Sous Vide Burgers

[gmc2003]

For me... moistness and adding more flavors are advantages. Cooking between 230° and 240° is my target range.

To keep a better texture and shape, I prefer the displacement method over vacuum sealing unless your form your patties and partially freeze them.

With SV the flavors in the bag stay in the bag, and in addition to dry seasonings, one thing I like to do for burgers is to paint on (or inject) a layer of products like Minor's AuJus Prep, Worcestershire, Head Country Marinade, etc. Sometimes by themselves, other times a mix. This is a sirloin steak I'm prepping for SV, but you get the general idea. This really bumps the 'beefiness' of a burger.
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Thanks

Chris

 

[gmc2003]

Same immediate question I had. I'm always up for experimenting though. I may give some 3/4 pounders a try like this.

Cool let us know what you think. I can see it for seasoning purposes, but it's still a burger.

Chris

 

[jcam222]

Cool let us know what you think. I can see it for seasoning purposes, but it's still a burger.

Chris

Will do. I think the biggest benefit is for really thick burgers getting consistent doneness throughout. I'll give it a go one of these days

 

[thirdeye]

Same immediate question I had. I'm always up for experimenting though. I may give some 3/4 pounders a try like this.

Been playing with this but not got it perfected. I think SV is GREAT for large 12-16oz "pub" style burgers. So far my fave is adding water, salt, STPP, and MSG. That Au Jus Prep is good stuff. I have on hand. Restaurant grade au jus. Screaming hot sear a must. I actually SV days in advance.

When I was a little boy, 'hamburger steaks' were very popular, both at home and in many diners and restaurants that featured specials. Sometimes with smothered onions or maybe a gravy. Usually served with a choice of mashed potatoes or fries. I still like a good hamburger steak, and a couple of trendy restaurants in Jackson Hole serve mini meatloaves (bison or elk) that are essentially the same thing.

 

[DougE]

When I was a little boy, 'hamburger steaks' were very popular, both at home and in many diners and restaurants that featured specials. Sometimes with smothered onions or maybe a gravy. Usually served with a choice of mashed potatoes or fries. I still like a good hamburger steak, and a couple of trendy restaurants in Jackson Hole serve mini meatloaves (bison or elk) that are essentially the same thing.

Hamburger steaks were a staple in our house, growing up. Mom always did them with smothered onions and pan gravy. Mashed taters on the side with a vegetable to round the plate out.

 

[gmc2003]

When I was a little boy, 'hamburger steaks' were very popular, both at home and in many diners and restaurants that featured specials. Sometimes with smothered onions or maybe a gravy. Usually served with a choice of mashed potatoes or fries. I still like a good hamburger steak, and a couple of trendy restaurants in Jackson Hole serve mini meatloaves (bison or elk) that are essentially the same thing.

We used to call those hot hamburger sandwiches. Most times it was a larger burger on a slice of bread smothered in gravy. Sides were hand cut gravy fries, and maybe a dish of slaw. They really hit the spot after a night out on the town.

Chris

 

[DougE]

We used to call those hot hamburger sandwiches. Most times it was a larger burger on a slice of bread smothered in gravy. Sides were hand cut gravy fries, and maybe a dish of slaw. They really hit the spot after a night out on the town.

Chris

What my mom used to fix was a big thick oval shaped patty with onions and gravy over top, no bread at all.

 

[Inscrutable]

Just curious. Is there any advantage to SV'ing burgers?

Chris

I’ve done this a couple times. I “think” I’ve lost less moisture doing this way. I SV @120* then stagger the time I move them to a reverse sear (in a CI skillet) depending on the done preference of each eater, and all are done at the same time.

But (to me) not a helluva lot of difference at sane human proportion burgers.
Still seems the province of large muscle tough meats.

 

[dr k]

This is a very informative article from Serious Eats on SV for burgers.

Sous Vide Burgers Recipe

For larger burgers, sous vide cooking is a wonderful method of ensuring that your burger comes out with an unparalleled level of juiciness every single time.

www.seriouseats.com

I do like this article and follow meat scientist Kenji lopez-Alt from the Thermoworks science and food links. I'm more in alignment with Chef Jimmy J's posts on this in the Food Safety Forum on his view of ground beef tartar and rare ground beef of raising and grinding your own beef cattle vs commercial store bought ground beef that thousands of pounds of beef has been ground through many grinders. Since ground meats are the most extreme form of non intact meat I'd follow the Pasteurization table above. Kenji mentioned no difference in a SV burger for 45 min or 3 hrs. so a 131 water bath with a pkg of 25 mm or 1" burgers takes 2.75 hours to pasteurize, then sear for service with a CI skillet, grill or torch.