Faux cambro cautionary tale

[fracmeister]

Like many of us I use a cooler with towels to surround cooked meat wrapped in foil. It works like a charm. Up till a month ago I always leaned the cooler out while cleaning the rest of the cook. If not the same day, the next day. Or two.

But I left one (of many) coolers sealed up and it somehow got on the bottom of the pile. There, insulated, warm moist, organic rich remnants of St. Louis ribs and BBQ sauce and some foil with brisket juice was left to create the ideal environment for mold, insects, some sort of grey foamy stuff. Man oh man am I glad I own a power washer.

The first thought was to throw it all away and I did that with the towels. No way were those things going in the same machine that washed my clothes. But with enough soap, bleach and high pressure water it seems back to normal.

Researchers from Texas A&M are examining the creatures found there which appear to have evolved to eat such bizarre ingredients at variable heat and humidity.

SO, bro...you know you can go and clean your cambro fo sho

[_John_]

I did the same thing at Christmas, did a brisket at the inlaws and while pulling it out about a half a cup of juice leaked onto the blanket. After lunch we were driving home so I just closed it up and packed it in the Jeep. Garage started smelling like something died around New Year's Day but I couldn't pinpoint it. Did a cook and needed the cambro and about lost it when I opened the cooler. Greyish black fur had grown all over the towel. I too pressure washed the cooler, but even though I triple bagged the towel it still stunk up the garage until trash day.

[Strat50]

In the home brewing world, this is a frequent occurrence, as we use coolers for mash tuns. First, we scrub the hell out of it with soap and water, then fill with a STRONG sanitizing solution. Bleach is fine, but iodine iodophor is better. Leave it overnight full of solution, then drain, rinse, and air dry. When scrubbing, or just for general cleaning, do not use anything that will leave scratches in the cooler. These scratches are where the bacteria will take hold.

[fracmeister]

In the home brewing world, this is a frequent occurrence, as we use coolers for mash tuns. First, we scrub the hell out of it with soap and water, then fill with a STRONG sanitizing solution. Bleach is fine, but iodine iodophor is better. Leave it overnight full of solution, then drain, rinse, and air dry. When scrubbing, or just for general cleaning, do not use anything that will leave scratches in the cooler. These scratches are where the bacteria will take hold.

Wow. The amazing part is the food is never outside the foil is is always hot.... I think that may have saved us but I sill be at least bleaching them before hand now as well.

[Jerod Broussard]

I had a watermelon stay in one my coolers for over a month. During the summer. Talk about some gelatinous stuff floating in that sucker.

Not matter what I did, I couldn't get enough salt on the watermelon to make it go down..........

[Spinaker]

yeah right, you dumped it on your Hog feed pile and waited for dinner to walk up....

[Jon Solberg]

Not matter what I did, I couldn't get enough salt on the watermelon to make it go down..........

Maybe next time a little balsamic reduction????