Refrigerate it. The thought of leaving it out gives me the willies.

To me room temp pork for a day? Not here. And I don't know one way or another but I've never heard that pressure=sterilization. 'Twer that so, I'd think more places would pressure-sanitize things, wouldn't they?

Would it kill you? Probably not. Could it make you wish you hadn't done it? That seems more plausible to me. I'm sometimes overly cautious with pork and poultry so factor that in but I still wouldn't do it.

I certainly hoped you refrigerated it!
Give me the willies too.

I was reading about Super 8 last night and while I go to few theater movies, that's one we'll see out.

Pressure doesn't equal sterile....but pressure does equal heat which equals sterile....well given certain other parameters like how high or low the heat.
I too hope you refrigerated it.
Linda C

I'm another person who hopes you refrigerated it. Or did you leave it out all night and then have it for lunch, and that's why you haven't come back here?

John......John.......are you OK? Hmmmm. Maybe he's in the bathroom.....

Annie

LOL! Annie!!!

I'll report back tonight - or tomorrow. Call it empirical research.

Whew, I'm glad you're still talking! So what did you do? Did you consider that your PC would lose it's pressure, and therefore it's seal (I think) after just about 15-20 minutes with no heat source, and the pressure would release without any assistance?

Lee, waiting for more updates!

I woudn't leave cooked meat out for more than an hour or two. I think that even if the meat in the pressure cooker was sterile, bacterias may still start to develop a few hour later in room temperature.

Maybe, you should add wine and kill off all the bacterias during cooking. I'm wondering if your dish would still work if you have transferred to a slow cooker and let it simmered all night.

I left the pork shoulder in the sealed cooker overnight and today. Recall, last evening it was cooked at high pressure for 15 minutes.

At 2 PM I returned home, heated the cooker to high pressure, and kept it there for 2 hours. Then I released the pressure, removed the pork, ''pulled'' it to shreds with a pair of forks, and had myself a death-defying snack.

The rest of the pulled pork is in the refrigerator. I've strained off about a quart of the liquid for a future soup stock. I'm reducing down the other quart to 8 oz or so, to make a sauce, I'm trying to decide what to add to it for more tastiness.

(Naturally, should I succumb to a food-derived illness, all of the above will be tossed. ''Tossed'', get it? - ha ha ha.)

This will not help my diet, although if things go a certain way I do expect to lose some weight.

Hmmm, last year I had severe food poisoning and lost over 10 pounds which then motivated me to lose a few more, so overall, it was a great thing!

''I'm reducing down the other quart to 8 oz or so, to make a sauce, I'm trying to decide what to add to it for more tastiness.

Actually I'm serious about this. The liquid is nice but not as interesting, rich, etc as you'd get from slow cooking a big hunk of beef. I feel like it needs something. I've mashed in the carrots and veg that the pork was cooking with, and some stray bits of pork that stayed in the pot. It will all be pureed after cooking down by 3/4.

But it needs something. What?

If you, like me, have memories of being a kid in a small town in the 1970s, you should see ''Super 8''. I didn't grow up in a small town, but there were some years in the sleepy suburbs, riding our bikes to empty fields and abandoned military bases, building plastic models and lighting firecrackers and doing nothing much really. No computers, no cellphones, no adults. No exciting adventures either, but that's what makes movies.

'last year I had severe food poisoning and lost over 10 pounds''

Dang, I'd take some food poisoning to lose 10 pounds. Okay, I am getting a little obsessed.

"---But it needs something. What? ---"
MSG! :-)

Just kidding.

If you have Chinese dried mushrooms, try simmering a few in the liquid and a pinch of pepper. It really elevates the flavor to another level.

dcarch

Johnliu, it needs more wine to give that extra kick! ;o)

Did you have potatoes and tomatoes in there? I normally use potatoes to thicken the sauce naturally and tomatoes to bring out the flavors. I also add Italian seasoning mix in it. If you have some Italian seasoning, it should help to give that extra flavor.

I think it's time to start a "prayers and good thoughts" thread for John over in Conversations!

