New to Sous Vide

[Ember]

Here’s a bit of an explanation on the time variations that you see within an individual recipe that I wrote in response to someone else.

Many steaks at once

A little about time selection… ‘Doneness’ is a function of temperature. So it is a matter of selecting a temperature that will produce the finish that you like. For your medium rare 129F is a good starting point. Time is more flexible. Firstly, you need to cook your steak long enough for the centre to reach the desired temperature (which is where the thickness comes into the calculation). The warmth moves through the meat at approximately 1/2 inch per half hour. So the minimum suggested time …

When it comes to something like duck or steak which is frequently served rare to medium rare you are looking at cooking for short times and below temperatures required for pasteurisation. The 45 minutes quoted is enough time for the duck breast to reach temperature equilibrium with the water bath and little more than that. The longer time will be enough to get some breakdown of collagen while still remaining within the safe timeframe for below 129F/54C cooking.