Go to the Recipe: Sous Vide Burgers
Flannery Beef custom blend, blue cheese, port wine reduction.
Instructions for barbeque hamburgers versus sous vide advise adding salt before cooking. Does sous vide make a difference or has Chef Steps updated method?
Great recipe and instructions. Made them last night and they were perfect! Making them again for lunch. Yum
Susan I'm so happy that you have named your sous vides.
Hello Ashley, usually the rounding and puffing would come from higher heat cooking and the patty not being flat enough, but this is unusual for cooking with sous-vide. It may be that you have overworked the myosin in the ground beef during the mixing. To combat these issues, you may want to try and pressing the patties a touch thinner for the higher temp medium-well temperature. You can also try placing a divot in the center of the patties to help equalize the puffing or rounding issue.
Hi All!
I'm a (hopeless) vegetarian and a big part of why I bought my Joule was so that I can cook meat for my husband without having to worry whether it's under/overcooked. So far I've had enormous success with everything from pork to steak to chicken. I just can't seem to get the burgers down, though..
I tried this recipe and even used the 4" ring to make sure my burgers were all the same thickness. The patties were about 3/4" thick. I put in medium well (my hubby's favorite) and let Joule do its thing. While the patties were cooking, though, they puffed up and became almost round. Because of this, when they were finally done they were delicious...but nowhere near medium well. They were medium rare at best. What am I doing wrong!?
ANY advice you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated!
Chuck or Brisket are our favorites. And yes you can freeze after you cook them.
what is best cuts to use for the ground mince and can i freeze after the sous vide stage? then thaw and sear?
I am a long time convert to sous vide cooking. I now have two Joules (Jules and Julia). I have been chasing after the perfect burger for over 5 decades and finally made it with my joule.
It would so great if you could have the instrctions in regular recipe format. Trying to follow the recipe while cooking is a bit o a pain.
hi,
when i make burgers usually i use this ratio
Rump 3kg
brisket 3kg
short rib 2kg
any suggestion to improve this recepi?
Hamburger visual doneness
I know this is from 9 months ago but chuck roast typically has an 80/20 ratio. Or save your fat trimmings from briskets and such and grind 80% (or less) short ribs or hanger steak by weight to 20% (or more) fat trimmings.
Hi Daniel, Willie; I agree with Willie on this. One thought on the 2h15m time:
Baldwin's 133F for 1" = 2h15m (Table 5.1) is assuming a slab format. You can tell this by combining the slab-like "time to temp" from Table 2.2, 1h15m, with the "safe at temp" from Table C.1, 56m, which is ~2h15m.
However, the ChefSteps cook time of 30m doesn't even hit that initial slab-like "to temp" number of 1h15m, instead it matches the sphere-like "to temp" time (from Table 5.1).
So, to get food safe hamburgers, I believe you can use the sphere-like "to temp" time of 30m (as ChefSteps is doing) and then add Baldwin's/USDA's food-safe at 133F time of 56m, to get a total time of 1h30m (or 1h45m if frozen).
I don't know if there is a big/noticeable texture difference between 1h30m and 2h15m, but just thought I'd mention it. Willie, you might already be using the 1h30m number (you didn't mention any specific times), and Daniel just thought I'd type this out as I was trying to reconcile the 30m vs. 2h15m, just as you were, and it took me awhile to realize that hamburgers can use the sphere-like to-temp time.
(Basically Table 5.1 is a good cheat sheet, but it's more accurate to add Table 2.2 + Table C.1. E.g. I've also noticed that Joule's times for 1" steaks use slab-time but 1.5" steaks use cylinder-time (approximately), as the extra thickness of a big/thick steak does resemble a cylinder more than a slab.)
Hi
Once I sous vide the burgers, do I have to grill therm right away?
How long can I keep them before using them without affecting the taste and quality?
Also, if I can refrigerate them after I sous vide them, do I have to bring them back to temp or just throw it on the grill?
Thank you
Sam
that price is for a six pack
What happens to the burgers if you cook them for much longer. I kinda forgot my venison burgers overnight so they cooked for like 6-7 hours. Granted I cooked them at much lower temp - 127.5F.
@Willie, thank you for your reply. I will take a look at your earlier comments and agree with your suggestion. Even if the risk is small it is helpful for users to know the limits of food safety. I remember the first time I batch cooked a larger quantity of pork shoulder in bags, sent it straight to the freezer without chilling first and ended up throwing it out just to be on the safe side.
