Re-Baking?

November 21, 2007 9:11 AM

Potential food born illness in baked appetizer - what should I do?

So I'm headed to the boyfriends for thanksgiving (omg!) and offered to make a yummy appetizer. I chose this and made it a day early because I didn't want to have to use the kitchen while thanksgiving day dinner was being cooked.

Stupidly, I prepared the whole thing including the egg wash so that I could just pop it in the oven for 20 minutes when I got to the party. Yeah.
Afraid of bacteria, I decided to bake the yumminess a little bit so that the bacteria would be gone, but when I took it out of the oven it was perfectly done. It is beauiful and golden brown and perfect as it is- it does not look like it needs more cooking.

Is there anyway that I can refridgerate this and re-cook it tomorrow and still have it be awesome? How should I cook it so that its still perfect? Is there any chance for bacteria build up from the crab if i do try to reheat it?

This thing was expensive- probably like $40 and I would really like to not make it again...but I will if I have to.

posted by janelikes to food & drink (9 comments total)

was the crab canned or fresh?
posted by mr. remy at 9:15 AM on November 21, 2007

crab was canned.
posted by janelikes at 9:21 AM on November 21, 2007

I don't think you need to start over. Keep it in the refrigerator until tomorrow. Reheat at the bf's place at about 325 for 20 minutes (maybe put a bit of foil on top to stop from browning further) and serve and enjoy. The texture may not be perfect from the cook-chill-reheat cycle but it'll be fine.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 9:25 AM on November 21, 2007

ditto otherworldyglow - wrap it in foil to warm it through without continuing to brown it.
posted by handful of rain at 9:43 AM on November 21, 2007

So, the ingredients have been sealed or refrigerated except for the time it took you to combine and cook them? I wouldn't think twice about bacteria, that seems a bit paranoid frankly. Just make sure you keep it cold up until sticking it in the oven to reheat. If you're going on a long car ride it'd be a good idea to bring a cooler.

As for reheating, moistening the pastry with a tiny bit of water will help to keep it from getting overcooked. Make sure you uncover it a couple minutes before taking it out so it can crisp back up, the covering may cause it to steam a bit. I wouldn't worry about it losing much quality in reheating; that recipe looks like it's gonna be insanely delicious no matter what you do to it.
posted by contraption at 9:47 AM on November 21, 2007 [1 favorite]

It will be fine to rebake, in fact I bet it will be even more delicious. The cheese should keep it moist inside and with a foil cover it won't brown much more.

(mostly I just wanted to post to say YUM, that looks awesome)
posted by click at 10:51 AM on November 21, 2007

Thanks for all the advice!

I'm still going to make it again though because I'm OCD like that....but I'm going to donate it to my work's thanksgiving party tonight

I'll let you know the extent of its deliciousness!
posted by janelikes at 10:59 AM on November 21, 2007

So how are you going to handle the new version? Are you thinking of pre-assembling it and taking it over to the party unbaked? Bacteriologically, it sounds a bad idea for the crabmeat to be heated for 1 minute and then kept hanging around to be baked some time later. I think your first instinct, to cook the whole thing completely, was correct.

If you are going to try to separate the two stages, then think it through. If you are using tinned crabmeat, it should be starting off as sterile, which helps. I suggest cooking the rest of the filling carefully to make sure it all gets to a bacteria-killing heat, and chilling it swiftly. I can't see that it would make much difference if the crabmeat was added after this stage so that it never offers a warm home for anything nasty -- the recipe is not calling for browning the crabmeat or for a long melding of hot flavors. But if you have managed to kill the nasties anyway, that doesn't matter so much.

Do remember that a chilled version may take longer to bake than a freshly-made one.
posted by Idcoytco at 3:10 PM on November 21, 2007

Let us know how both versions turn out, if you would? The new one is a control for the made-and-reheated one, and suddenly we're doing science!
posted by eritain at 6:05 PM on November 21, 2007