Food Safety

I was making mulligatawny soup last night. It was that brothy bit of soup that happens before you blend it and add cream. I also had dinner reservations and a concert at the Lied Center. 

This soup wasn't due until the next day's potluck. So, I was standing at the stove, stirring the pot, and mentally surveying the dresses in my closet, selecting which one I'd wear this evening.

I got to that point in cooking where the potatoes were done and I had to push the pause button, and I wondered what to do with the stockpot? I supposed I could just leave it on the stove. In order to justify the stove top storage option I readily conjured a mental image of kitchens across the globe. Cooking that occurs outside of a world of refrigeration. It was an Indian soup. It had to be somewhat robust and unlikely to go off. It probably wouldn't hurt anything to put the lid on the pot, turn off the heat, and resume the mulligatawny when I got home. 

Then I considered my justification. There are certain lead-ins that I've grown sensitive to. For example, when I justify my parenting with a statement like, "Well, back in an agrarian culture, this would be no big deal...she'd be slopping pigs by the time she was three."  I have to examine that lead-in pretty closely. Looking to a pre-industrial age for parenting tips and tricks probably isn't my best instinct. Similarly, conjuring a third world kitchen that doesn't sport a refrigerator to serve as my food safety guidepost probably wasn't my best option.


I turned off the stove to let the pot cool while I was upstairs getting dressed. I plopped the soup in the refrigerator before heading out the door.