No soup for you (?)

April 25, 2007 10:16 AM

On behalf of my girlfriend, who wanted the soup from my Chinese delivery lunch special but now is too full to eat it: Can you reheat egg drop soup?

Any safety considerations? "Died of salmonella from bad egg drop soup" would be a lame obituary.

posted by CRM114 to food & drink (14 comments total)

The egg is cooked when it's dropped into boiling soup. There shouldn't be a problem.
posted by Comrade_robot at 10:23 AM on April 25, 2007

How old is it, and where has it been? Left at room temperature, I'd have no problem eating it three or four hours later. In the refrigerator, three or four days.

(NB: I once made and ate a sandwich with pickle relish that had been sitting in the back of the fridge for ten years, and I suffered no ill effects. YMMV.)
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:25 AM on April 25, 2007

How old is it, and where has it been?

It just arrived about 20m ago, and it's sitting on her desk. The game plan was to stick it in the fridge and reheat it tomorrow or the day after.

Thanks for the thoughts on the safety angle. I know that there's tricks to reheating day-old rice, for example, like sticking an ice cube in the middle of the rice before nuking it. I was wondering if there was a similar deal with egg drop soup.
posted by CRM114 at 10:34 AM on April 25, 2007

Yes. I've done this successfully many, many times.

Obviously refrigerate asap and heat well when reheating. Also, she may want to transfer to a microwave safe container, I've had those plastic take-out ones melt on me.
posted by sarahmelah at 10:37 AM on April 25, 2007

(Also, if your Chinese takeout carton has a metal handle, you won't want to microwave that.)
posted by danb at 11:08 AM on April 25, 2007

The egg bits will get less feathery and more rubbery. Nuke it gently to minimize this.
posted by desuetude at 11:16 AM on April 25, 2007

Can you reheat egg drop soup?

I'll bet the restaurant did.
posted by Deathalicious at 12:23 PM on April 25, 2007

Rice just gets dehydrated in the fridge. Putting a little water in it before microwaving it will liven it right up -- I've never heard of the ice cube, but I imagine it works on a similar principle. Of course, you never want to eat rice that's been left at room temperature because of the high risk of botulism.
posted by Comrade_robot at 12:35 PM on April 25, 2007

Of course, you never want to eat rice that's been left at room temperature because of the high risk of botulism.


rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...........*HEAD ASPLODE*
posted by rxrfrx at 2:39 PM on April 25, 2007

Of course, you never want to eat rice that's been left at room temperature because of the high risk of botulism.


Clostridium botulinum prefers anaerobic environments. Rice left at room temperature can grow nasties, but I'm not sure that it's a particular botulism risk. Stinky fish heads, yes, rice, not so much.
posted by averyoldworld at 3:28 PM on April 25, 2007

C. botulinum doesn't just prefer anaerobic environments, it requires them to grow. As an obligate anaerobe, it won't grow in the presence of a normal atmosphere e.g. on a plate of rice.
posted by rxrfrx at 4:56 PM on April 25, 2007

I'm an addict to egg drop soup and I've had no problems reheating it after 4 or 5 days in the fridge. Just add water before hand, it will get thicker otherwise.
posted by rubberkey at 7:22 PM on April 25, 2007

Improperly refrigerated rice grows Bacillus cereus, a pathogenic gram-positive rod; not so much botulism.

I support your egg drop soup plan and I would like to subscribe to your zine.
posted by ikkyu2 at 7:33 PM on April 25, 2007

Yes, absolutely fine after a couple of hours at room temp. Just don't nuke it in a plastic, or even worse, styrofoam bowl. That's nasty.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:12 PM on April 25, 2007