Can we use ice with the Joule?

I was thinking that I could toss some food in an ice bath with the Joule to keep it below 40 degrees F throughout the day. Then I could turn on the Joule via my phone from work to have dinner prepped when I get home.

Will the cold temperatures in ice have any effect on the Joule?

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Comments

brian_martin2001

When you do this, you're going to need to keep a few things in mind. When you start it up, you're going to need to have 1.5 inch (38mm) of water minimum in the vessel with the food and ice. I'm guessing (hoping) there is a safety switch that will prevent the unit from working if there is insufficient water. If there is not, you risk damaging the unit, and potentially starting a fire. Next, you have to take into account the ice. You are going to need it running long enough for the water being heated from the joule to melt all the ice, bring the food up to temperature, and hold it at that temperature to fully cook it. water can absorb a lot of thermal energy, so you will need to bear that in mind. Lastly, while the water is heating up, melting the ice, and then coming up to temperature, your food is experiencing the same temperature changes at the same time. So if you have a relatively full container of ice, and say it takes 3 hours to go from 40°F to 150°F, your food has just soaking in the "danger zone" temperatures for way way longer than is recommended for bacterial safety. While I'm sure you could do this, I strongly suspect you are putting you and yours in very real danger of food poisoning or intoxication if you do this. Good luck!.

Matthew_Snyder_68770

"...say it takes 3 hours to go from 40°F to 150°F, your food has just soaking in the "danger zone" temperatures for way way longer than is recommended for bacterial safety..."

If the product has been seared and then sealed, is this still a concern?

brian_martin2001

Well, there is a possibility that it hasn't been seared. There are also several bacteria, which are common causes of food poisoning and intoxication, which are known to burrow into the muscle tissue. There are also a variety of bacteria who have remarkably resilient spores that can survive the searing process, whose germination would be jumpstarted by the lower temperatures while coming up to temp. I realize these are not necessarily common, but they are still risks that are not outside the scope of normal occurances.

AngelArs_240456

The bacteria concern is spot on. When it's around 50c for an extended period of time, then you've just given all of those rather nasty tiny bacteria permission to reestablish themselves. I would also be concerned about the small pieces of ice clogging the impeller like cold little crowbars and possibly burning the motor out over time.

fisher23

Check out the post "Coffee Pot Style Timer". Tim Salazar at Chef Steps answered your question in the comments. But the short answer was, Yes!

https://www.chefsteps.com/forum/posts/coffee-pot-style-timer