Congrats! You’ve been deemed the top honor of being the one to Grill the Burgers! Hold onto your butts, everyone is going to judge you harshly for the rest of the day. BUT!!! You have a dirty little secret! You have a Sous Vide Machine, and the night before to get everything perfect. Best part of grilled burgers is getting that perfect medium with the crusty smokiness that comes from the grill.
Why it works: Charcoal grill temperatures are harder to judge and regulate, as the heat source takes time and skill to manage. Therefore, a more fool proof technique is to sous vide the patties to the desired temperature and finish on the grill. The technique for the grill is to load half the grill with coals and half with none. This creates a separate cooking and holding area, so that burgers can be moved to the cooler area as they reach their desired doneness.
Yield: 8 8-oz burgers
Time: 2 Days
Pairing: Chips, Beer, Potato Salad
References:
Equipment:
Sous Vide Machine
Charcoal Grill
Charcoal Chimney
Thermo
Grill spat
Grill Thermo
Ingredients:
Spray neural oil (Canola)
4# 80/20 Beef (Grind yourself if possible)
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
S and P
Butter
Sesame Seed Buns
American Cheese
Shredduce
Mayo
Heirloom Tomato
Instructions:
Take Stock of what people will want for the rareness of their burgers, because you will have to Sous vide them to different temperatures. For the sake of the recipe, I’ll assume 4 burgers will be well done, and 4 will be medium. Set your sous vide bath to lower temp. For Medium you want to set sous vide to 130 F, cook for 40 minutes to 3 hours. Remove the Medium burgers and let them rest. Rest sous vide to 145 F, and let the rest of the burgs go for another 40 minutes to 90 minutes.
Form the burger patties. Finished burgers need to be slightly larger in diameter than the bun they will be on when complete. Also make the burgers with a half dollars sized dimple in the center, as if a ping pong ball had been pressed into it.
Place four burgers in a square pattern into a gallon waterproof bag, leaving ½” room between each. Add 2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter to the bag, and seal the bag with a small amount left open to allow air release. Gently add the bag to water, which will push the remaining air out. Finish closing bag at waterline.
Sous Vide for 40 minutes to 3 hours
Remove burg bag from sous vide bath, and change temperature for Well Done if needed. Refrigerate if not directly cooking.
Light charcoal grill, and get to searing temperature (400F). Bring burgers to room temp if they are refrigerated. Lightly oil and season each side of the patty. Place on a piece of parchment.
Plating Instructions
Tasting Journal
Date:
Photo:
Tasting Notes:
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