Go to the Article: A Map of Sous Vide Cooking
Love the concept of a map-based guide - the visual style makes it a lot easier to grasp the various "zones".
I echo your thoughts on the visualization. The "picture" delivers! I believe the likes of Brinton, Tufte, Few, the McDaniels, and others would give it a thumbs up.
This map is my new favorite thing. The sea dragon is a nice touch.
Yes, this map is awesome.
I agree with the other posters, this is great! Confit Beach sounds like the perfect vacation spot.
This map is awesome - will be printing and laminating for the kitchen.
I love this map! Simply Brilliant! :-)
Really enjoyed that map!
What's the deal with the chicken temps? I thought chicken needed to be cooked to 165, but it looks like you have a much lower temp for white meat. Looking to learn. Thanks!
You can safely pasteurize chicken below 165 °F / 74 °C. The USDA gives times and temperatures down to 136 °F / 58 °C for chicken and turkey, but we prefer chicken breasts pasteurized at 140–150 °F / 60–65 °C. The lower the cooking temperature, the longer it takes to pasteurize: it's instantaneous at 165 °F / 74 °C, but (according to the USDA) takes 35 minutes at 140 °F / 60 ° C.
Can I ask, does the "lamb leg" point refer to the more tender hind legs or to the tougher, front "shoulder"? I'm not sure if you give those cuts the same names in the US that we do here in Australia.
Just try a chicken breast cooked at 60°C, Its ridiculously tender and nothing like chicken breast thats usually dry and stringy.
Lamb leg refers to hind legs. Shoulder/shank refers to front.
Thank you, dave! Glad you like it!
Thanks, Matt!
Thanks!
Mmmm, confit beach...
Awesome Map!!!
Douglas and I are big Tufte fans, so that makes us feel great. Glad you like the map.
Thats cool! I love the way you keep innovating
love the map and the other one-pager time and temp guide. Being french, I was wondering if you could share the original files (.ai or similar). I would translate it and share back.
Is there any way to get a little more detail for scallops? Where does it fit on the island for temp and time?
Mark, if you have an iOS device, you can use the wonderful Sous Vide Dash app to figure out your chicken's warming curve, including markers for significant destruction of major pathogens. I find it indispensable.
My lay explanation is this: if I step into a fire I will die very quickly. If I step into a sauna, the first 30 minutes will be wonderful, but eventually I would die. Same with your chicken's pathogens.
so where was atlantis again?
Cool info graphic; I hung it up inside my cabinet door.
Good map, but still I find this a little confusing ?? Yes it categorises the different food groups really well and the chart gives a great rough guide but still, chicken breasts come in all different thicknesses etc. I really used to struggle with times and temps and as a home chef didn't want to make my family ill, so I used to stick to basics that I'd find on the Internet. I found a app by polly science which gives you exact cooking times and temps from thickness, but still with its confusing limitations !! Using both map and app now gives me a fantastice tool to cook all sous vide !! :-)
Did I miss it? How do I get the steak and veg on the table at the same time with wildly different temps?
I hear ya!
Cook the bag that needs higher temperature first, then the lower the temp and add the second bag.
Should work since it´s cooked as needed already, and reheating at lower temp can´t overcook it. What I don´t know is how this works out in terms of HACCP...
c'mon guys! you are just awesome! ever since i found this page i'm overwhelmed with everything that is going on. the forum, the recipes, the videos,.... its really really great to stay in touch with such wonderful people, ideas and creativity!!!Thank you!
You guys are amazing!
My recommendation is to cook the steak first as the steak will need some time to rest after it's done, then crank up the circulator to the desired asparagus temp. Leave the steak in the bag to retain some heat and drop in the asparagus for 6 minutes when it reaches temperature. While the asparagus cooks you can sear off the steak to get a nice crust. steak...done, asparagus...done
Fantastic map! But - I live in Norway and I wonder if leg of lambs are tougher in other parts of the world than here. I cooked a norwegian leg of lamb for 8 hours at 65 degrees celcius (about 150 F) and I think it was 1 hour to much. You recomend about 20 hours, others even 48! I will never try as I'm sure the leg would come out like paté. Any thoughts abut this?
Fantastico!!! que creatividad, gracias
I agree that has been my experience with leg of lamb here in Australia. I thought 64c for 16 hours produced a great texture, but dryish meat. I find some muscles in lamb leg are are like tough cuts, and others are like tender cuts. So, even with sous vide, there's a compromise between dry meat or chewy texture.
A stroke of genius... Thanks ChefSteps
Fantastique! Super! Génial! Wow! I am experiencing a premonitory salivation!! Thx guys.
Great idea. Thank you! Would you be interested in a german language version of the map? I could take care of the translation. If you like.
A Dutch leg of lamb for 24 hours at 52,5C (126.5F) was almost perfect, I think next time I do just 1 degree more so 53.5C (128.5). I like mine on the pink side. But beware of the dragons sea.
