Opinions > When to refrigerate Hot Food and warm up ?

[Basscaster]

I am going to seek advice on many topics in the next year to be a Better Griller. I just cooked up 16 Perdue drumsticks. I have them in a Large Plastic bowl. Does it matter if I refrigerate them hot, warm or should I wait till they get room temp before I throw them in the Frig. I will have some plastic over the bowl of drumsticks ? How about extra Skirt steak ? extra burgers ? I there any tricks to warming them up in Microwave or should I warm them up using a different method ? Thanks.

[DanR]

I do a TON of food prep as I train and eat a lot of food and part of that is a massive amount of grilled chicken and I put it in the fridge/freezer almost immediately. If I let it go to room temp and then store it in the freezer, they reheat hard as rocks, whereas if I freeze them immediately, they're a lot more tender so I would think the same applies to putting them in the fridge. Same deal with burgers. I steer away from steak, it's just so difficult to get it to stay tender to reheat it. If I grill beef, it's to eat immediately. So for food prep with beef, I will make stews and roasts etc that have a liquid component.

When I microwave chicken, just make 100% sure you don't overheat it... the second you do that is when you start recooking it and it gets way too touch. I usually heat it all up, then slice up the piece if it's thick and spread the cooler pieces or sides to the outside of the dish I am using to heat it up and keep the center for stuff already hot.

Hope that helps :)

[Basscaster]

Thanks BIG Time.. I just have never been sure of when to refrigerate cooked food. I thought I would ask and get a educated response(s). I am giving my grilling and cooking more attention on pre/cook/post preparation of the meat. The right advice will make me enjoy cooking and give me better results without guessing.. Feel free to share what you do when saving and reheating your extra grilled meat.

[rds_nc]

We've really been impressed with reheating food in the air fryer, especially grilled foods. Normally we put it in the fridge warm but that's only cuz we are either eating what's cooked or doing meal prep and that's just how it works out. Not a specific reason.