I'm finding more uses for my sous vide setup

[MajorChode]

I've used it to pasteurize eggs with good results, at least they appear to be good. The egg whites are just a touch milky just like commercial pasteurized eggs, although naturally I have no idea if the bacteria counts are similar. I would bet they are pretty close, if not better than commercially pasteurized eggs.

It also is the perfect yogurt maker. I can precisely control the temperature which is ideal for the task, so the results are sweeter and faster than any other method I've used.

[Warpy]

1. I think you might have hit upon the sous vide's real purpose

and the one task at which it shines--yogurt culture.

I still think it's a wretchedly bad idea for cooking meat since it raises the temperature too slowly, promotes bacterial growth, and that affects the taste of the final product.

[MajorChode]

2. I'm not sure how you've come to those conclusions

My limited experience has produced excellent results with meat and I've found it to be more flavorful and moist than other methods. If you are cooking at temperatures below what is required for pasteurization, then yes you can certainly promote bacteria growth, but don't properly there shouldn't be any such worry. In theory there should be the same or less bacteria growth because the heat exchange via water is far more efficient. With proper sous vide cooking, the core temperature actually comes up to target fairly quickly, but it must remain so for longer periods to achieve the same level of pasteurization that would be achieved at higher temperatures.

The off smells associated with decomposition is actually a much longer process which results in more complex chemical reactions than simply bacteria growth alone. That's why you can't adequately judge if a piece of meat is safe to eat by smell alone. Most harmful pathogens and/or the harmful toxins produced by those pathogens can't be smelled or tasted.