Long time lurker, first post. My daughter's christening is on the 1st and somehow I have ended up doing lunch for sixteen at ours afterwards. The plan is pork tenderloin, because it's the one thing I cook sous vide that everyone in the family actually likes, plus roast potatoes and a couple of salads.
Problem is the day itself. Church at eleven, back by half twelve, sixteen hungry people in a small kitchen. I do NOT want to be standing over a pan for the first hour. So my idea is to cook all the tenderloins on the Saturday, chill them, then reheat on the Sunday while we're out and just sear when we get back.
Questions, in order of how much they're keeping me up. Is cooking a day early actually safe or am I going to poison my in-laws? Will it come back dry? And will five tenderloins even fit in one container without the middle ones being undercooked? I have one circulator and a 12 litre box.
I did exactly this with a turkey for fourteen back in September (there's a whole thread about it somewhere on here) and the reheat was the best decision I made all day. Cooked Thursday, ice bath, fridge, reheated Saturday morning. Nobody could tell. The oven was free for the potatoes, which in hindsight was the real win.
The one thing I'd say: your 12 litre box is going to be tight. Five tenderloins plus bags plus water flow is a squeeze. I borrowed a cool box for the ice bath and a second, bigger box for the reheat.
Size of the box isn't about the cooking time, it's about the water getting round them. Five tenderloins laid flat, one per bag, standing up in a dish rack, in a box big enough that they're not touching. If they're stacked or touching, the middle ones lag.
And dry them properly before the sear. Sixteen people means two pans or you'll be there all afternoon.
rhiannon_t said:
Will it come back dry?
Not if you reheat it at the same temperature you cooked it at, or a touch under. The mistake I made the first time was reheating hotter "to be safe", and that just cooks it again and you lose the pink. Same bath setting, about the same time as it took to heat through the first go, and it comes out exactly as it went in.
Also, and I say this as the person who keeps telling everyone to label things: label which bag is which if anyone's having theirs cooked differently.
#5October 25, 2026, 10:20 am Rhiannon, congratulations to the baby, and the short answer is yes: cooking a day ahead and reheating is one of the best uses of a circulator for a big meal, it is safe when the chilling is done properly, and tenderloin comes back from it beautifully.
The part that decides whether it's safe is the chill, not the cook. Bags straight from the bath into a bath of at least half ice and half water, and left there until they're cold right through, not just on the surface. A 12 litre box of ice water isn't enough for five tenderloins at once, which is why Dad's cool box tip is a good one. Then into the fridge well within 2 hours of coming out of the bath. Planned like that, a cooked and chilled bag is good for a few days, so Saturday for Sunday is nowhere near the edge.
Tessa's right about the reheat. Same temperature as the cook, or a degree under. If you cooked at 140°F (60°C), reheat at 140, and give a typical tenderloin an hour and a half to two from the fridge. I'd also check the thickness of your thickest one, because time follows thickness, not weight, and the thick end of a tenderloin is what you're waiting for. The temperature and timing ranges are in our pork tenderloin guide, and I just put up a piece on cooking sous vide for a crowd that walks through the box size, the chill and the batch sear in order, because this exact question has turned up in my inbox three times this month.
One practical note from my own family lunches: if anyone eating is pregnant or elderly, do one bag at 145°F (63°C) and put a clip on it. Nobody has to know which is which except you.
Report back, as promised to myself. Cooked five tenderloins on Saturday afternoon in a borrowed 25 litre box, one per bag, standing in my dish rack. Ice bath in the cool box from the garden, about forty minutes until they were properly cold. Reheated on Sunday at 140 while we were at church, with one bag at 145 with a red peg on it for my nan.
Back at half twelve, dried them on racks while the pans heated, two pans going, all done in about ten minutes. My father in law, who has opinions about pink pork, had seconds. Nan had the red peg one and declared it "very nice for pork". Thank you, all of you. I'm still a little stunned it was that calm.
