Overnight cooking: Is sous-vide safer than electrical oven?
I am a fan of bone broths, but always have a problem with the overnight cooking part.
For the overnight cooking part I have the following options:
- Interrupt cook, let the pot hot on the stove, continue in the morning (this is what I am doing now)
- Cook overnight on the stove (this seems to be a bad idea)
- Cook in an oven overnight. Some people say, that this is a lot safer, than the stove, but I am not willing to do it.
- Stand-alone stove on the balcony. I actually believe, that this should be pretty safe.
- My latest idea: Put the bone broth pot in a big container full of water and heat the water with a sous-vide circulator.
Since sous-vide circulators can not reach as high temperatures as an oven and since they are, after all, in a container full of water, is it safe to assume, that overnight sous-vide is safer than overnight oven cooking? I could make it even safer, by putting the whole thing on the balcony, however this would probably increase energy consumption dramatically.
Best Answer
On top of the stove the issue is boiling dry. At that point the temperature can rise almost unchecked. This will result in unpleasant fumes at best, flames at worst. Even in the latter case, because you should be using a fairly tight fitting lid, everything should be contained, but I wouldn't rely on that.
The oven is different. Once the pot is up to boiling point you can set an oven temperature of just over 100°C. In the unlikely event of boiling dry, the contents still won't exceed that temperature - no burning. Like you I assume an electric oven.
Using a sous vide circulator you'll actually struggle to get the inner pot hot enough - you generally want a gentle simmer for broth/stock. The outer pot will loose a lot to evaporation even if it never boils.
I'd have more confidence in the oven, but if you're shopping there's one more option - a slow cooker. Making stock is trivial: put in bones (and any veg etc.); pour over boiling water; leave on high for a few hours or low for up to a couple of days; strain. I normally use low overnight for chicken stock with onion, celery, & herbs. These are specifically designed to run for long periods unattended without boiling dry (as the power input is low and the lid fits tightly).
Pictures about "Overnight cooking: Is sous-vide safer than electrical oven?"
Is it safe to cook sous vide overnight?
This is where you might start wondering if you can safely leave your sous vide machine to cook your dinner while you're not around for a while. And the answer is that you can. You can leave a sous vide unattended, so you can get all of your other stuff done while your food cooks.Is cooking with sous vide safe?
A major safety advantage of sous vide is that it was pasteurized in the package, so there is no chance of contamination of the product by vegetative pathogens in storage after cooling. Frozen, cooked foods must thaw under refrigeration (41\xb0F or below) and reheated upon complete thaw, prior to consumption.Can you get food poisoning from sous vide?
According to the USDA, any food held in the so-called temperature \u201cdanger zone\u201d (between 40\xb0F and 140\xb0F) for more than two hours presents a risk of food-borne illness from the growth of pathogenic bacteria \u2014 whether it's cooked sous vide or by conventional means.Is it safe to leave the stove on low overnight?
According to Prevent Fire, you should never leave a stove unattended. The stove is an active cooking device.A Beginner’s Guide to Sous Vide Cooking- Kitchen Conundrums with Thomas Joseph
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Max Vakhtbovych, Marcus Aurelius, Max Vakhtbovych, Max Vakhtbovych