Hi! I tried working this out myself, but I’ve come across too many conflicting temps. I would like a medium rare roast. Here’s what I found
131F-24 hours
135F-30 hours
131F-1 to 2 days
125F-24 hours
I do realize that the 131F temp is repeated in two of the recipes, but I wonder what the extra 24 hours would do, turn the meat to mush?
Also the 6 degree difference with the two 24 hour cook times seems to me, since this is sous vide, to be a lot.
Any thoughts?
Across the internet you will see a variety of internal temperatures for beef at each stage of a cook. This is true for conventional methods as well as sous vide. I use 55°C/131°F as my magic number. It is, however, all based on your preferences. Adding a few degrees you will still be in the medium rare range. I have done one at 30 hours and it turned out very good texture wise for thicker cuts. I primarily use this cut for sandwiches where I use an electric slicer for deli thin cuts and for this I cook it for 24 hours.
I normally experiment when I am doing a long cook for the first time. I will divide the meat into 3 pieces and cook at my 55°C setting and try taking a package out at different times. Try 24 hrs for the first one 30 for the second and 36 for the third and see which texture you prefer. I suggest keeping notes in a journal on what you did. It is amazing how easy it is to forget exactly what you did and what you like.
John, thank you for replying. I like your suggestion, removing the cooked meat at different times.
Yes, I have a journal and have been entering recipes, ideas, and “what I dids”.
I had been thinking about injecting melted and cooled butter into the roast, then refridgerating it. I wonder if that would be a futile step, because the butter would just ooze back out as the roasts cooks?
Jen, i 2nd John’s response.
Other than annoying your roast what do you hope to accomplish by injecting it with melted butter?
Hi chatnoir, I was hoping to add some fat for some flavor. But if it will annoy my roast I can abstain, I don’t want it to toughen up, to get even with me… 
This is one I did a while back Jen in case it helps you at all.
Good luck with it 
Sandra, that cut of meat is called a lot of names but i’ve never known it to be called Chuck.
Looking at the right profile of cattle facing to your right that cut of meat is from the upper left corner of the animal. Chuck comes from the right-centre behind the front leg.
There are many misconceptions and myths floating around the internet. One of them is that melting fats will somehow soak into meat as it cooks. Meat is mostly water and fat will not be absorbed. I like to dry brine my meat before cooking for a moister finished product. For a roast I simply salt it about 24 hours before the cook starts and refrigerate.
1 Like
Thanks for clearing that up for me.
It would be much better if the whole world used the same name for each cut of meat wouldn’t it, it’s a bit like the French, they seem to have a different word for everything to what we have 
I’ve noticed that about the French too.
And the Dutch, Italians, Brazilians, and Japanese.
It would truly be a much different world if everyone used the same names for everything.
1 Like
Part of the issue you see with cuts of meat is the method that is used to butcher the animals. In many countries the animal is broken down along natural muscle divisions. In other places like the US meat is divided into primal cuts and often this work is done with a bandsaw. In France you can get the small muscle groups individually. In the US it is normally part of a larger cut. One way makes butchering a lot faster and cheaper. This is one reason it is harder to get many cuts in the US.
Growing up we raised our own beef and slaughtered one a year. It was cut up by hand much like the French way. When I moved away from home I was long puzzled buy not seeing the cuts of meat I remembered.
1 Like
Thank you Sandra, I’ll check it out.
Thanks, john. Dry brining is an idea, do you rinse the salt off the roast before sealing?
I was thinking of using smoked salt…do you think that smoked salt would give the roast a nice smokey flavor? Or would I just be wasting my money?
For dry brine you lightly salt the meat and a lot is absorbed while it sits. I don’t wash it. Only time I rinse is when making a corned beef. Never tried smoked salt
Thanks for your reply john.jcb.
perhaps I will experiment and try the smoked salt…
One other point, the recipe for 125F for 24 hours is dangerous - whatever site you got that from should be permanently off your list. For food safety reasons, never cook below 131F for more than 2 hours. Below that temp, you can have bacterial growth, and 24 hours of bacterial growth would not make for a pleasant eating experience.
Thank you, JoshK. There is so much to learn about this way of cooking, I appreciate you steering me away from potential illness.
When in doubt, the Food Safety section on Baldwin’s site is an excellent reference and includes links to other useful sites.
Thanks for the link, stevej.