Should there be any problem cooling Mysore Pak outside a refrigerator?

Question

I am interested to make Mysore Pak, the Indian sub-continent lightly-roasted Besan (Chickpea flour) based cake.

I can indeed lightly-roast one cup of Besan, add one cup of sugar directly together with one cup of water, stir all three ingredients to a fine smooth batter and and then add about one cup of coconut and/or sunflower oil and mix well a few minutes to get an extremely unified batter (with no "lumps" or "chunks").

My problem is with cooling off the batter until solidification (which is how the batter is made into a cake):
The refrigerator in the apartment I rent is a bit small for the pan in the sense that even if it is well situated it will probably touch plastic surface, walls and dishes and that I want to avoid.

rumtscho · Accepted Answer

Batters are not shelf stable. It doesn't matter if their ingredients are shelf stable by themselves or not. So you have to follow the basic food safety rules for non-shelf-stable food. In particular, you have to ensure (no matter by what means) that it doesn't spend more than 4 hours with an internal temperature between 4 and 60 degrees Celsius.

If you can prove that your cooling procedure does that, you are fine. If you don't know, then it is unsafe.

Zanna · Answer

I would say that Mysore pak is a candy, not a cake.
There is no stage in the preparation of Mysore pak that requires a refrigerator. You may prefer to store it in the refrigerator once made.
Your description of the method doesn't sound right. Although water will be used in making Mysore pak, it is only used to dissolve the sugar so that it does not burn when heated. The sugar syrup will be heated to single thread consistency (230-235 degrees Celsius) so all the water will have boiled off by that stage. When the sugar reaches single thread consistency, then you add the besan that you have previously roasted in oil, whisk the mixture to a smooth consistency, and then you add the very hot ghee or oil little by little, stirring all the time. If the sugar is not hot enough at the stage when you add the besan, the Mysore pak will not set properly.
After you finish adding the oil and combining well, you let the mixture start bubbling and then immediately pour it out onto a prepared greased plate or greaseproof paper. Of course, it will be very hot. It will have a thick consistency and it will quickly start to become hard. It is easiest to cut it into pieces while it is still warm, after 5-10 minutes. When it reaches the ambient temperature, it will be completely set and have a crunchy, chewy, crumbly fudge consistency. The cooling stage is complete.
Of course, one should not put hot food directly into the refrigerator, so following the correct procedure for making Mysore pak, which involves cooling from a very high temperature to ambient temperature, would not require a refrigerator.
After cooling and cutting, You can transfer your finished candy to a smaller container that you can conveniently put in your small fridge, which may prolong its shelf life. But Mysore pak is not sold as a chilled item and as far as I know people often keep it at ambient temperature in an airtight container.

Should there be any problem cooling Mysore Pak outside a refrigerator?

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