Beef Shank w/ pic

The anticipation would kill me. Especially if it turns out bad all that time for nada.

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The anticipation would kill me. Especially if it turns out bad

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Trust me, it's going to taste great. The hardest thing about cooking something sous vide for over two days is that I can't use the bath for anything else unless it's the same temperature. Sous vide also lacks in triggering the senses while you cook, especially smell. You simply drop the bag in the water and absolutely nothing happens. Very anticlimactic. No sizzle, no smell, no nothing. That's probably my least favorite part of sous vide cooking...the joy is virtually erased until it's finished, but the results are well worth it.

I've never done any sous vide cooking, but I can read. It does seem you are pushing the limits with both temperature and cook time. I'm just saying I wouldn't serve it to children or elderly folks. Of course, I'm not going knock anyone for experimenting. I'm looking forward to reading about the results.

May I suggest 134F for 24hrs
LINK

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I'm just saying I wouldn't serve it to children or elderly folks.

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Good thing I'm only serving this to expecting women.

That meat pictured was seared after the sous vide process. Typically I sear on a grill because I like the grill marks and I think it is more appetizing with that method.

I have also seared after in a cast iron skillet and used a chefs torch to sear. I don't like these methods as well.

I think in OP's dish that searing before is the way to go since that cut of beef is typically not suitable for grilling and is generally braised for a long time after the meat is browned. I don't see the appeal for cooking that cut medium rare though and a higher temp might render the fat and connective tissue better yielding a more tender end product.

It blows my mind.

To me it's almost like leaving a raw chicken breast in your car during the summer for 3 days and then eating it....

LINK

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Prolonged cooking (e.g., braising) has been used to make tough cuts of meat more palatable since ancient times. Indeed, prolonged cooking can more than double the tenderness of the meat by dissolving all the collagen into gelatin and reducing inter-fiber adhesion to essentially nothing (Davey et al., 1976). At 176°F (80°C), Davey et al. (1976) found that these effects occur within about 12–24 hours with tenderness increasing only slightly when cooked for 50 to 100 hours. At lower temperatures (120°F/50°C to 150°F/ 65°C), Bouton and Harris (1981) found that tough cuts of beef (from animals 0–4 years old) were the most tender when cooked to between 131°F and 140°F (55°C and 60°C). Cooking the beef for 24 hours at these temperatures significantly increased its tenderness (with shear forces decreasing 26%–72% compared to 1 hour of cooking). This tenderizing is caused by weakening of connective tissue and proteolytic enzymes decreasing myofibrillar tensile strength. Indeed, collagen begins to dissolve into gelatin above 122°F to 131°F (50°C to 55°C) (Neklyudov, 2003; This, 2006). Moreover, the sarcoplasmic protein enzyme collagenase remains active below 140°F (60°C) and can significantly tenderize the meat if held for more than 6 hours (Tornberg, 2005). This is why beef chuck roast cooked in a 131°F–140°F (55°C–60°C) water bath for 24–48 hours has the texture of filet mignon.

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Different types of meat will require facilitating cooking times. For instance, I only let salmon swim for 45 minutes max. There's no way I would hold a chicken breast for 72 hours at that temp merely because it will affect the texture of the meat. I once did a chuck steak too long and I could mush my thumb into the meat. Tossed that baby right into the trash.

There's so much to learn about sous vide with relatively little info out there since it's a newer concept and I'm certainly no expert. I'm just sort of borrowing concepts from the various places that I can find info.

What's interesting is some of the sources absolutely contradict each other...whether to salt something before it's bagged, also when to sear it, before or after, cooking times, temps, etc.

Thomas Keller is one of the pioneers and someone you should look into if you want to start experimenting in sous vide, but the one knock with him is that his cookbook is so advanced even the above average home cooks won't have access to various exotic ingredients. Douglas Baldwin has done extensive research and is also a pioneer and seems to be more home cook compatible. I've provided a link earlier to an insightful website, but he also has a book Sous Vide For The Home Cook which is worth picking up.

I promised to post the final result.

Here's one of the shanks that's been braised, paired with an overcooked poached egg. Cost for what's in the pic?...just over two bucks for steak and eggs.