eli5: Why you can safely cook meat in a slow cooker (approx 8 hours on low), if after 2 hours on the counter it needs to be tossed?

Question

Surely it’s in the “danger zone” for a long time before being fully cooked, right? Could you leave out meat for 4 hours THEN toss it in a slow cooker?

In: 0

Answer 1

If the meat is frozen, there would be no problem letting it defrost before cooking it. If the meat is warm, I’d go the sniff and sight test. If it smells ok and hasn’t really changed colour, cook it up. If you are wrong, you will know in a few hours.