John - Just wondering, if you had the option of putting it in the fridge (as I'm sure you did knowing your fridge) what did you have to lose? Was there some benefit to leaving it out all night and day?

Oh, I was just curious.

The thought process was: hmm, canned meat will stay edible for years, maybe decades. If meat is heated enough, then sealed well enough, spoilage is prevented or at least greatly slowed. So why can't my pressure cooker accomplish a similar thing for a mere 24 hours?

BTW, two hours on, I feel fine.

I'm off to make some pulled pork soup! I think - pork stock, pulled pork, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, cilantro, a little chili sauce and red pepper, then flavor it up with the pureed reduced liquid. I have no idea what this will taste like, it is not a recipe just a refrigerator velcro project, but I'm going for sort of an albondigas taste sans the meatballs.

"-----So why can't my pressure cooker accomplish a similar thing for a mere 24 hours? ------"

Air expands inside a pressure cooker when you are cooking. As the PC is cooling down, outside air will be suck back in to replenish the air even with the cover on. Therefore, whatever is in the air will be suck in.

Having said that, for as long as I can remember, I leave out boiled food overnight once in a while. However, I cannot recommend anyone else to do the same. My body is very used to deal with food that is subjected to different conditions.

dcarch

If the air in a pressure cooker doesn't escape when heated, thereby creating pressure inside the cooker.....why will air be sucked in when the cooker cools? Is the seal only good for pressure but not for a partial vacuum???
Inquiring minds want to know.

John, I'm glad you are still among the living. However, as has been pointed out by Lee, when the pressure cooker cools, it loses its seal. It would be like storing it on the counter in a pan with a lid on it.

I still wouldn't do it, although I've been known to leave things out accidentally overnight and still consume them. I think your long boiling period (2 hours under pressure) may have helped kill off some of the "stuff" that could have been in there, I know I've been taught in canning classes that you can boil food for 10 minutes to kill the botulism spores. And I was taught in food safety class when I had the restaurant that food shouldn't be kept at room temperature for more than a couple of hours.

Your choice, and good luck on that diet either way, LOL.

Annie

Good questions.

I believe:

1. Air expands when heated before the pressure is built up, then just before the valve closes, most of the air will be displaced by steam, which constantly evaporates due to heat to overcome the pressure weight (about 15 lbs above atmosphere pressure).

2. After cooking, as the PC is cooling, steam inside the PC condenses forcing the air to be sucked in thru the saftey valve to fill the void.

dcarch

Makes sense - my initial pressure cooking kills bacteria that has contaminated the surface of the pork. As the cooker cools, room air is drawn in. Bacteria either inside the pork or in the room air has the opportunity to grow in the cooker. So the question is, what is that bacteria - maybe makes a difference if you're in a meat processing plant or a home kitchen.

Anyhow, the pulled pork soup was pretty good. Added some cubed potatoes for a bit more heft. (And I feel great.)

Not to make you sick or anything but I believe the bacteria is the breaking down of dead meat. By cooking the meat long and thoroughly, most likely, you killed them all.

Glad to know that you're alright and the soup was good. On the bad side, you didn't lose any weight :( LOL...

My mother-in-law does this constantly. Pots of meat broth and chicken curry are cooked and left out at 80 degree room temperature--for many days at a time. The food is reheated to a boil and then served with a smile. Other cooked foods like hard-boiled eggs or hamburgers are also left unrefrigerated, and consumed days later. Like dcarch, I believe their GI tracts are apparently accustomed to handling whatever bacterial load might be in these meals.

Unfortunately, this practice does cause some problems when we visit the in-laws, as I have become paranoid about food that is served. Food poisoning can be extremely dangerous, much beyond GI symptoms. It is a difficult balancing act to maintain courtesy and respect for one's elders while protecting young children from 4-day old soup with heat-stable toxins.

My brother's in-laws were something like tress21's. He used to tell his sons "don't eat anything that Grandma & Granddad offers you. Mom can eat it because she grew up with it & has developed a tolerance". Luckily, they always visited my brother so the kids had their own fridge & food and weren't dependent on the in-law stuff.