I saw a recipe to cook a Chuck Steak at 129 F to cook it really rare for 24 hours. But I seem to recall that anything under 130 F with my Anova could breed pathogens if cooked for a long time. Which is correct? If 129 is okay then how low can you go with breeding pathogens tha are dangerous?
Here’s the answer straight from Doctor Baldwin!
“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.)”
Here’s a link to it: http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Safety
You’re going to notice very little difference in the done-ness between cooking at 129F and 130F.
There are constant arguments about the minimum safe cooking temperature for long cooks. Some will say 129F and some will say 130F. There is little difference. It’s all about having a margin of error buffer over the 126.1F.