Ayer cooking kielbasa and sauerkraut in a 300 degree oven for one hour, can I eat it after it was sitting on kitchen counter for five hours

Question

After cooking kielbasa and sauerkraut an hour in a 300 degree oven, I left it sitting on the kitchen counter for five hours. Is it safe to eat?

There isn’t any specific point at which it spoils. That is; it doesn’t go from fresh one minute to spoiled the next, like fresh at 11:59 to spoiled at 12:00. It starts spoiling as soon as it’s prepared. The better way to look at it is how fresh do you want it to be? And how much will it be cooked? If it’s beef and might be eaten rare or medium rare, I wouldn’t want it to sit for more than an hour. If it’s going to be fully cooked I could allow a little more leeway. — Runley, Mar 08 '20 at 21:26

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 07 '20 at 12:56

Let's give it the benefit of the doubt & give it an hour to fall into the danger zone. What are you left with?

Kielbasa - Pre-cooked, smoked sausage, in itself will stay good for weeks.

Sauerkraut - if it's fresh not pasteurised, again it will stay good for weeks.

So, we've disturbed both by cutting, spooning, stirring & then heating. You wouldn't expect them to now be good for weeks, not even days - but 4 hours?

I'd go right out on a limb & say, whatever the 'golden rules' say, if the lid was on & the room wasn't at 25°C or warmer, it will be absolutely fine.

^{I'll brace myself for the downvotes ;)}

Ayer cooking kielbasa and sauerkraut in a 300 degree oven for one hour, can I eat it after it was sitting on kitchen counter for five hours

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