Such wide variables in Sous Vide advice

(Dirty Lazy Keto'er, Sucralose freak ;)) #1

I’ve taken much of my advice from Guga and crew, on the Souse Vide Everything channel on YouTube.

So when I started considering doing a whole Pork Shoulder roast, I went straight to his channel. He recommended 145 degrees for 60 hours, and of course his finished product, was, by all accounts, freaking awesome !

With that info, I was full steam ahead :slight_smile: But now that my Pork Roast is already about 40 hours along, I see another (maybe a pro, as well ?) chef who says, 18-24 hours at 155 is just right… and that cooking for longer, at lower temps will turn the meat into mush ??? So now I’m concerned.

BTW, I even saw one of Guga’s experiments where he did one steak for 2 hrs, and another (cut from the same slab for consistency) for a full week ! Yes, 168 hrs ! He fully expected it to be an inedible, mushy mess, but to all of their surprise, it actually tasted quite good ! Albeit, more like a roast, than a steak.

Whats all the talk about overcooking with Souse Vide ? Id think if this were ever going to be a problem, it would certainly be a disaster with a 168 hr steak, but even then, no major problem ? Where do these other chefs get their info ? At least on the Souse Vide Everything channel, they almost always do a control steak (or whatever meat) then do other ones from the same cut with more extreme times, or recipes, and see for themselves… plus show the viewer.

In any case, I feel like with each Souse Vide cooking I do, I gain very valuable experience. In the end, I think I will know what works best for my tastes, and with my machine / equipment.

Your thoughts ???

(Full Metal KETO AF) #2

Time and temperature are great variables with sousvide. I get all my information concerning time and temperature from sousvide apps. My favorite is Joule. It’s really great and I highly recommend a download. I don’t usually follow the recipes but take the cooking times and temperatures from it. It has a full range from blue to well done, including compensation if the meat is frozen when you start cooking. I have tons of vacuum sealed packages of salted portioned meats in my freezer. All I need to do is decide what meat I want and start the bath and chuck the bag in. Those cooking times are extreme that you listed and seem unnecessarily long. The longest cook I have done is about 50 hours for something like pulled pork. I tend to go for a light cooking temperature because it cooks more during the sear.

My second go to app for cooking times is the Gourmia app. I only use it for it’s more complete time and temperature chart if Joule doesn’t have it covered. After a while you can figure out what works best for stuff you cook regularly. I never sousvide fish or seafood, I don’t see the point and the temperatures are too low to do anything about parasites so I don’t use sousvide for those because traditional cooking is easy enough. :cowboy_hat_face:

(Dirty Lazy Keto'er, Sucralose freak ;)) #3

Okay, I’ll look into that.

But do you ever watch the Souse Vide Everything channel ? They actually show you, and talk about the results…

But yes, that’s what I’m trying to make, is super juicy, tender pulled pork. And the thing is, its not like they were saying 60 hrs was the max time, but rather, that they thought it was just right ? Hmmm.
With my timing, Id have to turn it off and remove it from the bath at like 3am, to be right at 60hrs…

But I’m thinking now, I’ll shut it down as soon as I get up (probably like 7am) and let it cool for a few hours, before I give it a couple hours of cold smoking… And yes, I now know it would have been better to smoke before SV. Next time. So this one will probably be a 64 hour SV…

Edit: Hey Dave, check out this old thread, on another forum… Granted, they are talking about beef… but they are talking 72-96 hours !
https://www.smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=5366.0