@Daniel, I discussed this at length in an earlier exchange with poster Jon Hughes in these comments. ChefSteps does not seem to have any concerns about unpasteurized ground meat cooked sous-vide. Maybe they grind their own in sanitized equipment but I doubt most home sous-vide enthusiasts do the same. Anyway, that's somewhat irrelevant since they suggest using store-bought ground beef for this recipe (!). I suggested in an earlier post that Chefsteps at least add a basic warning or reference on food safety to allow readers/viewers to better understand those risks and make an educated choice to use the method as is, or seek further knowledge as they see fit. Unfortunately, nothing was done on that front. I definitely enjoy my sous-vide burgers but I cook them at 133F until pasteurized and they still come out med-rare and juicy as hell. To each his own.
We love our Joule and have enjoyed this recipe several times. Yet while I feel more confident cooking my 1" burger to medium-rare at 133F for 30 minutes via sous-vide, I also feel like I'm not understanding this recipe from a time & temp food safety perspective when we serve it to our kids or guests when Douglas Baldwin's charts show that the pasteurization time for 25mm (= 1") of beef at 133F is 2.25 hours. Can someone explain the rationale for this recipe to cook ground beef about a quarter of the time? Does it simply assume we aren't immunocompromised?
thats your problem when you cook on a bbq the fat will usually fall between the rack and you'll lose the flavour maybe next time just pan fry them
I like the extra ingredients you added - salt, pepper and an egg to bind aren't enough.
Tried this but the burgers were dry. I made this with ground beef 20% fat from the store. I don't know how long ago it had been ground, but I chose the package with the furthest date out on it, so I am sure it wan't optimal from the beginning. The burger was good, but it seemed a bit dry to me. I did it 133 for about 45 min. Then I finished them off on the grill like directed, with my charcoal grill about 650 deg. I am wondering if perhaps I used too little salt? Does anyone know about how many grams of salt I should be using? Any other tips?
Couple of comments...
I use the following "stuffed" burger press from Bed Bath & Beyond to form my patties with great results...just make sure to use the full-size ring on the top when forming and place a piece of parchment paper (I use cake rounds) in the press and on top of the meat when using.
https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/stuffed-burger-press/1040568140
Secondly...I've tried 80%/20% (meat/fat) medium ground chuck with great success. However, my best burgers were an equal mix of 90/10 sirloin, 80/20 chuck, and 70/30 brisket, all medium ground. I then added some liquid smoke for that "grill" flavor, some Worcestershire sauce for some umami, some finely grated garlic, salt, fresh ground pepper, and some finely chopped fresh herbs (oregano, thyme, parsley, rosemary) and mixed everything with the egg (1 per 2 lbs) by hand. Chill, press, seal, cook, enjoy!
what is your preferred cut of beef for the perfect 20% fat ratio
I just purchased my Chefsteps sous vide.. the Question on grinding your own Meat is Huge in my world... Ground meat at the stores the % are the same but the Better flavored cuts are a lot more expensive... I purchase Untrimmed Bulk bags of Chuck... Tri-Tip and other Awesome Steak sections of Beef Available ... I buy up to 50lbs of meat....I Trim the fat to My liking Cut out Steaks for future Dinners and grind the rest to have the BEST EVER burgers..... With my handy Kitchenaid Mixer with grinder attachment I go to town..... I do Large grind for chili.... Med &/or Small grind for burgers..... It is a good several hour job start to finish... but worth Every Bite.....Cant wait for my unit to arrive.....
Here's a much cheaper rolled edge model made out of aluminum for $9.01 each. https://www.katom.com/158-80824940.html?zmam=29342707&zmas=1&zmac=32&zmap=158-80824940&utm_source=google&utm_medium=adwords&utm_campaign=CSE&gclid=CjwKEAjw_uvHBRDUkumF0tLFp3cSJACAIHMYqsW33O9EMx0rTxpjSIPPPsezsyM5IaL8fbXPsgMJABoCq_bw_wcB
The four-inch ring mold used in the video goes by the name "flan ring" at J.B. Prince and costs $25.40 per ring. https://www.jbprince.com/professional-culinary-molds/flan-ring-4-inch-stainless-steel.asp
@Tomas Garcia how thick did you make your burgers? Did you chill them before searing? Did you dry them off before searing? What Did you use to sear them? How hot was the searing temperature? Did you check to see if they were pink prior to searing? What is the lean/fat ratio in the beef you're using?
I see pictures of all these beautiful pink burgers. We have tried at least 8 different times to make burgers, first using the recipe above, then altering the eggs, time, packing density etc. Not once have our burgers even come close to pink. They are always overdone. I have checked the water temperature and it is 133 degrees F as recommended but even leaving it for 15 minutes has cooked it all the way through. My other dishes come out wonderfully using SV but burgers seem to be our only issue so far. This question has been asked before in this forum but has not been answered. Any idea where we are going wrong?
