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Another boring technical sous vide question


benjamin163

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I am experimenting with cous cous, rice and mash potato.

I don't sous vide these dishes. I find that pointless.

However, I am bagging the finished product and vacuum sealing so I can keep them and reheat quickly in the m**rowave (don't hate me!)

My question is this...

Should I be placing these bags in a water bath to pasteurise them for a longer life before storing them in the fridge or freezer?

I'm wondering how long I can keep bagged rice in the fridge under vacuum unpasteurised as opposed to pasteurised.

If I was to pasteurise, do I use the same guidelines as for meat? ie is it still about the thickness of the package and the temperature of the water?

Or is this all a totally unnecessary faff?

Any thoughts on this gratefully received.

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I don't know if I'd necessarily assume that the time to temp would be the same as meat, as I'd assume that the thermal conductivity of rice/cous cous would be lower than meat.  I'd also have no idea where to get the conductivity information.

 

One thing to consider is that rice is known to harbor B. Cereus, which is relatively heat tolerant... see this wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_cereus

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Pasteurization is almost certain to extend your shelf life, but it will only matter if you are at refrigerator temperatures. At freezer temps I doubt you will have any use for the additional shelf-life. Since pasteurization is about time-at-temp, you probably can get a reasonable estimate for the time by using tables for meat, and then extending it a bit. Since you're not really concerned with a precise numerical reduction in the pathogen counts it's not that critical whether you hold it for the precise amount of time indicated. I'd just suggest that it's not worth the trouble.

Chris Hennes
Director of Operations
chennes@egullet.org

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If your sealer is up for the task, seal the product and refridge or freeze.  As others have suggested I don't think SVing the product will buy you anything.

 

  I have neither the expertise nor the liability insurance to advise how long it would be safe.  At my house this would not be a concern.  Smiley.

 

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