I've been far too busy this week to post Part 2 of my Vietnam trip update.

But I've got another subject on my mind that I'd like to post about quickly.

Ben posted a while ago looking for an answer to the question about why you shouldn't put hot foods straight
into the fridge. Commentors then responded with different arguments about why food should be cooled first before going in.

But since then, it's kind of piqued my interest. Finally, I chatted with my friend Google and found that you should put food in the fridge before letting it cool off (at least from a bacterial standpoint).

Ask Mr. Electricity says:

Don't put hot foods in the fridge? Food safety experts say you should refrigerate hot food to prevent contamination. But that doesn't mean you have to refrigerate them immediately. The USDA says to refrigerate within two hours of preparation (or one hour if the room temp is above 90°). One to two hours of cooling off time will definitely make your refrigerator work less. It's a tradeoff -- the sooner you refrigerate the safer the food, but the more energy you use. Of course, meat and dairy foods are most susceptible to contamination, which is yet another reason to not eat meat and dairy in the first place. Vegan foods are much safer.

Pat Kendall, Ph.D., R.D., Food Science and Human Nutrition Specialist, Colorado State University, says:

Remember 140 to 40 in 2 hours. Refrigerate hot foods as soon as possible after cooking and serving. Ideally food should go from hot serving temperature (140 F) to cold refrigerator temperature (40 F) in two hours. If cooked, perishable foods have been at room temperature for more than two hours, the safest practice is to throw them out.

Kyla Boyse, R.N. from the University of Michigan echoes:

Refrigerate hot foods as soon as possible within two hours after cooking.

Finally, Erica Marcus says:

The goal when dealing with hot food is to cool it down as soon as possible, and Boor advised a strategy of divide and conquer. "If you just put the pot in the refrigerator," she said, "it can be hours before it drops out of the danger zone." Instead, she advised dividing the contents of [a soup] pot into two ('if not three or four') individual containers and refrigerating them.

So there you have it. I can refrigerate my food as soon as I want without letting it cool down first. Glad to know it. And now you know it too.