SewTired wrote:I looked up Sous Vide and realized that this is an old method using new tools. My late grandmother used a similar method to cook old laying hens and other tough meat. She'd been doing that since the 30s, so it was probably done before then. In those days, she would put the hen into a baking dish with a tight cover and put it into deep water (rather like making a custard) in a slow oven. Then go off and do her chores. I do the same thing using Corningware; you can also use aluminum foil instead of plastic if you want a tighter seal. Many modern stoves don't go to low enough temperature, but grandma and I used electric and 150 F works fine.
discussion on salmonella. Various sites note that you have to cook for 87 minutes at 135 F to kill salmonella. However, they don't cite their source, so no clue. My opinion is that if it is completely cooked, it is safe.
http://www.modernistcookingmadeeasy.com ... d-bacteria
the biggest thing about the modern implementation is the precision of the cooking that's available inexpensively, with the new circulators that are on the market.
as far as scientific information on bacteria reduction, this is an excellent place to start:
http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html <- with sources cited.
what is "completely cooked"? until it's dry and flavorless? until steak is "well done" and the consistency of shoe leather? until the chicken falls apart in the pan, like my grandmothers used to? sure, you can heat chicken till it's 166f, at which point most all salmonella is dead... and the chicken is dry, and chalky, and blech...
I'd much rather cook it completely to about 150 for 5 minutes, which kills off just as much in the way of salmonella and other pathogens, and leaves the chicken moist, tender, juicy and much much more enjoyable. and with the precision temperature water baths, it's easy. once you've had something in there long enough to reach the cooking temp, then it doesn't much matter how long you leave it in there.
I can toss in chicken breasts, or steak, and bring it up to temp, and then leave it for an hour, two hours. four hours. and it comes out perfect, every time. there's nothing time critical anymore. you don't get overdone chicken, or steak, if your attention gets pulled away for a few minutes.
and the first time you take something that's tough, and hard to cook, and cook it for several days, and it comes out wonderful, (like ribs) .... you'd be sold.
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Accounts to put on the foe list: dataq1, clownbell, gearchange, lynninnj, mper!?, DreamDiver, Geer1, almostadoctor, sleepgeek, ajack, stom, mogy, D.H., They often post misleading, timewasting stuff.