A Question About Logistics

Hey fellow CSers, As you know from my previous posts, I get a real kick out of pulling off pretty elaborate meals at the office where I work...

Next Friday, the 11th I'll be making everyone burgers and fries - we have our city's annual Burger Week festival beginning that Sunday so I thought I'd kick it off with some killer in-house burgers and ask people for a donation to a local charity.. But since I am on planning on 50+ burgers, and we have nothing more than some microwaves, toasters and fridges/freezers (plus all the free beer we can drink), I've got some questions on logistics..

These burgers are going to be epic - Nearly 6o days ago the local butcher shop that operates its own farm slaughtered their oldest grass-fed steer and have been dry aging the entire Chuck for me ever since. I am expecting the net weight to yield 10 - 12 lbs.. I also have about 15 lbs of prime-grade, 70 day dry-aged Prime Rib.. I figured I'd blend the chuck with 3-4 lbs of prime and 4-5 lbs of grass-fed short ribs. So given the cost of these burgers, I want them to be over the top. I was thinking 6 ounce patties (170 grams) with 2.6 grams combined salt&msg (1.5% by weight), along with a spice rub mix of freshly cracked black pepper and dried porcini mushrooms ground into a powder and just a little bit of sugar (maybe half a gram each). I was planning on grinding them the day before and forming them into patties that I will freeze at home. Once they are in the freezer for 45 mins - and hour, I will sear them off and re-freeze them until firm (30-40 mins). At this point I will vacuum pack each burger individually.

I planned to re-freeze them before vacuum sealing so the vacuum doesn't compress the burgers and I don't want to water displace 50 burgers . I will then cook them sousvide to a medium temp and chill in an ice bath and keep them refrigerated overnight and the next morning. I will then bring to temp in a sous-vide bath at wokr and do a final sear with a searzall and a cast-iron pan on a portable induction burner (have a couple things going since so many burgers).

My question, will it be fine to only cook the burgers to medium? I would normally do medium rare but cook and serve immediately. Also, I will season the meat just before the final sear so I don't denature the proteins (I know salting a burger in advance can act like a meat glue). Any thoughts, tips, advice?

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tshewman

send to me to test. ;-) Sounds ambitious and you should be able to go from SV to chill until reheated without an issue (though med-rare might be sufficient as they will probably cook more than you want on the pan with the searzall on the go (unless you're an octopus and forgot to tell us). Alternatively, assign someone to the induction spot. That would be my biggest concern. Once cooked, you can't un-cook them, but you can always grill a bit longer. The burgers sound great, and also wonder do you want to leave some stuff out (e.g. mushrooms)? Not sure of everyone's palette or how much flexibility you want to leave everyone for creating their own flavors (on top of yours). If I were cooking these for myself with the meats you mentioned, other than salt, that's all I would want to make the beef shine. It will be great, but I can taste those cuts from here already. :-) You have some spoiled fellow colleagues!

dancurren

Thanks.. I love a medium rare burger but sadly, most of my colleagues insist on - sigh - well done. As a compromise I will cook to medium and if they get cooked to medium well on a few so be it but I will no supply "well done" burgers. As for the porcini mushroom powder, its a light dusting that adds a lot of umami but most people can't place it - I have nothing but mushroom haters in my family. They detest mushrooms. When I frind dried procinis into a fine powder and lightly dust the buirgers, they go nuts for them and are none the wiser (in my experience, most people who hate mushrooms actually hate the texture despite claiming to hate the flavour - mushrooms in beef stock, for example, often go undetected but add great depth of flavour).

As for the searzall/induction, I have a very reliable colleague with whom I compete and co-host meals. She will be manning the induction and I the searzall. I am providing some flexibility of toppings - melty blue cheese, smoked gouda and aged cheddar slices; onions armelized with star anise; mushroom ketchup and smoked tomato ketchup; MC Special Sauce; sliced red onions; tomato slices; pickles; and butter lettuce and a couple types of mustard.

For the fries, they will be triple cooked fries cooked in a mixture of beef fat (tallow) and goose fat both from a local farm. I am also serving them with pickled baby carrots.

Samuel_68313

Sounds amazing. crazy optimistic but a lot of fun.

I'd leave out mushroom powder as well personally, seems a step too far to me flavour wise, but if you're happy go with it.

Amos_Schorr_168815

I'm a HUGE fan of mushroom powder (though I'm a shiitake guy myself). Seriously amazing secret ingredient.

tangma27

I think the mushroom powder sounds fantastic! Though you already have msg going in there so who knows

Amos_Schorr_168815

Is there such a thing as too much umami?

tangma27

Hahaha perhaps not~~~~~