Hi guys, I like your map so much I would like to hang it in my kitchen printed at A2 (B2-B3) size. Can you make available a link to a high res version?
Ive never tried sous vide but i sure would like to after reading this!
This resource seems both really creative and useful but also very confusing to me. lol
Loving this class. This is great info for a home chef new to the sous-vide world. Thank you guys! Having recently graduated from the home made pot-on-the-stove with thermometer technique to using an immersion circulator, I am facing some issues as meats seems to end-up slightly more cooked now, using same time and temp, then they were with the "old" method. I guess it is normal given the circulation heats the water evenly at the same temp. Slowly learning to adapt. Yesterday, I have tried cooking a Pork Filet (or Pork Tenderloin). Trying to find the accurate temp/time required, I consulted several websites and ended up with temp pretty much set at 58c but times ranging from 1h to 2.5h. Having opted to 58c with 1.5h, the Pork Tenderloin was not evenly cooked. (some areas red, some more on the grey color). Might this have been caused by not cooking the meat for long enough ? Thanks you.
Hi, Guus. The PDF of the map should scale well if you want to print it. https://s3.amazonaws.com/chefsteps/static/ChefSteps-Map-of-Sous-Vide.pdf
wow well done, this is incredible on so many fronts
question - since the whole benefit of sous vide is keeping whatever at the precise temperature temperature you want, why does the amount of time matter? I get that you want the whole thingy that you're cooking to come to, and stay at the desired temperature, but why does it matter if it stays there? Meaning: if collagen breaks down at 154, and the whole purpose of long cooking the tougher meats is to break down the collagen to gelatin, then why does it matter if you leave it there for 3 weeks? what happens at that point?
Concerning the "dragon zone"; in Modernist Cuisine I am pretty sure that they consequently refer to 54,5 C as the upper limit of where bacteria continue to multiply. Where does 52 come from?
Great map. Will definitely print to stick on the wall.
Quick question, does the weight of the meat effect the cooking time?
For example, if I have a brisket 3kg or 6kg, will that effect cooking time of 72hours at at 62 degrees Celsius?
Thanks
We're so happy to hear that!! Here's our free beginner's class to get you going: https://www.chefsteps.com/classes/cooking-sous-vide-getting-started/landing#/ Have fun!
Hahaha, it's the thought that counts, right? Glad we at least *seem* creative. Let us know if you have any particular questions, but this is another layout that may be more straightforward for some: http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/sous-vide-time-and-temperature-guide
Thank you, Luis!! So glad you're enjoying it!
We'll email you about this Oliver, thanks for offering!
For long cooking times – like that one for brisket – the size and weight of the brisket doesn't matter because the heating time (when the core gets up to 62 °C) is so short compared with the holding time. For food that doesn't need to be tenderized with long cooking times – like a rib roast – then how thick the food is affects how long it'll take to heat through. But even here, you'll be able to hold it for quite a while after it comes up to temperature before it starts to starts to get too tender.
It's based on the maximum temperature for Clostridium perfringens of 52 °C / 125.6 °F; see the FDA's Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guidance (4th Ed.), Appendix 4, Table A-2. You'll note that Bacillus cereus has a maximum temperature of 55 °C / 131 °F in that table, but the table and original paper that found that reported a large delay in growth and I'm not aware of anyone being able to reproduce their results; so I, like others, ignore that data point and take the maximum temperature of C. perfringens as the maximum temperature for food pathogens. For more about food safety, see the Food Safety Science section of this class.
I'd suggest looking over the Beef Chuck 12 Ways and Meats: Doneness and Texture sections of this class. There, you'll learn that both time and temperature play an important role in cooking. Essentially, temperature determines the doneness (which is a somewhat nebulas term) and time determines the texture of the food. For example, while collagen denatures at many temperatures, the rate that it denatures depends critically on temperature.
The size of the pork filet or pork tenderloin makes a big difference in how long it takes to heat through; I'm, of course, biased and will point you to Table 2.2 in my web guide. But there are many things that can affect the color of the meat, check the Meats: Doneness and Texture section of this class for more information.
Thanks Douglas. I know your Table recommends a target time of 1h at 58c for Pork Chops and up to 3h for a roast. As my tenderloin were fairly big, I will try leaving them in for a bit longer and perhaps increase the temp around 60c and see the result. I'm having a few friends over tomorrow. They will be the gunny pigs, no pond intended!
Thanks again guys. You rock !!!
P.
Dear Douglas,
First, your link to the Food Safety Science section does not work, and I cannot find safety stuff in the course. Is it missing? Has it been removed temporarily?
About the threshold 52 o 55ºC temperatures, some microbiologist have raise serious concerns about their validity without further experimental data. I am sure you are aware of the FSA report "Safety of sous vide foods" where all their concerns are detailed. Could you please tell your point of view about this? I'm worried about long profiles at temperatures below 54,5ºC, such as the proposal for short ribs in this same site.
