Sous vide today, sear in 2 days?

Tackman

was wondering if anyone sous vided anything, then refrigerated it, and seared it a few days later?  Going camping, would like to do a 12 hour tri tip, then sear it cowboy style a few days later. Appreciate any input.

DaveRichardson

I would think that as long as you got over the temp for bacteria elimination, that you should be fine.

I will wield to the sous viders out there....

biggreenrob

You can cook it sous vide (vacuum-sealed) and then drop it into an ice bath to stop the cooking.  Ideally, it would be better to bring it back up to temp using a hot bath before you want to put it back on the egg for searing.  If no sous vide is available then bring it back up to temp low and slow.

I have done tri tip but I did it a little differently.  I smoked it with texas post oak until the temperature reached 110˚, then vacuum-sealed it and cooked it sous vide for a few hours to tenderize it.  When I was ready to eat, I took it out of the bag and dried it off then seared and cooked it on the egg until the temperature reached 133˚.

Thatgrimguy

All the time. I sous vide chicken and pork to use in random stuff. It keeps much longer once it's cooked. I use it for salads, fried rice, to make quick sandwiches, etc.  I have sous vide before and refrozen so you don't have to hold things like chicken again. Just need to get them to temp and they are good. I use this method to speed up weeknight meals.

Helmet

I agree with @Thatgrimguy - I've done it myself a number of times.
My .02, I don't think you need to ice-bath it to stop cooking either, because it's not like it'll overcook since the temp won't increase. I'd just throw it in the fridge. I would image that a good sear that would warm up the middle enough to be acceptable. When I do beef sous vide, I always cook it at the final temp, not under where I want it. I use the sear to do just that, sear, not to cook or finish the meat. 

Helmet

One thing I would add is you might want to drain the excess fluid out of the bag and re-vac seal it before you refrigerate the steak. Others may have different opinions on that though. 

biggreenrob

I prefer to ice bath my food if I am not eating right away.  If you can muscle through the monotone then you should watch this video on Food Safety.  Check out the video at 7:35
https://youtu.be/FH9V8Dg86Zw

Thatgrimguy

Helmet said:

I agree with @Thatgrimguy - I've done it myself a number of times.
My .02, I don't think you need to ice-bath it to stop cooking either, because it's not like it'll overcook since the temp won't increase. I'd just throw it in the fridge. I would image that a good sear that would warm up the middle enough to be acceptable. When I do beef sous vide, I always cook it at the final temp, not under where I want it. I use the sear to do just that, sear, not to cook or finish the meat. 

You ice bath for safety reasons not to stop cooking. It's so you spend as little time as possible in the 40-140 danger zone cooling back down. It's a very important step to insure food safety.

biggreenrob

Thatgrimguy said:

You ice bath for safety reasons not to stop cooking. It's so you spend as little time as possible in the 40-140 danger zone cooling back down. It's a very important step to insure food safety.

Well put.

GregW

The important concept is to cook long enough at any temp above 130 Deg to pasteurize the food to the core.
I use the Poly Sciences Sous Vide Toolbox for ios. I don't know about any other apps that serve as SV calculators.
The app gives you the safe cook times and temps for various meats and thicknesses.

As recommended by biggreenrob the Douglass Baldwin information is considered to be the gold standard for SV cooking and safety.

nolaegghead

I usually sprinkle a little nitrite on my low and slow SV cooks.  Botulism toxin doesn't break down until you hit around 180 or so, and the spores need 250 (pressure cooker) temps.  Neither of these condition are met in the SV, and although it's unlikely you'll have existing toxin or give the spores a chance to make more, it is an anaerobic environment, plus - I get a little "smoke ring".  Nitrite doesn't get rid of existing Botulism toxin but it does keep the spores from making more.

Even though you "pasteurize" for enough time over 130, the spores of Clostridium botulinum can turn into the cells and create the toxin after the temp is back down from the SV in storage.  No worries here if you refrigerate under 38F right away, that's where the water bath helps.  You can also acidify to a pH under 4.6.

