Re:Cooking Methods

[Scott Mark]

RRP wrote:

quote :

barry593 wrote:

quote :

Hi Ron,
……By liability I meant I don’t want people trying to hold this web site, Umai or anyone else liable for any ideas they may read at this website/forum.

The liability thing…I am probably going overboard with it, I just don’t want anyone getting hurt…You are the moderator here, what do you think?

Barry

Barry,
The legalese was already addressed in the Terms and Conditions that you agreed to when you registered here. Furthermore note the fine print at the bottom of the page.I hope that puts your mind to ease.
Ron

The Terms and Conditions will have some weight, because folk “agree” to it. The fine print at the bottom of the page is meaningless. You can claim that you aren’t liable, and hope that scares off lawsuits, but a first-year law student will walk right through such a disclaimer.

On the other hand – meat’s pretty darned safe now. Surface bacteria is a problem, but the aging process kills the bacteria (and MANY of us trim off the surface, anyway!). Intramuscular bacteria is pretty low, to the point where almost any beef that has been handled properly could be eaten “carpaccio” (raw). We aren’t aging chicken (where salmonella is a real concern) and listeria is more associated with ground beef products – again, surface bacteria.

Trichinosis is almost as extinct as polio. And, apparently, I’m the only one dry-aging pork at the moment.

This is not food-advice, but as a practical matter the odds are pretty slim that you’re going to do something dangerous to the interior of your sub-primal. You’re going to trim the exterior of your sub-primal, and the sniff test will give you guidance on the safety of any particular piece of meat.

My own scare-story: I got a rolled sirloin tip from a reputable source in a vac-bag. I dropped it (in the original bag) into the sous-vide at (I think) 128 degrees F for two days. It seemed to be doing fine, then the whole thing swelled like a balloon. That’s not supposed to happen below about 150F.

We cut it open and pitched it based on initial smell of the bag gasses, but I was so tempted to try it. It was a beautiful color. Turns out that 131F is the magic number for long-term sous-vide. Kinda scary, and makes me want to go to 132.3F just for some safety margin.

It was a rolled roast, with string netting around it. Probably the netting had a lot of cultured bacteria on it, but that’s speculation based on the practices I’ve seen.

So, for sous vide, that’s one justification for the sear-chill-vacpac- sousvide method.