Sous vide cooking is all about masteringtime and temperature. These two factors determine the final texture and flavorof your dish. Selecting the correct cooking temperature is all about knowingyour desired doneness.

Cooking time is less strict, but stillimportant. Sous vide foods must cook long enough to reach their targettemperature and (in certain cases) eliminate any potential bacteria. Manyanimal proteins have an upper limit for cooking times as well — after four hours or so, theirstructure begins to break down and turn mushy. So while you have a much largerwindow for cooking times in the sous vide water baths than in an oven, youstill do need to pay a little bit of attention to the timeline.