evanrobinson

Argh little food safety question here-- I had a lamb neck with some thyme, rosemary and butter in my sousvide demi for the past 50 hours. Well, idiot me, getting ready for a job needed to charge some equipment and accidentally unplugged the demi. DAMN! I woke up this morning to see my water bath was down at 80 degrees, clearly in the danger zone, but here is my question; the food was already thoroughly "cooked" having been in a water bath at 145F (roughly 62.5 C for people who think that way), and was still in a vacuum package, not out in the counter. Have I lost it to bacteria? Or is it safe to eat since it was already cooked, and was probably only at the danger zone temps for about 6 hours while I was sleeping?

For what it's worth, I was in this exact position, and just opted for a SVS Demi and FoodSaver, both from eBay in close-to-new-but-slightly-cheaper condition. Everything arrived today, so I will post back soon with some results. If I weren't constantly moving (I tend to switch houses every 6 months or less, and will be on that schedule for another year or two) I might've gone for a multipart device (Polyscience Creative was high on my list) but the self contained, low hassle options seemed like it would mean it would mean sous vide would become a regular part of my cooking. I'm interested in the wonderful and bizarre things you can create with sousvide, but also wanted to elevate the very basics, like making 72 hour short ribs and doing a quick heat and sear with the Iwatini torch I also picked up so that Tuesday night dinner is incredible, not just leftovers... Just my 2 cents on making sure equipment is simple enough to encourage frequent use.