re: Need Gumbo Advice

Think surface area exposed to cooling medium. Water cools faster than air. Metal conducts while plastic insulates. In the world of HAACP CYA production/chilling logs in big corporate kitchens, ice baths & wide/shallow containers as previously described are regularly used, as well as chilling wands.

Since chilling wands haven't been described here yet...you could buy some, make some, or fake some.

They are containers filled with water and capped/sealed shut, which are then frozen for the purpose of chilling hot liquids from inside the vessel in which they're being cooled.

Water bottles might work if you're OK with freezing that plastic and touching it to food you want to eat. Otherwise, lexan, BPA free plastic, or other NSF plastic. In a pinch, you could fill zip bags with ice cubes and use them the same way.

It's smartest to bring your gumbo to a boil for a couple minutes to be safe. Oh, and if you see bubbles on the surface before rethermalizing, ditch it.

Chilling wand...

Years ago, I perfected certain bases to concentrated levels such that directly adding ice completed the recipe and aided in acceleration through the lag/log phases.

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As long as it's reheated to the proper temp this danger is eliminated.

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This just isn't true. Some foodborne illness is caused by bacteria that sickens you directly by causing an infection. Others are caused by parasites in the food. Yet others are caused because some bacteria excrete toxins directly into the food before you eat it, which then poisons you.

Cooking the food in the first place should eliminate parasites as a risk by killing them and their eggs, so that vector is eliminated long before reheating time. Now, while it's true that reheating food to a safe temperature and holding it for several minutes will kill or force into a dormant state any bacteria that can directly sicken you that might be lurking in the food, it does not absolutely protect you against toxins that bacteria could have ALREADY released into the food while it stayed in the danger zone.

Some of the toxins that pathogenic bacteria can produce are heat stable and cannot be broken down at temperatures you typically see during a reheat. This is why surgical instruments are autoclaved and not simply boiled; 212 degrees isn't hot enough to sterilize everything and ensure that any toxins or such that might be on the tools get broken down. If the type of bacteria that poisons food got in that food and released toxins and then you later reheat it and eat it thinking you're fine because you brought the food back to a boil, you might be in for a bad few days.