Depends on size. 15 minute at 125F for a cut of salmon, couple of hours to overnight at 135 to 145 for meat. The idea is to get everything to the same temperature. This is probably the world's mot unf*upable cooking method. If you roast in, say a 375 oven, going till the center hits 140F, timing and measurements are important. if you drop stuff in a 140F oven, everything will eventually get to 140F -- it's idiotproof. Of course, you have to brown the outside either before (old school for braises) or afterwards (new school for sous vide).

I have no clue whether what I do is more correctly called sous vide or braising; all these methods (along with BBQ, crockpots, slow cookers, smokers, etc) can be called "isothermal," since everything ends up at the same temperature. Modern controls simply allow the slow cooking to be done at lower than the traditional 170 to 180F temperatures, so the meats can stay rarer and firmer.

I think 145F to 165F might be the no-go zone for any isothermal cooking. The meats will get rubbery when the protein curdles from staying at these temperatures for a while. But they and the collagens never get hot enough to break down, so the cut it doesn't go soft again like in a braise or BBQ.

The need for vac-packing and precise temp control always seemed too over the top for me to get interested in sous vide.

Jim's technique, though, got me thinking. I realized my oven goes down to 140F, and I found that, once it's preheated and equilibrated, it holds a respectable dead band.

Thus, I can testify so far that seasoned chicken breasts cooked @ 145 - 150F in the submerged "ghetto vac-pac" and seared briefly afterwards makes for mighty good eating.

Thanks for that. Ghetto sous vide/brase or whatever it is rocks!