Disclaimer -- This is not intended to be a complete or authoritative discourse on food safety. "Highly susceptible" individuals are at higher risk from eating any food that is not cooked to approved pasteurization levels and properly held before serving and you may be prohibited from doing so by one or more regulatory agencies.

Basically, "it depends"

For most intact beef muscle meat (not ground, or poked), you can:

• Cook it for as long as you want to a temperature below 130 deg F as long as
  
  • It is consumed within four hours after leaving the fridge, and
  • The surface is pasteurized (searing is a typical approach)
• Cook it for as long as you want at or over 130 deg F so long as it reaches and stays at a time/temperature combination that meets the requirements for pasteurization (the "official" tables do go below 140, the oft-proclaimed edge of the "danger zone") and properly held before serving

Poultry, as well as ground, poked meats (anything that could have transferred contamination from the outside surface to deeper with in the product) can only safely be cooked to pasteurization.

Eggs are recommended to be cooked to pasteurization. With a well-controlled bath, they can even be low-temperature pasteurized without starting to obviously "cook" them.

Fish and shellfish are often eaten "raw" or in various not-completely-FDA-cooked states (and, with a few exceptions, are required to be deep-frozen to pasteurize), as are things like carpaccio and steak tartare.

For example, at home we cook our steaks to (for our taste) "medium rare" in a 125 deg F bath for the hour or two it takes to heat through completely, and then however long it takes to complete and plate the rest of the meal, then they are seared with a blowtorch.

However, we "slow cook" flat iron (a chuck portion) at 131 deg F for 24 hours or so. We sear it to develop flavor; the surface has already been pasteurized by virtue of being at 131 deg F for so long.

It is believed that somewhat lower temperatures can still pasteurize, but, as I understand it, the tables stopped at 130 deg F as the requesting deli meat company could deliver roast beef that hadn't completely turned from pink to gray at that temperature.

A nice introduction on sous vide can be found at http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html

TomC wrote:And I thought it was going to be another "should I leave it on all day and night" threads that have been hashed over before, even currently. Nice original content

Technically, it kinda is. This is just a leetle bit of evidence to add to the 'pro' side of the argument, and to entertain a touch while doing it. Or just another rationalization for my laziness, I'm not sure which. ; >

TomC wrote:If I lived in Vermont, maybe I'd put my syrup on there at night before Saturday morning breakfast!

And yeah, the honey is there all year 'round. Maple syrup goes up the moment I decide I need pancakes or waffles. I even defrosted some beef stew meat there a coupla days ago.

samster wrote:to quote Christian Szell: Is it safe?

No.
Nothing is safe. Education is your only protection. I've discovered that you can't make things fool-proof, 'cause fools are so damnable ingenious. You have to do some research, educate yourself as to what does what well, and determine your own level of risk/reward that makes you safe and happy.
For me, I have to choose the meals that I am willing to prepare with this temperature carefully, as yes, I can use the wrong meat and kill myself and my guests if I don't.