Sous Vide Interrupted
I'm trying to cook beef short-ribs sous-vide at 140° for 72 hours. Imagine my shock this morning when I went into the kitchen and found the machine had turned itself off! It could not have been for long because the temp had only dropped to 80° so given the heat in my kitchen I'm guessing it was only off for an hour or two.
I've since set it back to 140° for at least another 36 hours of cooking...but any damage done from this drop? I'm more worried about bacteria and the like than any effect it will have on the meat.
Best Answer
Yes, according to the common food-handling procedures, having food in the 'danger zone' for some time is bad ... however, you've likely pasteurized your meat, as you only need to hold it at 140°F for 12 minutes to pasteurize pork against its normal pathogens.
Mind you, it's more than 12 minutes to get the middle up to 140°F, so it's not simply 'it needs to be cooked for 12 minutes'.
As you had pasteurized it for 24+ hrs before it was in the 'danger zone', you would've had a significant reduction in microbes, and the vacuum seal would've prevented it from being re-contaminated.
The only problem might be botulism, as you have to hold it at 185°F to kill the spores and destroy the toxin:
... so if there's garlic in the bag, and it's not in an acidic environment, you're at an increased risk.
You might be able to 'test' the contamination by holding it the warmer sections of your fridge for a week, and if the bag doesn't puff up, assume it's not at risk of botulism. Of course, if you hold it too cool the botulism won't give off enough gas to indicate that it's a problem, so I don't know if it's a 100% accurate test.
I'm not going to say that it is or isn't a problem, as everyone should make their own decision on risk. I wouldn't recommend serving it to others, especially not without informing them of the situation. You should be able to ensure safety by holding it at 185°F for 15-20 minutes, but that would likely defeat the purpose of your sous-vide cooking.
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Quick Answer about "Sous Vide Interrupted"
What is this? If you want to pause your sous vide cook, the best way of doing this is by refrigerating the sous vide foods in-between. To do this, you may want to try to cool down your items fast and keep them refrigerated throughout the length of time you wish to keep them.What happens if sous vide turns off?
It's likely to be fine. The meat is sealed airtight, so nothing external will get to it. If power failed early, and there were a few hours after power failed before you could turn the APC back on, there may have been a period where bacteria were still alive and could contaminate the meat.Can you sous vide something twice?
Yes you can do this. The important thing to do is quick chill your steak in an ice/water bath. This helps limit the time that the steak is in the danger zone.Can you mess up sous vide?
Even though people say sous vide is easy, you can overcook your food. The food continues to cook after it leaves the pot, unless you place it in an ice bath. Also, when you go to sear your meat, you can easily overcook it during searing, especially if you're using a thinner cut.Can you sous vide and finish later?
One of the advantages of sous vide cooking for both the home cook and the restaurant chef is leveraging the cook's time. It's easy to cook a large batch of food (steaks, chicken breasts, salmon fillets, vegetables\u2014whatever cooks at the same temperature will work) all at once for serving later.Sous-Vide Like a Pro - an in-depth guide (Sous-vide series, Ep. 1)
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Answer 2
As I understand it, botulism spores are harmless and in pretty mich everything, it's once the botulism spores has germinated, which takes a long time in an basic, anerobic enviroment (right now the only thing I can find on the internet says 3-4 days, I thought it was more like 6 weeks, I would really like to know so this is not just an answer but a question)... anyway I found this thread because my sous vide oxtail was in for 2 days at 140F & then my power was our for a day, but... its back in now so... que sera sera :)
Answer 3
Well your in that so called "Danger Zone" for 1-2 hours, but IMO it comes down to whether or not your a germaphobe or not. For me and pretty much everyone I know, that is nothing but for others they may be scheduling a doctors visit as we speak.
According to FDA standards and such, you should be mildly concerned. According to real world standards I wouldn't worry about it. It really just boils down to what your comfortable with. If your nervous then don't risk it. Nothing worse then putting all that effort into your meal and can't enjoy it because your worried.
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