GregW

nolaegghead said:

I usually sprinkle a little nitrite on my low and slow SV cooks.  Botulism toxin doesn't break down until you hit around 180 or so, and the spores need 250 (pressure cooker) temps.  Neither of these condition are met in the SV, and although it's unlikely you'll have existing toxin or give the spores a chance to make more, it is an anaerobic environment, plus - I get a little "smoke ring".  Nitrite doesn't get rid of existing Botulism toxin but it does keep the spores from making more.

Even though you "pasteurize" for enough time over 130, the spores of Clostridium botulinum can turn into the cells and create the toxin after the temp is back down from the SV in storage.  No worries here if you refrigerate under 38F right away, that's where the water bath helps.  You can also acidify to a pH under 4.6.

Interesting point.

Helmet

Well I stand corrected, thanks for the info guys! I've never had an issue but I'll certainly start ice bathing if it's going in the fridge after. Not to hijack, but does anyone have thoughts on draining the beef juice from the bag before refrigerating for a few days vs leaving it in there?

nolaegghead

@Helmet - If you're not going to reheat it in the bag you definitely want to drain it before refrigerating otherwise you'll have to deal with digging through an aspic.

biggreenrob

I leave it in there.  I like to think that there is some self-basting going on in the bag.  Once it is all cooked and ready to come out of the bag, I run the accumulated juices through a chinois and make a pan sauce or baste the cooked meat with the juices.

italchef

Thomas Keller has a whole book dedicated to sous vide and of course talks about food safety. He states that in his restaurants they will only allow the food to stay in the danger zone for no longer than 4 hours. That means that those 12 hours at 130F cooks are out of the question. The ice bath, as stated above, shortens the time the food is in the danger zone so longer sous vide times can be utilized. 

nolaegghead

130 is the cusp for safety.  I will not go below 131F if I'm cooking for more than 4 hours.

italchef

Nolaegghead-I'm not trying to stir it up here but please clarify what you mean by 130F being the cusp for safety? All of my training and experience says the danger zone extends to 140F. 

nolaegghead

@italchef - you're trained with numbers that have a very large margin of safety.  Souse vide techniques have a very high heat transfer and that margin of 10 degrees is not necessary.

From http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Safety

While there are many ways to kill food pathogens, cooking is the easiest. Every food pathogen has a temperature that it can’t grow above and a temperature it can’t grow below. They start to die above the temperature that they stop growing at and the higher above this temperature you go, the faster they die. Most food pathogens grow fastest a few degrees below the temperature that they start to die. Most food pathogens stop growing by 122°F (50°C), but the common food pathogen Clostridium perfringens can grow at up to 126.1°F (52.3°C). So in sous vide cooking, you usually cook at 130°F (54.4°C) or higher. (You could cook your food at slightly lower temperatures, but it would take you a lot longer to kill the food pathogens.)

nolaegghead

I have cooked short ribs at 134 for 72 hours - it's perfectly safe. It takes much longer for connective tissue to break down at lower temperatures.

bweekes

Helmet said:

I agree with @Thatgrimguy - I've done it myself a number of times.
My .02, I don't think you need to ice-bath it to stop cooking either, because it's not like it'll overcook since the temp won't increase. I'd just throw it in the fridge. I would image that a good sear that would warm up the middle enough to be acceptable. When I do beef sous vide, I always cook it at the final temp, not under where I want it. I use the sear to do just that, sear, not to cook or finish the meat. 

Thatgrimguy said:

Helmet said:

I agree with @Thatgrimguy - I've done it myself a number of times.
My .02, I don't think you need to ice-bath it to stop cooking either, because it's not like it'll overcook since the temp won't increase. I'd just throw it in the fridge. I would image that a good sear that would warm up the middle enough to be acceptable. When I do beef sous vide, I always cook it at the final temp, not under where I want it. I use the sear to do just that, sear, not to cook or finish the meat. 

You ice bath for safety reasons not to stop cooking. It's so you spend as little time as possible in the 40-140 danger zone cooling back down. It's a very important step to insure food safety.

Agreed. Another reason for the ice bath is where you are going to sear right after and don't want your final temp to increase too much. Cooling down the meat before applying more heat will retain the desired doneness and reduce the risk of overcooking during the sear.