Pulled out Anova and cooked two chicken breast and one pork tenderloin. Both still pink but very stringy when done.
Hi 49, what’s your question?
What was pink, both or all?
For a detailed response please consider providing all the information you can.
What do you define as done?
For example, stringy can be an indicator of overcooked and undercooked depending on cooking time and temperature.
both were cooked in one batch each. Both were pink and stringy. Temperature for both was 150 degrees for 1 hour.
About how thick were they? 150°F will leave a bit of pink. The stringy texture could have been a variety of factors.
When i cook chicken breasts, I’m usually between 145-150°F but I’m usually closer to two hours, due to their thickness. Pork tenderloin, unless it’s been cut into medallions, 2.5-3 hours.
Given chicken should be cooked to 165 and pork to 160, I am not surprised they were both pink. Although, I seem to remember reading somewhere that 140 was the new 165, as long as it was held at that temperature for at least 4 hours (or something like that). Nevertheless, I prefer my chicken and pork cooked old-school.
Hey Joe, those aren’t necessarily givens. You’re only partially correct if you meant to say for Pasteurization or food safety reasons. Those temperatures only need apply when briefly attained. For example, at a core temperature of 140F (60C) it takes about 12 minutes for beef to be made safe and 35 minutes for poultry,
Through the use of the SV cooking technique lower temperatures for longer times can result in equally safe and more desirable taste (for some people) in meat and poultry.
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More education! I mean this sincerely when I say I always learn something from you, Frank, and I really appreciate it! That said, do you think an hour at 150 offered at least 35 minutes at 140 degrees for chicken? I feel like that’s just not long enough to be safe unless the meat is thin enough to be transparent.
But I am an admitted Luddite: I like my chicken and pork cooked old-style. Beef I like rare to medium rare, but “white meats” gotta be cooked.
Thank you, Joe. Early on in my culinary journey i discovered people like what they like, - and should have their food just the way they like it whenever possible. I may not cook it their way, but that doesn’t mean their way is wrong unless it is and dangerous.
All cooking is simply adding energy to food. That’s the science of cooking. I know these days it’s fashionable to distrust science and trust ones’ feelings. Perhaps that’s why there’s so many contemporary challenges in successful daily living. It was science, not feelings, that delivered human beings to the moon and back.
I’ve never cooked transparent meat, and likely never will. However, i do know that thickness is critical in determining safe and satisfying meat and poultry cooking times and temperatures.
Old school cooks traditionally cook light poultry meat decidedly well-done, from 160F to 175F, or more, which i find unpleasant. Light poultry meat cooked medium, about 140F to 150F, is safe, tender, and moist, considerably more enjoyable for me. Both methods result in cooked meat.
Here’s the scientific answer to your question.
One-inch thick chicken cooked at 150F will be Pasteurized in 55 minutes. (Baldwin, 2004, Table 4.1)