There are two ways to cook sous vide, one is based on the thickness of the food and the other is based on the desired tenderness. When cooking based on the thickness of the food it is helpful to have a reference guide to fall back on. I've combined several of the respectable sous vide charts into one easy-to-use reference.
Both methods have their uses. Thickness-based is ideal for very tender cuts cooked by people who need them done in the minimum amount of time. Tenderness-based is best for tougher cuts or people that have a range of time that they are interested in. This chapter focuses on thickness and the next is on tenderness.
Cooking sous vide based on thickness basically tells you the minimum time you can cook a piece of meat to ensure it is safe and comes up to temperature in the middle. It doesn't take in to account tenderizing time or any other factors.
Cooking based on thickness is how PolyScience, Baldwin, and Nathan started out as they did research on food safety.
Cooking by thickness is most often used by restaurants or home cooks who want to minimize cooking time and are using tender cuts of meat that don't need any tenderization.
The times were extrapolated from the descriptions in Baldwin's Practical Guide to Sous Vide as well as Nathan's tables on eGullet and a few other sources.
The times given are approximate since there are many factors that go in to how quickly food is heated. For example, the density of the food matters, which is one reason beef heats differently than chicken. To a lesser degree where you get your beef from will also affect the cooking time, and whether the beef was factory raised, farm raised, or grass-fed. Because of this, I normally don't try to pull the food out at the exact minute it is done unless I'm in a real rush.
The times shown are also the minimum times to heat or pasteurize the food. The food can be, and sometimes needs to be, left in for longer periods in order to fully tenderize the meat. If you are cooking food longer, remember that food should not be cooked at temperatures less than 131°F (55°C) for more than 4 hours.
For a printable version of these charts you can download the ruler from my website at:
These are the times for heating, cooling, and pasteurizing beef, lamb and other red meat, as well as pork. These times apply to most types of meat except fish, though chicken and poultry are almost always cooked to pasteurization and have been moved to their own section for clarity. If you have some other type of meat (moose, bear, rabbit, etc.) you can use these charts as well.
These times specify how long it takes a piece of meat, with a particular shape, to heat all the way to the center. The center of the meat will come up to about 1° less than the water bath temperature in the time given. The final degree takes a much longer time and generally does not contribute to the final taste or texture.
While there are slight differences in the heating time for different temperatures of water baths, the times usually vary less than 5 to 10% even going from a 111°F bath to a 141°F bath (43.8°C to 60.5°C), which equates to a difference of 5 minutes every hour. I show the largest value in the chart.
Remember that you should not cook food at much less than 130°F (54.5°C) for more than 4 hours. If you want to cook a piece of food at a lower temperature, you can cut it into smaller portions so it heats more quickly. The times shown are also minimum times and food can be, and sometimes needs to be, left in for longer periods in order to fully tenderize it.
If you want to ensure that your food is safe to eat through pasteurization, then you can follow these sous vide times. They let you know how long you need to cook something, specifically most red meat, for it to be effectively pasteurized and safe to eat.
Like the heating and cooling times, they are not exact, but they are also on the longer side for safety reasons.
If you are cooking food and then storing it in the refrigerator or freezer, then these sous vide cooling times will give you the time that food needs to be in an ice bath before the center is chilled out of the danger zone.
Just like with heating, the actual temperature change isn't a big factor in the time needed to cool it. Just make sure the ice bath is at least one half ice to ensure proper cooling.
Sous vide chicken is almost always cooked until it is pasteurized. For heating and cooling times you can reference the previous section.
The sous vide pasteurization times in the chart will ensure that the chicken is always safe to eat. These times are for chicken that has been in the refrigerator, for frozen chicken add some extra time.
These sous vide times will help you determine how long you need to cook fatty fish in order for it to be brought up to temperature. It will not pasteurize the fish, so make sure you use high quality fish you would be comfortable eating raw.
There are slight differences in the heating time for different temperatures of water baths but they usually vary less than 5 to 10% even going from a 111°F bath to a 141°F bath (43.8°C to 60.5°C), which equates to a difference of 5 minutes every hour. I show the largest value in the chart.
The chart assumes the fish is defrosted.
