Cooking times in recipes

That's a real good sous vide question. I don't think there's an easy answer to it though but I'll do my best. <br /> <br />In general, for meats that are cooked less than two hours the time is the minimum time you would want to cook it for safety reasons. A good place to see the exact temperature guidelines is at <a href="http://amath.colorado.edu/~baldwind/sous-vide.html">this guide</a>. <br /> <br />Most things that are cooked with sous vide for longer than two hours are cooked for longer amounts of time to help the breakdown of the proteins in the meat. For these items cutting the time isn't a safety matter but a matter of tenderness. <br /> <br />For the sous vide pork chops I would think they would be just fine if they were cooked for 6 to 10 hours instead of the 12 suggested. If you put them in the night before I think they might be a little too tender but still pretty good, especially if they are thicker ones. <br /> <br />I hope this gives you the information you need to successfully tweak some of the sous vide recipes you find.

Right, Jason

One thing I do with pork is worth noting. If you are looking for a lot of tenderness but aren't worried about the meat becoming too dry, you might chose a cooking temp at or above about 133 degrees F, but less than your target temperature for pork and place your pork in the cooker overnight. It will pasteurize while still in a "too pink for pork" condition, slowly becoming more tender. Then in the morning crank the temperature up to your target for several hours. The meat will dry out less than it would running at full temperature for the whole period.