Double Brie and Bacon Sous Vide Burger with homemade skinny skin-on fries. Stunning. Thanks Chefsteps.
@Ilia Litviak I honestly can't think of any upsides.
You say "it makes prepping cuts like 'butcher's cut' a lot easier": how?
You say "decreases shrinkage" have any evidence to support this? Because I would think quite the opposite. It's already cooked (which will lead to some water lose) then you're going to cook it again an initial sear (optional) then cook in the water bath, then sear (potentially again). This will lead to dried out overcooked meat.
"and stuff" such as?
Other downsides, besides drying out, over cooking, falling apart. Egg will only bind so well, and not everyone is going to use this method. because the meat will already be cook, you're going to lose the ability of the raw ground meat to be able to be shaped into patties.
If you can point out some upsides that actually are upsides, i'd love to see them, however, I honestly don't think there are any upsides to cooking meat before grinding it.
I have a question about a part you omitted: grinding beef. What are pros and cons to SVing meat BEFORE grinding it? It makes prepping cuts like "butcher's cut" a lot easier, decreases shrinkage and stuff. Are there major downsides?
I tried this recipe at 133 degrees as recommended, but using pre-packaged ground beef (lean too, unfortunately). The burgers came out of the water bath well done, no pink left at all, and nothing like the pictures above. Any ideas how this could happen? Also, I added some BBQ sauce to the meat and egg before cooking, could that be it?
Step 7 has the salt and pepper listed by mistake (they were used in step 6, aren't needed in step 7).
Killing bacteria isn't just a matter of temperature, it's a matter of time. The FDA say the meat needs to be at 155F, yes, but only for 15 seconds; if you cook at a lower temperature, you can still achieve the same level of pathogen reduction, it just takes longer. Here's an example showing it for Salmonella: http://www.hi-tm.com/PDG/Tech-5B-Fig2.jpg (Sorry, I couldn't find E.Coli, but I think they had a graph for it in Modernist Cuisine).
The rule of thumb I've heard with most processes in cooking is "+/- 5C degrees = double/half the rate of change." So if it takes 15 seconds at 155F, it should take roughly 30 seconds at 145F, roughly a minute at 136F, and roughly two minutes at 127F - so, 133F is somewhere between one and two minutes. And in this case we're cooking for anywhere between 15 and 60 minutes - even accounting for the time it takes for the burger to get up to temperature throughout, that's plenty of time to render it just as safe as if you'd cooked it at higher temperatures.
I am really concerned about cooking these burgers at 133 degrees. E. coli O157 Is killed at 155 degrees which is why it is recommended to cook burgers to 160 degrees. The bacteria can be incorporated into the center of the patty and not killed by a lower temp. Has Chef Steps done any testing to show that 133 degrees is safe?
Don't feed onion to your dog!
Just received a Joule for Christmas and can't wait to try these burgers!
@william wittman Egg is typically used for binding, and is far more common in burgers than you seem to think. You can insist it be called whatever you like. That doesn't change the fact that it meets the definition of a burger.
I don't get why the egg... that's meatloaf, not a burger.
@Clayton Plater Oh! If you only knew the stuff that the government watch dog agencies allow food manufacturers to leave in your food, or what naturally gets in your food just by it growing or being produced.
Kenji Lopez-Alt from Serious Eats has some good info here. Good luck!
So I tried the sous vide burgers and they were awesome. Now my wife wants me to try Sous Vide Turkey burgers. Does anyone knows what temp and how long they have to sit in the water bath?
Medium beef is, depending on the cut 140-145°F ish. What gives is you cooked it at the wrong temperature.
ok, i made burgers yesterday at 130 degrees for 50 minutes. Should have been medium. Came out very rare. Double checked my anova with my thermopop and they are within 1 degree of each other. What gives?
Dogs lick their balls all day and then you shared your burger with your dog. It's the same as having its balls in your mouth......
HOLY MOLY !!, Guys you need to let the word out, seriously !!, i went to my butcher ,and told him to make me a coarse mince then he told me something that everyone should keep in mind about mincing meat, most of the fresh mincing happens very early in the morning, after mid day the meat mincers gets sanitised,and cant be used, most importantly most butchers have commercial size grinders and ordering half kg of coarse minced meat wont go through the mincer of that size, so they can't mince coarse meat if you dont order at least 2KG, i highly recommend ordering your minced meat a day ahead, and pick it up on the day of mincing, truly speaking the coarse minced meat makes the really big difference, i used a propane blow torch to finish mine with some butter, and you should see the smile on my face seeing the millard reaction at work, and that burger was just perfect !!, please call the rehab because i'm addicted !!
Chefsteps you are a very naughty bunch
