Help Needed: What is the proper way to cool & store gumbo after cooking?

I always let it get down to near room temperature before refrigeration or freezing.

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The general rule: Foods that need time and temperature control for safety (TCS food, for short) must be cooled from 135°F (57°C) to 41°F (5°C) or lower within six hours.

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Food Service Industry Standards LINK

I use my probe and instant read thermometer to monitor the gumbo as it cools just sitting in the pot. When it drops to 145, I do number 2 and 4 in this graphic together. I've done 1 and 2 by using gallon ziplocs in an ice bath in the sink and it works really well, but I once had a bag open on me in the ice bath and lost a good bit of the gumbo I just spent hours making.



Pot goes in sink. Ice goes between pot and sink. Salt goes on ice, then water just to make the ice float. Cooling paddle goes in gumbo to stir periodically. By the way, that's not just a paddle. It's filled with water and then you stick it in your freezer until you need it, so you can cool from inside and outside the pot. It's a way of increasing surface area that cool stuff can contact the food, which is what number 1 really is all about. When the gumbo gets down to 50 or so, it gets broken down into gallon ziploc bags to increase the surface area so the refrigerator can do its thing on the gumbo. Just jamming a large pot of gumbo in the fridge is asking for trouble.

I'm able to get gumbo from simmering on the stovetop to safely ready for the fridge in about 2-3 hours.