Modernist Cooking Made Easy (38 page)

Pork Chops

Rib Chops

Rib Roast

Sausage

Shank

Shoulder

Sirloin Chops

Sirloin Roast

Spare Ribs

Spleen

Tenderloin

T
URKEY

Breast

Drumstick

Leg

Sausage

Thigh

F
AHRENHEIT TO
C
ELSIUS
C
ONVERSION

This guide gives temperatures in both Fahrenheit and Celsius but to convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius take the temperature, then subtract 32 from it and multiply the result by 5/9:

(Fahrenheit - 32) * 5/9 = Celsius

We’ve listed out the temperatures from 37°C to 87°C which are the most commonly used range in sous vide.

S
OUS
V
IDE
T
HICKNESS
T
IMES

For more Cooking by thickness information you can view our equipment section on our website where we have an iPhone thickness ruler and free printable thickness cards.

You can find them on our website here:
http://bit.ly/e7Lth2

There are two ways to cook sous vide, one is based on the thickness of the food and the other is based on the desired tenderness.

Cooking based on thickness is how PolyScience, Baldwin, and Nathan started out as they did research on food safety. Cooking sous vide based on thickness basically tells you the minimum time you can cook a piece of meat to ensure it is safe and comes up to temperature in the middle. It doesn’t take into account tenderizing time or any other factors. It’s often used by restaurants or home cooks who want to minimize cooking time and are using tender cuts of meat that don’t need the tenderization.

Cooking sous vide based on tenderness takes into account how tough a piece of meat is and how long it needs to be cooked in order to make it appealing. So a chuck steak needs to be cooked a lot longer than a filet, even though they are both safe after the same amount of time. As long as the minimum cooking time is met for the temperature used, then it’s completely safe to eat.

Both sous vide methods have their uses. Thickness-based is great for very tender cuts cooked by people who need them done in the minimum amount of time. Tenderness-based is best for tougher cuts or people that have a range of time that they are interested in.

A Few Notes on the Times

Times were extrapolated from the descriptions in Baldwin’s Practical Guide to Sous Vide (
http://bit.ly/hGOtjd
) and Sous Vide for the Home Cook, as well as Nathan’s tables on eGullet and a few other sources. (
http://bit.ly/eVHjS3
).

The times are also approximate since there are many factors that go into how quickly food is heated. The density of the food matters a lot, which is one reason beef heats differently than chicken. To a lesser degree where you get your beef from will affect the cooking time, and whether the beef was factory raised, farm raised, or grass-fed. Because of this, I normally don’t try to pull it out at the exact minute it is done unless I’m in a rush.

The times shown are also minimum times and food can be, and sometimes needs to be, left in for longer periods in order to fully tenderize the meat. If you are cooking food longer, remember that food should not be cooked at temperatures less than 131ºF (55ºC) for more than 4 hours.

B
EEF,
P
ORK,
L
AMB
T
HICKNESS
C
HART

Heat from Refrigerator to Any Temperature

How long it will take to heat an entire piece of meat from 41°F / 5°C to the temperature of the water bath.

Reminder, this food might not be pasteurized at these times and food should not be cooked at temperatures less than 131ºF / 55°C for more than 4 hours.

While there are slight differences in the heating time for different temperatures of water baths, the times usually vary less than 5 to 10% even going from a 111ºF / 44°C bath to a 141ºF / 60.5°C bath, which equates to a difference of 5 minutes every hour. We show the largest value in our chart, so if you are cooking it at a lower temperature you can knock a little of the time off.