What if I’m not ready to eat when the cooking time is done?

Can I leave the meat in there with the temp going longer? Or will it over cook? I can not start it precisely the amount of cooking hours needed to eat it right when time is up.

Sous vide is pretty forgiving and you can leave your food longer - to a certain extent. It also depends on what you’re cooking. What do you want sitting for longer? And for how long?

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Hi @Kelly_Holada_Bromfie

I’ve posted this info before, but I’m always happy to post it again! :slight_smile:

Temperature determines “doneness”, time affects “texture”, and most importantly (imo) the combination of temperature and time must be long enough for “safety”.
See the link below to Baldwin’s excellent specifics on the last! (Safety!) :slight_smile:

Also, The guys on the Youtube channel “Sous Vide Everything” did a comparison of different cook times for steak… Here’s a link to the video they did if you’re curious…sous vide can be VERY forgiving regarding cook times…

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I’m cooking a London broil and it’s going to be in 5 hours past it’s done time.

“Doneness” depends on the final temperature the meat reaches. Keep in mind that any searing you do after sous vide will increase the temperature. Searing time is critical for this reason. 30 seconds is a good rule of thumb because it just cooks the outside. The aim is to have the inside uniform and at the right final temperature. Sous Vide cooking time only needs to be long enough to get the inside temperature uniform. This depends on the thickness of the cut. Somewhat longer cook times (2 hours instead of 1) are no big deal. However, very long cook times like 8 hours break down the collagen in the meat. That can make it tender or mushy depending on what you started with.

So here’s the strategy: You’re having guests and will be serving 1 inch thick steak. You can put the steaks in the sous vide an hour before the earliest you might serve them. If conversation drags on, no problem leaving them in the sous vide for an extra hour. Then, for those who want well done, put theirs in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes while the others stay on the sous vide. This is when you get the rest of the meal ready.

Then sear all the meat 30 seconds on a side just before serving so it gets to everybody hot and flavorful.

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I think you’d be fine. The longer cooking time will change the texture, making the meat more tender, but for London Broil, I think you’d have a hard time getting it too tender. Come back and let us know how it turned out.