Sous Vide Times???

[GatorAGR]

Wanting to get into Sous Vide cooking of sausages, chicken, and others, but how in the heck do I know how long it takes to cook something? The ranges I've seen for foods are extremely wide...2-4 hours, 3-6 hours...If I want a sausage to get to 152 IT and it comes out of the smoker at 125, how long do I need to have it in the water bath? Since I can't leave a probe in it while in the Sous Vide, how do I know that it's done? Am I over thinking this or is it really this confusing?

 

[SmokinEdge]

Wanting to get into Sous Vide cooking of sausages, chicken, and others, but how in the heck do I know how long it takes to cook something? The ranges I've seen for foods are extremely wide...2-4 hours, 3-6 hours...If I want a sausage to get to 152 IT and it comes out of the smoker at 125, how long do I need to have it in the water bath? Since I can't leave a probe in it while in the Sous Vide, how do I know that it's done? Am I over thinking this or is it really this confusing?

SV can pasteurize or it can just hit IT, sometimes the two methods get blended. Obviously pasteurization at lower temps takes longer. The Baldwin charts are the gold standard for SV. Search Baldwin Sous Vide charts.

As to sausage, mine come out of the smokehouse around 120-125 and we go into water bath about 30 minutes to reach 151-152. This in 30mm ish casings. SV is actually much faster than hot air, by a lot.

 

[GatorAGR]

SV can pasteurize or it can just hit IT, sometimes the two methods get blended. Obviously pasteurization at lower temps takes longer. The Baldwin charts are the gold standard for SV. Search Baldwin Sous Vide charts.

As to sausage, mine come out of the smokehouse around 120-125 and we go into water bath about 30 minutes to reach 151-152. This in 30mm ish casings. SV is actually much faster than hot air, by a lot.

Thanks! And then will it stay at 151-152 forever if you leave it in longer, but lose texture?

 

[SmokinEdge]

Thanks! And then will it stay at 151-152 forever if you leave it in longer, but lose texture?

Correct. No over shoot on IT with SV. It never gets higher than set temp. That’s why it cooks a perfect edge to edge steak for example. It Will absolutely elevate your cooking game SV will.

 

[Brokenhandle]

A Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking

Give that a look. The table you're looking for is in section 5.

Ryan

 

[GatorAGR]

A Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking

Give that a look. The table you're looking for is in section 5.

Ryan

Thanks! Been digesting tables 2.2 and 2.3 for about an hour now . Still so much vagueness for me, but I'll have to get over that. To make sure I'm understanding the tables though...A 30 mm sausage (cylindrical?) thawed takes 50 min to get within a degree of my desired temp and a frozen sausage of the same size would take 75 min? Is my understanding correct?

 

[dr k]

Thanks! Been digesting tables 2.2 and 2.3 for about an hour now . Still so much vagueness for me, but I'll have to get over that. To make sure I'm understanding the tables though...A 30 mm sausage (cylindrical?) thawed takes 50 min to get within a degree of my desired temp and a frozen sausage of the same size would take 75 min? Is my understanding correct?

That would be with the heating chart. I go by the pasteurization chart that is just a little longer in duration without texture issues. If I SV it'll be pasteurized, not just heated to the doneness.

 

[GatorAGR]

That would be with the heating chart. I go by the pasteurization chart that is just a little longer in duration without texture issues. If I SV it'll be pasteurized, not just heated to the doneness.

What do you mean "without texture issues"? A little "less" done, but still safe? So more moist?

 

[GatorAGR]

Also for the pasteurization table, there is no "shape" reference so a 30 mm sausage is treated the same as a 30 mm thick steak? Once my 30 mm sausage is at 136.5F, I can hold it at or above for 2 hr and it's good?

 

[dr k]

What do you mean "without texture issues"? A little "less" done, but still safe? So more moist?

Some SV steaks and report that too long can make the result mushy. I haven't been to that duration of mushiness when I pasteurize. May be table 5.1 in the Baldwin online book. The heating chart is shape and temp and duration. The pasteurization chart is thickness in mm, temp of water bath and then gives the duration. Pasteurization is always a duration to hold at that temp with the standard chart not just SV. So 130 for 113 min to 158 zero sec for beef, lamb and pork but that's with air cooking and the math has been done for us with the SV charts. Also, this standard air cooking FDA/USDA is in this free book. So cooking a burger to 160 is 2 degrees too high what is said ny the FDA vs their chart that ends at 158, but easier to remember, but it has been pasteurized at 150 for 67 sec hold. 99%+ people don't know about the 2009 current 6.5 log reduction for Salmonella the FDA has for beef, lamb and pork and the 2005 USDA FSIS 7 log reduction for salmonella for poultry.

