Hamburger cooked sous vide (with pics)

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Rob Babcock

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I finally managed to hold off the snarfing long enough to get out the camera! :ROFLMAO: Here's a couple pics of tonite's burger. It was prepared sous vide at 133 degrees F for three hours. I then dried it with a paper towel and gave it a quick sear with my Iwatani torch. It then went under the oven broiler for about 45 seconds per side.


Here's a picture of it before cutting. I mixed some stone ground mustard, mayo, and horseradish with minced scallions and shallots. I topped with aged white cheddar and melted the cheese a bit with my Iwatani.




Here it is cut in half so you can see the center. As rare as it looks in the picture, it hardly bled at all. Again, sv seems to combine cooking and resting. Plus the heat is low enough that the proteins don't keratinize to the point where all the juice is squeezed out.:chef:

 
Yum!!

I have been craving a good hamburger the past 2 days and you have just made it worse on me. That looks awesome!
 
It's amazing how good burgers are cooked sous vide! At low temps very little moisture is lost, resulting in incredible juiciness. Cooking for several hours pasteurizes the beef eliminating the normal risks of illness you'd have consuming it medium rare. And if the phone rings or you get tied up the beef can remain in the bath for an extra hour or maybe even an hour with no loss of quality. You eat it whenever you're ready. Lastly, there's no luck involved with getting the temp absolutely perfect; you just choose the temp you prefer and the SVS does all the work. No guesswork, just perfect doneness.
 
I opened this thread thinking a sous vide burger would be a pretty stupid idea and not appealing at all. I stand very corrected. That looks great Rob!
 
Is there any sous vide food you would eat "as is", without the additional torching and searing?
 
Sure. Fish come out the SV ready to eat. Chicken is great without a sear, and pork can be depending on what you're used to. Almost all seafood is fine without a sear.
 
Yes, something like a white meat. I can see that now. Thanks.
 
Oh my. Hope you saved me a bite, looks wonderful, PPO!

Sorry but I was a pig and ate it all. Seasoning was just salt and pepper. I did use meat from a local rancher bought at the farmers market. But this is one of the best burgers I ever had.
 
Hmmm, I like the more granular (cooked) look of the first burger. The second one looks like slicing through a raw burger the way the meat tore. But that's me.
Thanks for the update on sous vide burgers.
 
Hmmm, I like the more granular (cooked) look of the first burger. The second one looks like slicing through a raw burger the way the meat tore. But that's me.
Thanks for the update on sous vide burgers.

The first pic does look better. That is the one I am using for the YouTube thumbnail.

It is really hard to get a neat cut thru one of these patties they want to crumble instead of being cut.
 
I'll bet they are hard to cut, slow going, but it's all about the taste and texture anyway.
 
That looks awesome, Powerplantop! I really like doing burgers that way. Over the last couple years though I have refined the technique a bit. My preferred method is now to finish the burger in a skillet instead of using the torch. I get a cast iron pan ripping hot, then add a TBSP or so of virgin organic coconut oil. It only takes about 30-45 seconds per side. This gets a really fantastic sear without substantially cooking the inside.

The reason I like the coconut oil is that no matter how hot you get it it doesn't hydroginize like other oils.

In the two or three years I've had my sous vide gear I've cooked between 2 and 7 days in it every week! In fact I just had ribs tonite from it. I smoked them in my smoker for 4 hours then finished overnight at 147. Very tasty!:pig:
 
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