Hello all :) New here, and super excited about Sous Vide cooking ! :)

In fact, I’m doing (I think) my 6th SV since I got my machine a couple weeks ago, right now, as I sit here and type :slight_smile:
I actually love discussion forums, but was really not able to find many for SV, and had held off on this one, because I was afraid to say, I’m not using an Anova brand machine. I’m loving my machine so far, but wont say the name if its not cool. I have read nothing but great things about the Anova brand though, and would definitely consider it for a future machine, should mine ever fail, or for a main SV machine, and use my current one as a backup.

Anyway, I will be back later to ask questions.

And will come back with a report on my current SV. It is a 5lb beef roast, which I cold smoked for 3 hrs, and am now SV’ing for 21 hrs, at 138 degrees. Will sear with a military grade torch (no, not really, but it is pretty crazy though :slight_smile: for a few minutes this evening.

Forgot to say, but my other big obsession nowadays is eating Keto. I always loved meat, but eating more now than ever. And its great that I can turn cheap, tougher cuts, into super tender, juicy meals :slight_smile:

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Welcome?

Chris, welcome, and please see my reply to your Catastrophe.

Just how cold is your cold smoking? It could form part of the 4-hours in the food safety temperature danger zone.

Cold smoking is usually limited to cured or very thin fish or meat fillets. Consider doing the cold smoking after SV cooking.

Thank you Chatnoir. I actually did do a cold smoking on a London Broil, “after” SV, but it did not add a lot of flavor. I hear smoke sticks to cold meat better. Granted, that London Broil needed a lot more SV time anyway. So a lot of room for improvement on this.

When you say, a “4 hour window” I assume you mean, the time in the smoker + the time it takes for the center of the meat to heat to the safe zone in the SV… And with that said, I’d think a 2 hour cold smoke and then 2 hours in the SV would be enough time to get the center up to a safe temp… no ?

No, - or maybe.

Four hours is the commonly accepted time limit for hazardous foods to be in the Food Danger Zone, and a USDA Rule. Most public health departments i’ve delt with adhere to that rule too. And these days they want time and temperature documentation to prove it.

The timer starts once meat is above 40ᴼF and runs until 130ᴼF is attained. Timing continues anytime the food’s temperature goes below 130ᴼF until reaching 40ᴼF.

Remember details?
You are probably safe with London Broil. However i’d be concerned about a large roast. Heat penetrates meat at about an inch per hour. The greater the thickness the slower the rate of heat penetration, so it’s not quite an exact rule. Also, the higher the temperature the faster heat penetrates meat.

The 4 hour timer basically starts the moment the animal is dropped and is cumulative.