Sous-Vide Pork

Cooking pork sous-vide

Pork belly and pork shoulder are two very popular cuts of meat which are often cooked in a sous-vide water bath. The results are so tasty that no other method of cooking compares.

For even distribution of heat, all of our water baths come with a removable perforated tray at the bottom of the water baths, which allows for even cooking throughout the process with no cold spots in the water. The tray has to stay in the water bath at all times when cooking.

How to cook pork sous-vide

Firstly, you’ll need a Clifton at Home sous-vide water bath or Sousmatic and a vacuum sealer. Vacuum sealing the bag will keep fresh ingredients air tight and lock in all of the flavours.

Prepare the water bath
Take a look at our times and temperatures information sheet to find out which temperature you need to set the water bath to. For 1kg of pork belly we would recommend 83˚C for 18 hours.
Once the bath is up to temperature, it will let out a ‘beep’ to tell you when the food item is ready to go into the bath.

Prepare the meat
As with all sous-vide cooking – the fresher, the better. We have a range of different times and temperatures, so make sure to check out the table below.
Ensure that none of the bags are overlapping in the bath. Make sure that the bag is fully sealed before placing into the water bath.

To cook
Place the bag into the Clifton water bath. You can cook around 6 pork chops in our sous-vide machine; although this does depend on the size of the chops. However be careful not to overfill the water bath and always use the immersion grid to prevent food from rising above the water level.With tough cuts, some food items may need to be cooked overnight. It is perfectly safe to leave your Clifton at Home sous-vide bath switched on in your kitchen overnight with minimal electricity used.

Remove and finish
Once the pork is cooked, a timer will let out a ‘beep’ to inform you that the food is ready. Always be careful when removing the food from the water bath as you don’t want to damage any delicate food items in the pouches

Times and temperatures

Sous-vide is similar to using a slow cooker, but instead of applying heat directly to the food, a sous-vide cooker contains water which is heated to a certain temperature, and this water gently cooks the food within it. Like with slow cooking, sous-vide breaks down proteins in foods by cooking at a lower temperature over a longer period of time, tenderising meats and locking in flavours.

How long should I cook pork sous-vide for?

The same rule applies for any cut of meat, when cooking using the sous vide method the tougher the cut the longer it needs to cook in the water bath. For pork cuts such as cheek and belly, we’d recommend longer cooking times. Be mindful that if you’re pork is thicker than average, please adjust the cooking time and leave it in the sous vide water bath for a slightly longer cooking time to ensure that the meat has reached core temperature.

We recommend for pork chops (which go very nicely with chunky chips and baked beans!) that you cook them for the same time and temperature as you would with a chicken breast, (64˚C for 45 minutes) due to the similar size and texture of the meat.

You can experiment with lots of different cuts of pork in the bath, which is always fun! Just ensure that all pork is fully cooked before consuming. If this is something that you are worried about, visit our shop to see the thermometer and probe kit, where you’ll be able to safely find out the core temperature of the meat without slicing open the bag and wasting all the delicious juices from the pork or ruin the texture of the meat by having to re-bag it, which also makes life easier for the home chef!

Sous-vide pork cooking times 

 These times and temperatures are a suggested guide.

Regenerating Pork

When regenerating foods which have been cooked using sous-vide, we typically say put the food, (which is still sealed in the pouch) into the water bath at 5˚C lower and cook it for half of the time. For example, when reheating a pork chop, you would drop the temperature to 59˚C and cook for around 20 – 25 minutes. When cooking the pork chop from raw, you would cook it at 64˚C for 40 – 45 minutes.

When sous-vide cooked foods are regenerated, the quality of the meat doesn’t change. This means that your pork which has been cooked sous-vide will not suddenly become chewy or lose its moisture. Also, as all of the flavour is still locked in the bag you will still have the intense flavour of the meat, as well as the flavours from the seasoning, if you chose to add some to the bag.