Expert: Carol Schlitt - 2/8/2007

Question
We have an All-Clad stock pot.  On several occasions we have had soup spoil within a couple of days when it is stored in the frig in the stock pot.  We let the soup cool before placing it in the refrigerator.  We have had different bases (cream of broccoli, vegetable, tomato).  It smells okay upon removal from the frig but as it is heated it begins to smell, for lack of a better comparison,like vomit.  It eventually gets so bad that the whole kitchen stinks if we aren't quick enough to remove it from the stove.  Once, after removing potato soup from the stock pot after spoilage, we noticed a large growth like coral on the bottom.  
    We have a large family and are used to cooking large amounts and saving the leftovers.  Should we make it a habit of removing the soup from the pot.  We don't have this problem with our Farberware pots.
Thank you,
David

Answer
Hi David,

From the way you describe this I take it you are preparing the soup in the big pot then refrigerating it in the same big pot after cooling at room temperature. Correct?

First -- it is not recommended to store large quantities of soup in the refrigerator in the pot in which it was prepared.  You should make the soup and then portion the soup into smaller, shallow containers (less than 4 inches tall) to encourage the quick cooling for the soup in the refrigerator.  Placing a large pot in the refrigerator does not allow the internal temperature of this soup to cool down rapidly which in turn can encourage the growth of harmful bacteria and food spoilage organisms. Your All-Clad stock pot must hold on to the heat longer than your Farberware pots -- thus the increase in spoilage in the former.

So yes -- you should make it a habit of removing the soup from the pot and placing in food safe containers. If you are going to reheat the food in the microwave, I suggest you invest in containers specifically designed to go from refrigerator/freezer to the microwave.  Using other plastic containers (cottage cheese, whipped topping, etc) is not recommended for microwave reheating nor were they designed to handle hot food -- they were designed to handle cold foods.

As far as the coral growth on the bottom of your pan -- that's a complete mystery. I'm going to do further research to see what that could possibly be so check back in a few weeks to see if I've sent a follow-up to this question.

I hope this has somewhat answered your question.  If I can be of further assistance, please let me know.

Carol