Food safety

I need some help. I was cooking some St. Louis style pork ribs sous vide last night at 149 degrees F. At some point it stopped heating but the temp reading didn't change. I measured the temperature just now and it was at 94 degrees F. I'm guessing it broke some time this morning. It's in a cooler bath with a ton of water. Assuming it was indeed at 149 degrees for at least 8-12 hours, would that sterilize it enough to make it pretty safe or should I just toss it all out? I'd hate to throw away two racks of ribs, but I'd also hate to have food poisoning....

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Matthew_Snyder_68770

That's more than 50 degrees of temperature loss..... I would imagine it stopped heating pretty early in the cook, for the bath to go from 149 to 94. Like, probably before the ribs were cooked.

If they were in a bag that was sealed, I'd just re-heat them again to 149 core. But then............ danger is my middle name. And I'm cheap.

digitaldookiez

Do you really think it was before the ribs were cooked? I checked on it after about 10 hours and it was still working. The cooler isn't sealed, I had a cutting board over most of the opening, but left a bit out and it's around 65F in the house.

Afonso_Tito_de_Morais_164825

If they were cooked by the time it stopped working, I'd use them.

bkeene12

@Matthew_Snyder_68770 is braver than me! I think you are making too many guessing to take that chance. The fact of the matter is, it spent a good while at temps where nasty stuff likes to breed. Or, just risk re-counting all those bathroom tiles and see what happens. Regardless, let us know - for science!

Matthew_Snyder_68770

If you checked after 10 hours and the bath was still holding temp, you're fine. (Assuming the ribs were packaged with no surface contact with air, and in the bath the whole time) Ribs only really need an hour or so to cook to core, beyond that you're setting texture.

From your OP I sorta figured you were cooking overnight; put the ribs in at bed time, and by morning you had lost 50 degrees. Something like that. But from this post it seems as if you were cooking much longer than that.

digitaldookiez

Awesome, thanks for the advice and info! We ate them last night and so far so good. My wife really loved them. I made Chinese chili cumin ribs with them and they were quite good. I'll update if things turn south, but I think I'm in the clear.