Work out sous vide time and temperature instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.
Sous vide temperature sets the doneness outright, while time only needs to be long enough for the core to catch up; heating time rises with the square of thickness, about 0.096 minutes per square millimetre for a slab from fridge temperature. Because the bath cannot exceed the target, extra time changes texture rather than doneness, which is why thickness and not weight drives the timing.
Core heating time
minutes to core = 0.096 x thickness in mm squared
Total time
total = core heating time + about 30 minutes equalisation
minutes to core = 0.096 x thickness in mm squared. Sous vide temperature sets the doneness outright, while time only needs to be long enough for the core to catch up; heating time rises with the square of thickness, about 0.096 minutes per square millimetre for a slab from fridge temperature.
Because the bath cannot exceed the target, extra time changes texture rather than doneness, which is why thickness and not weight drives the timing.
Enter thickest part, food and doneness. The defaults shown are a realistic worked example — swap in your own figures to get a result you can use.