Technically the food coming out of the sous vide bath is cooked to perfection and ready to eat. Things like steaks are only seared afterwards to get a nice coloration and crust on it.
One of the beauties of the SV is the cooking time. If you put the steaks in at noon they are ready to be grilled/pan seared anytime after 1-1/2 to 2 hours. So if you haing dinner at 3:00pm or 7:00pm they will be at the same temeprature and holding waiting for you to finish them when you are ready.
I do eye of rounds for hot beef sandwiches. They take about 19 hours. I put them in the water bath the afternoon before and we are to have HBS's for dinner. 19 or 30 hours later or when we're ready to eat take the meat out of the water bath let it rest on a plate. While its resting make gravy out of the drippings from the bag then slice the meat and serve. No oven timers no over or under cooking just cooked to perfection every time.
Traditioanl cooking by times is hard to do. You have a 350 or so degree air trying to heat up a 38 degree piece of meat to 138 degrees. Air is terrable at transferring heat and it easy to over cook things this way. This is why we are told also cook by temp not the clock.
The SV is a little different. You cook items at the exact temerature you want the final product to be so you can never over cook. The time comes into play for a couple different reasons. We are told cook chicken to 165 degrees because at 165 bacterial like boutlism are kill off instantly. Its a failsafe. The down side is the meat is over cooked and with each degree over 165 is just more overcooked. Most also do not account for temperature carryover so they cook to 165 then carryover takes it well past 170. Honestly it would be nothing more than a WAG at what temp to take chicken off the heat in hopes carryover would take it to exactly 165 degrees.
The good news is you can have an effective bacterial kill at lower temperatures it just takes longer. So I can cook chicken at 140 degrees (right smack dab in the middle of the temperature danger zone) for 4 hours and not over cook it but have a effective bacterial kill. With it being sealed in a bag and imersed in water bath even cooking at these danger zones temps and durations the meats will not spoil or have a barterial bloom because of the anaerobic cooking enviornment. The other advantage of long slow cooks are just like on the BGE doing a brisket for 20 hours enzames are breaking down muscle fiber. Over time these enzymes help to break down the meats making them tender. The eye of rounds is a cut of meat that can turn to shoe leather in an instant with traditioanl hot air cooking in the sous vide come out as tender as beef fillet every time.
The broad range of temperatures between 41F and 138F (or 5C and 57C) is referred to as the Temperature Danger Zone. In recent years, this has been simplified to an easier-to-remember 40F-140F that simulataneously promotes greater safety by slightly extending the range on each end of the recognized temperature parameters. 140F is not in the middle of the danger zone; it is the coldest temp recommended for a dependable bacterial kill.
Pathogenic bacteria cause illness in humans in one of three ways- intoxication, infection and toxin-mediated infection.
Botulism is an example of an intoxication. Certain bacteria procure toxins as byproducts as their life processes. You cannot see, smell or taste these toxins. The toxin-producing bacteria by themselves do not cause illness. But the toxins they produce can kill the consumer. These toxins are not usually destroyed by the cooking process, necessitating proper sanitation and handling of product during preparation. Storage/environmental concerns are also an issue with botulism. Improperly canned food can be a common source of botulism. The present casually undetectable toxins and related danger cannot be cooked away, which is why damage along any can's lid crimp or welded seam (or lids that don't pop on glass jars) are not to be overlooked.
Salmonella is a well-known example of bacterial illness of an infection. In this situation, the living bacteria is ingested and reproduces within the consumer's digestive tract. The living bacteria cause illness, not their waste by-products. By cooking to sufficiently high temps, these bacteria are killed and may be consumed without ill effect.
The third type of infection called toxin-mediated infection has the characteristics of both an intoxication (dangerous waste by-products) and and infection (live bacterial colonization within the consumer). Without getting into long scientific names, Clostridium and E. Coli are the big names in toxin-mediated infections.
