Pasteurization curves work at 120f for most things but most people would prefer a higher temperature because they want the protein denaturing and collagen breakdown that occurs at higher temps (resulting in a slightly firmer texture)
The necessary internal temp is still strongly affected by both the type of meat, as well as known infectious diseases that will grow in different foods.
No you’re correct and I’m a dummy, it’s been ages since I’ve cooked meat. 130F is the lower bound for beef
You can sous vide beef in some circumstances at 120 but this is the equivalent of cooking beef rare. If you do this you should either blanch the beef or sear the meat before cooking it
The whole “cook meat as low as you possibly can sous vide” thing is dead anyway. All the cool kids have moved on to the new Baldwin curves that overshoot to speed up cooking immensely (outlined here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GapkjSTx3Ao )
I have done sous vide steak and sous vide egg cups. Both very good but I can reverse sear steak and get as good a result; the egg cups though were incredible and I don’t know another way to get the low and consistent temperature. It’s like a warm water bath for them.
Right, if you keep the water at the temp you want what you’re cooking in it, as heat transfers from the water to the food, you just heat the water a little more. Eventually, the food is entirely exactly the temp of the water, with no possibility of getting hotter, so the food can’t get overcooked even if it sits longer than necessary. Usually, you’ll quickly finish something after it’s done, like less than 1 min from sous vide to plate. It’s good when you have time to do the prep work but don’t have time just before the meal to do all the cooking, especially if you wanted to serve a lot of guests. Also, if someone likes food cooked to a certain doneness but is bad at judging it.
This is how pasteurization works fyi. You shouldn’t do it in your home oven because air is a terrible insulator and your home oven likely sucks at maintaining temperature but if you can maintain temperature relatively precisely (not terribly, like within a swing of half a degree) and can use a medium that is not a terrible insulator (like a water bath) the problem is solved
Thus things like pasteurized milk, eggs, and sous vide.
Louis pasteur essentially found that you can just cook things to a super high temperature to kill bacteria but alternatively you can bring them to a much lower temperature and hold them at said temperature for a specific period of time and this will result in a reduction of bacteria to safe levels. This is highly preferable because it preserves flavor and texture. He was a super genius and you should read a book
I mean, you do you but I’m NEVER cooking anything at 120F
Thats the concept of Sous Vide.
You essentially vacuum seal the meat in a bag and then stick in water thats at 120F (just an example) and let it get its internal temp up to match
You typically finish it with a sear. Some restaurants do this pretty heavily as it makes achieving consistency stupid simple.
120 would be very low for anything other than fish, which is sometimes cooked at an even lower temperature.
Edit: not shitting on your example, just sharing.
Pasteurization curves work at 120f for most things but most people would prefer a higher temperature because they want the protein denaturing and collagen breakdown that occurs at higher temps (resulting in a slightly firmer texture)
The necessary internal temp is still strongly affected by both the type of meat, as well as known infectious diseases that will grow in different foods.
Pasteurization also has very specific context…
So, color me not convinced!
No you’re correct and I’m a dummy, it’s been ages since I’ve cooked meat. 130F is the lower bound for beef
You can sous vide beef in some circumstances at 120 but this is the equivalent of cooking beef rare. If you do this you should either blanch the beef or sear the meat before cooking it
The whole “cook meat as low as you possibly can sous vide” thing is dead anyway. All the cool kids have moved on to the new Baldwin curves that overshoot to speed up cooking immensely (outlined here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GapkjSTx3Ao )
I am not sure as I haven’t tried that method (seems boring to me)
Have you cooked this way? (Not trying to be obnoxious I love to talk about cooking)
Here is a guide I found https://www.seriouseats.com/food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-steak
It looks like you want the water temperature to be near what you want tho internal temp of the meat to be at
I have done sous vide steak and sous vide egg cups. Both very good but I can reverse sear steak and get as good a result; the egg cups though were incredible and I don’t know another way to get the low and consistent temperature. It’s like a warm water bath for them.
Right, if you keep the water at the temp you want what you’re cooking in it, as heat transfers from the water to the food, you just heat the water a little more. Eventually, the food is entirely exactly the temp of the water, with no possibility of getting hotter, so the food can’t get overcooked even if it sits longer than necessary. Usually, you’ll quickly finish something after it’s done, like less than 1 min from sous vide to plate. It’s good when you have time to do the prep work but don’t have time just before the meal to do all the cooking, especially if you wanted to serve a lot of guests. Also, if someone likes food cooked to a certain doneness but is bad at judging it.
Thats pretty cool. Cooking for a large number of people is a fun skill
This is how pasteurization works fyi. You shouldn’t do it in your home oven because air is a terrible insulator and your home oven likely sucks at maintaining temperature but if you can maintain temperature relatively precisely (not terribly, like within a swing of half a degree) and can use a medium that is not a terrible insulator (like a water bath) the problem is solved
Thus things like pasteurized milk, eggs, and sous vide.
Louis pasteur essentially found that you can just cook things to a super high temperature to kill bacteria but alternatively you can bring them to a much lower temperature and hold them at said temperature for a specific period of time and this will result in a reduction of bacteria to safe levels. This is highly preferable because it preserves flavor and texture. He was a super genius and you should read a book
So I shouldn’t do it at home but I should read a book. GTFO
They said don’t use your home oven to do it, because the temp of air in an oven is not consistent. Use sous vide (at home) and you’ll be just fine.