Degrees of precision

[sawyl]

Yesterday's Guardian featured an article on scientific gadgets in the kitchen. The section discussing the wonders of the water bath contained the following gem:

The current must-have gadget for any self-respecting chef. Nickel Electro says sales have practically doubled in the past month. It might not seem like the best thing since the bread-slicer - it is after all just a bath of hot water. However, chefs say it gives them precision control. Aikens' eight-litre model allows him to specify temperature to within 0.5 of a degree. "I do a pigeon main course on my menu," he says. "We sear the breast and then we vacuum seal it into a bag with thyme, bacon, truffles and duck fat. The bag goes into the water bath at 48C and the flavours infuse with the meat. It only takes between five and 10 minutes in the bath, until it's beautifully cooked."

So, to recap, the bath provides temperatures accurate to 0.5 degrees; the chef provides cooking times of 5–10 minutes. I suspect that there must be more to it than that. Maybe a hyper-precise balance and a super complicated equation that involves hundreds of terms...