Sous vide calculator
Pick the cut, the thickness, and the doneness you want. You get the bath temperature, the minimum time to bring the core up, the pasteurization time at that temperature, and how long it is safe to hold.
Times come from Douglas Baldwin’s published tables and give at least a million-to-one reduction in Listeria and a ten-million-to-one reduction in Salmonella. Thickness is always rounded up to the next row in the table, never down, and nothing is interpolated. Measure the thickest point, keep the bag fully submerged, and do not crowd the bath.
How it works
Sous vide time is driven by thickness, not weight. A two-inch steak takes the same time whether it weighs 12 ounces or two pounds, because heat travels in from both faces.
Time to core temperature and time to pasteurization are two different numbers. The first makes it hot; the second makes it safe.
Below the instant-kill threshold, safety comes from holding the food at temperature for long enough. The calculator always shows that number rather than burying it.
What it assumes
- Times come from Douglas Baldwin's published tables, which give at least a million-to-one reduction in Listeria and a ten-million-to-one reduction in Salmonella starting from fridge temperature.
- Thickness is rounded up to the next row in the table, never down, and nothing between rows is interpolated. A 1 inch steak is treated as 30 mm.
- Food is fully submerged in a circulating bath and bags are not crowded.
- Thickness is measured at the thickest point.
- Outside the range of the published tables the calculator says so rather than extrapolating.
Questions
129 to 134F for medium rare, 135 to 144F for medium. Hold for at least the time-to-core for your thickness, and longer if you want more tenderness in a tougher cut.