 

[rbnice1]

I regularly do my thick steaks for 129.5 for 6 or 7 hours and never have seen any issues with texture. Mostly my chicken is boneless prespiced, vac sealed, then in the deep freeze. Those usually go in frozen for 4-5 hours at 153F.

 

[indaswamp]

The principle with sous vide cooking is that you are basically holding the meat at the internal temp. you want to serve it at. Being as such, it takes time for the internal temperature to rise to meet the sous vide water bath temp.; and the thicker the piece, the longer it takes. This is what the charts are for. Also, the longer INT is held at that temp, the larger number of bacteria that are killed. This is a logarithmic scale.... and then there is tenderness. All of these factors come into play with the recommended times from those charts from Baldwin.....

 

[indaswamp]

^^^^^This is different than finishing sausage in a water bath at 152*F. At 152*F, the lethal time is less than 5 minutes once INT is reached.

 

[Cattoon]

My wife got me an inexpensive circulator several years ago for Christmas, it included a booklet of recipes which let me get my feet wet without too much worry. I don’t take the time to use it as much as I would like but for boneless skinless chicken breast it is amazing. Shrimp are another thing that works well. I’ve done chuck roasts and steaks and then seared on the grill. Acquire a circulator and google up some recipes, no better way to learn than by doing. Mistakes potentially happen and results don’t always turn out like I expect but nothing has been inedible and thus far I haven’t poisoned anyone. Good luck

 

[dr k]

The principle with sous vide cooking is that you are basically holding the meat at the internal temp. you want to serve it at. Being as such, it takes time for the internal temperature to rise to meet the sous vide water bath temp.; and the thicker the piece, the longer it takes. This is what the charts are for. Also, the longer INT is held at that temp, the larger number of bacteria that are killed. This is a logarithmic scale.... and then there is tenderness. All of these factors come into play with the recommended times from those charts from Baldwin.....

Nice to have Baldwin's free online book that says pasteurization table for beef, lamb and pork or the Poultry pasteurization table or fish that has folks measure meat in mm, then select the water temp to then get the pasteurization duration for whole muscle. I don't make sausage which would appear faster but have pasteurized a few dozen eggs in a ziplock bag filled with 135* bath temp for 75 minutes in Baldwin's book. I haven't noticed a texture change with the pasteurization table vs the heating table with whole muscle meat. If the books that come with the circulator etc doesn't have you measure meat in mm, or say Pasteurization table, then it's just heating like grilling to the inside doneness you like. 99%+ people don't know the current 2009 FDA beef, lamb and pork table and the 2005 USDA FSIS poultry table for air roasting/smoking until you get into SV let alone the water bath tables. Might as well when SV to pasteurize beef, lamb and pork 130* minimum vs 127,128, 129* and throw the bag from SV into an ice water bowl in the fridge and have 28 days to finish for service being pasteurized vs just heating if something comes up and you can't finish that day. I SV steaks in the beginning with the new toy but grill them anymore. Specialty pasteurized chxn, SV would be fine for me. Like chxn noodle soup stock, seasoning and veggies simmering and done cooking and adding 147* pasteurized SV chxn breast cut up with juices added to the pot when it cools down to 147* to not over cook chxn. Or add low temp SV meat to individual soup/sauce servings after refrigeration when heated to the meat SV temp. That would be the most tender chxn noodle soup. 48hr/131* SV chuck roast for poor man's prime rib in Baldwin's online book is my favorite for tough cuts. Raw chops and steaks go straight to the grill for me.

 

[banderson7474]

Wanting to get into Sous Vide cooking of sausages, chicken, and others, but how in the heck do I know how long it takes to cook something? The ranges I've seen for foods are extremely wide...2-4 hours, 3-6 hours...If I want a sausage to get to 152 IT and it comes out of the smoker at 125, how long do I need to have it in the water bath? Since I can't leave a probe in it while in the Sous Vide, how do I know that it's done? Am I over thinking this or is it really this confusing?

I think you are misunderstanding how SV works. you can cook a piece of meat for 24hrs at 125 and it will still be med/medrare when you pull it out. The longer the length the more tender it is. As far as minimum times, I would just google. There are charts out there but it depends on the size of the meat which I'm sure you know. Also, if you have an SV, they usually come with charts you can go off of.

I like to set mine to temps that they are safely done but also I can sear them after I take them out of the bath.

 

[sandyut]

I think you are misunderstanding how SV works. you can cook a piece of meat for 24hrs at 125 and it will still be med/medrare when you pull it out. The longer the length the more tender it is. As far as minimum times, I would just google. There are charts out there but it depends on the size of the meat which I'm sure you know. Also, if you have an SV, they usually come with charts you can go off of.

I like to set mine to temps that they are safely done but also I can sear them after I take them out of the bath.

Funny, I didnt see it that way till I reread it. Exactly what banderson7474 said.