After such an interesting result on last weeks blog, it got me thinking about how I could keep expanding my horizons with this awesome way of cooking. The first thing that came to my mind was burgers! Ive already done a blog on Sous Vide Burger Sliders but that has been the only temperature I have tried, so this time I decided I would do another experiment. Im going to do these burgers at three different temperatures 145/135/125 as I share what I find.
Ingredients
- 4- 8oz ground brisket patties (80/20)
- Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
- Cheese of choice. If desired.
- Hamburger buns of choice. optional.
- Lettuce/Tomato/Bacon ect
Instructions
I started out with 4 – 8oz ground Brisket Burgers.
For this experiment, I decided that all of the burgers would be seasoned simply with salt and pepper and only right before they went into the bath.
After the first burger was seasoned, I placed it in a regular gallon ziplock bag. You’re going to want to use the water displacement method which is achieved by submerging the protein in the water till most of the air is out of the bag. Then secure the bags to the side of the Sous Vide Container with binder clips. Or in place with your lid.
I then set my Anova Precision Cooker to 145F/62.8C and placed the bag in the bath.
After 1 hour in the bath at 145, I seasoned the next burger and took the other one out to an ice bath to be able to keep it in the refrigerator as the others cooked.
After getting the water down to 135F/57.2C, I put the next burger in for 1 hour.
After 1 hour in the bath at 135, I went through the same process. Seasoned the next batch of burgers and Ice bathed the burgers cooked to 135 to hold in the fridge.
After getting the water down to 125F/51.7C, I placed the final batch in the water. Now if you’re going to cook burgers below 130, its very important to know where your beef is coming from. It is recommended by most that you even grind your own. Still, these 125 degree burgers stayed in the bath for 2 hours.
After 1 hour of the cook, I took the other batches out of the fridge to put them in the bath to warm up during the final hour of cooking.
After the 2 hours was up, I took all of the burgers out of the bag and dried them with paper towels. Right now they don’t look that appetizing, but we’ll take care of that in a minute. It is extremely important to get the outsides as dry as possible because that is what is going to produce the best contact with the pan for the sear.
For searing these burgers, I used a Cast Iron Skillet. Heat up the skillet on medium high and when it just starts smoking add the oil. I then seared them all for 1 minute and 30 seconds a side.
Now for the best part. The taste test.
Lets start with the Rare burger. Cooked to 125. Admittedly. This has been the only temperature I have done burgers. They were very familiar to me. Very juicy but where some people get turned off with this temperature, is that it can be softer in the middle as you can see.
Next, I moved onto the burgers cooked to 135 degrees. These were a lot juicier than I thought they would be. I was amazed. Another great thing about the higher temp is the texture is a lot more defined. Not soft like the 125 degree burgers.
And finally, the burgers cooked to 145 degrees. These were also pretty surprising to me. I was kind of expecting these to be dry and just like cardboard but they were nothing like that. I could definitely tell they were a little less juicy but no where near dry. Overall a well defined texture.
Conclusion
I will start out by saying if I was served any one of these burgers at a friends house, I would not think twice about eating them. Butttt. I do have to pick a winner and it was certainly not one that I came into this experiment thinking it would be. The 135 degree burger was the winner out of these 3 for me. I really did enjoy the texture being a little more defined. I am really glad I went through with this experiment. I definitely learned a lot and I hope this has helped you in making your burger decision.
Thank you for checking us out. Now go ahead and try this one! You’ll love it. And when you do, go ahead and drop me a comment and tell me how it went, I want to know! If you enjoyed this, check out our social media’s and go ahead and share this blog with a friend. If you want to be the first to see our new cooks, subscribe to the blog through the bottom of this page. See ya next time!
Equipment List Links:
Meat Tenderizer: Meat Tenderizer
Vacuum Sealer: Anova Vacuum Sealer
Sous Vide Circulator: Anova Nano
Sous Vide Container: Anova Sous Vide Container
Skillet: Skillet
Hey James – great experiment. I’ve always used 132f for my burgers, so I agree with your conclusion!
J. Kenji López-Alt in his burger post at seriouseats.com gives the tip to (ONLY for burgers) after you take the burgers out of the sous vide, dry them and let them rest for 10 minutes. This works really well.
Thanks again, your posts and recipes are always great!