Sous Vide Doneness Guide: Temperatures by Food

Sous vide doneness is the bath temperature. The food heats to the temperature of the water and stops there, so a steak in a 131°F (55°C) bath comes out medium-rare from edge to edge.

The calculator's default settings are 131°F (55°C) for steak and lamb chops, 140°F (60°C) for pork chops, 145°F (62.8°C) for chicken breast and 120°F (48.9°C) for salmon. Pick the temperature here, then get the time for your thickness from the calculator.

What doneness means in a water bath

Anova's steak guide says the doneness of a steak is largely determined by the maximum internal temperature it reaches during cooking.

A pan, grill or oven is far hotter than that target. The outside of the meat heats faster than the center, and the cook has to take it off the heat at the right moment.

A water bath is set to the target itself. No part of the food can get hotter than the water, so the center and the edge finish at the same temperature.

Time is a separate setting. The page on sous vide cooking times explains how the minimum and maximum are set.

Steak doneness temperatures

The default is medium-rare at 131°F (55°C). That is also the lowest temperature in the pasteurization tables this calculator uses.

Choose 140°F (60°C) for a steak that is pink throughout and firmer. At 150°F (65.6°C) the steak is firm and drying out, and at 160°F (71.1°C) it is firm and dry. Douglas Baldwin's guide to sous vide cooking explains that above 140 to 150°F (60 to 66°C) the muscle fibers shrink along their length and lose a substantial amount of water.

The steak temperature chart adds the time for each thickness.

Pork doneness temperatures

The default for pork chops is medium at 140°F (60°C). The lowest pork chop setting is 135°F (57.2°C).

FoodSafety.gov lists 145°F (62.8°C) followed by a 3 minute rest as the safe minimum for pork chops. The calculator's note on the 135°F (57.2°C) and 140°F (60°C) settings is that they pasteurize the chop only because it is held for the full minimum time, so that time should not be shortened. The pork temperature chart covers tenderloin, loin and the long-cooking cuts.

Chicken doneness temperatures

Chicken breast has four settings, from very soft at 140°F (60°C) to traditional and firm at 160°F (71.1°C). The default is 145°F (62.8°C).

The USDA safe minimum for chicken is 165°F (73.9°C), which the calculator describes as a single reading with no hold time. The lower settings pasteurize the breast only because it is held for the full minimum time, so that time should not be shortened.

Thighs default to a higher temperature, 165°F (73.9°C). The calculator's note is that dark meat needs a higher temperature than breast meat to become tender. The chicken temperature chart has wings, drumsticks and turkey as well.

Lamb doneness temperatures

Lamb chops use the same five temperatures as steak, with medium-rare at 131°F (55°C) as the default. Rare lamb at 125°F (51.7°C) carries the same warning and the same 2 hr 30 min limit as rare steak, and chops thicker than 1.5 in (3.8 cm) are not recommended at that setting. The lamb chops guide has the times.

Fish doneness temperatures

Fish is done at much lower temperatures than meat. The salmon default is 120°F (48.9°C), which gives a very moist, tender and flaky fillet.

The 140°F (60°C) setting is the one that pasteurizes salmon, and it is firmer and drier than the lower settings. The fish temperature chart compares salmon, tuna, cod and halibut.

Why the same temperature gives different textures

A 140°F (60°C) bath produces four different results in four foods:

Heat changes several proteins in muscle, and each one responds at a different temperature. Baldwin's guide lists them. Muscle fibers begin to shrink at 95 to 105°F (35 to 41°C), and the shrinkage increases up to 175°F (79°C). The sarcoplasmic proteins aggregate and gel between about 105 and 140°F (41 and 60°C). Connective tissue starts to shrink around 140°F (60°C) and contracts more intensely above 150°F (66°C).

Fish reaches its cooked texture early in that sequence. Baldwin's review of sous vide cooking says fish flakes when the collagen that separates the flakes turns to gelatin, at around 115 to 120°F (46 to 49°C). That is below the calculator's rare setting for beef.

What time does to texture at a fixed temperature

Time does not change the doneness temperature. It changes how tender the food is.

Anova's steak guide compares steaks held at 130°F (54.4°C). After 1 hour the meat stretches and pulls when torn. After 4 hours the connective tissue has started to break down. After 24 hours or more the steak shreds as you chew it.

The calculator has two pairs of settings that show the same effect:

• Flank steak at 131°F (55°C). The medium-rare setting needs at least 50 min for a steak 0.75 in (1.9 cm) thick. The long cook setting holds the same temperature for at least 12 hr and at most 48 hr, and the calculator describes the result as more tender and softer than the short cook, and starting to shred at the long end.
• Chicken thighs at 165°F (73.9°C). The short cook has a minimum of 1 hr 30 min for a thigh 1 in (2.5 cm) thick and leaves the meat tender, very juicy and still holding on the bone. The long cook runs 4 hr to 8 hr, and the meat is very tender, pulls easily from the bone and is a little less juicy.

Tough cuts depend on this effect. Baldwin's guide says collagen begins to dissolve into gelatin above 122 to 131°F (50 to 55°C), and that a chuck roast held at 131 to 140°F (55 to 60°C) for 24 to 48 hours has the texture of filet mignon. The flank steak guide and the chicken thighs guide cover the short and long options for those cuts.

Baldwin also writes that meat continues to soften in the bath and may become mushy if held for too long.

Carryover cooking and searing

Carryover cooking is the rise in temperature after food leaves the heat. America's Test Kitchen's explanation of carryover cooking gives the cause: the outside of a roast gets hot much faster than the inside, and heat keeps moving from the surface to the center after the meat comes out. A larger roast and a hotter oven both increase the effect.

Its test on salmon fillets measured it. Fillets 1 in thick were cooked to 125°F (51.7°C) at the center. Five minutes later they had risen an average of 7°F (4°C) after a 250°F (121°C) oven and 27°F (15°C) after a 450°F (232°C) oven.

Food from a water bath is the same temperature all the way through, so its center does not keep rising. Set the bath to the final temperature you want and do not subtract a margin for carryover. Anova's steak guide adds that a sous vide steak does not need to rest after searing, for the same reason.

Searing puts heat back into the surface, so it is kept short. Baldwin's guide says very high temperatures are used to brown sous vide meat in order to limit overcooking of the interior. He describes good browning at around 300°F (149°C), far above any bath temperature.

The calculator's note for steak is to pat it dry after the bath and sear it in a very hot skillet or on a hot grill. Anova's steak guide flips the steak every 15 to 30 seconds and gives about a minute and a half in total.

The safety limits behind the low-temperature settings are explained in is sous vide safe, and the time and temperature chart lists the default doneness for every food.