minutes. However, the duration depends on the type and quantity of meat.
- Be sure to check that the meat is fully heated before serving.
Option 2: Microwave
Reheating meat in the microwave is by far the fastest option. However, heating anything for more than a couple of minutes will usually result in dry food.
- Place the meat in the microwave.
- Add a small amount of water, sauce or oil to the meat and cover with a microwave-safe lid.
- Microwave on medium heat for as long as necessary to cook food evenly and thoroughly.
Option 3: Panning
Although a less popular option, chicken and other meats can be reheated on the stovetop. You must keep the temperature high to avoid overcooking. If you don't have a microwave or are short on time, this is a good method.
- Add some oil or oil to the pan.
- Place the meat in the pan, cover and heat over medium.
- Turn the meat halfway through so it cooks evenly.
This method usually takes about 5 minutes, but depends on the type and quantity of meat.
SUMMARY: Chicken and some red meats are best reheated on the same equipment they were cooked on. While the oven holds the most moisture, the microwave is the fastest. A frying pan is also a relatively quick option.
Oven heating mode
- Oven with warming function
- Oven with quick heating function
The first oven with a full-fledged mode for heating dishes was released by Samsung. Before this, this mode had no name, but was often used by users.
While heating the dishes, the oven essentially performs its main function - heating the food to the desired temperature. It’s just that now manufacturers have singled out such a function separately, and present it as something new, but in reality they just called it differently. Most often, the function of heating dishes is allocated to a separate button. I won’t lie, there are still new thoughts and solutions in heating dishes. For example, when this function is turned on, the oven not only warms up, but also a mechanism is turned on that “drives” air inside the oven for heating efficiency. Most often, the temperature for heating, that is, a priori, when such a function is turned on, the temperature inside the oven will be a certain degree; usually this temperature is set at 60 degrees Celsius (in some ovens this temperature can be changed).
But let’s still figure out what the function of heating dishes is used for, and whether you really need it. Drawing a conclusion from the name of the function, we can conclude that it is intended for heating dishes, but why do we need hot dishes, you say? And I completely agree with you, not a single friend of mine who has an oven with such a function is intended for its intended purpose. Everyone heats regular food in this mode, but no matter how stupid it may sound, in the dish heating mode we heat the food, not the dishes. Perhaps the engineers who invented and implemented such a function and positioned it as a way to heat dishes, but our people came up with another use for it. And I am inclined to agree with all my friends, because this function was invented specifically for warming up food. Judge for yourself, if you heat food in a microwave oven, then we are faced with portion limitations, the number of plates, and so on. But the most important advantage of heating food in the oven is, of course, the taste of the dish. No microwave oven can reproduce the initial aroma of a dish, and there you can improve it even more.
To summarize, I want to say that the function of heating dishes is not yet so strong, it is in demand in our country, but it is positioned as something new and innovative, but so far people are not ready to buy ovens of certain models only if they have this function. And such people can be understood, because heating food in the oven is much more time-consuming.
Dependent oven
Oven
Food should be heated until it reaches a temperature of 70 degrees Celsius or higher. Heating can only be carried out for two minutes. You need to preheat the oven and only then start heating.
The chicken should be blotted to remove excess moisture from its surface, and then grease the skin with vegetable oil to obtain a crispy crust. It is necessary to heat the oven until it reaches the desired temperature, then place the bird and preheat.
