Sous Vide Burger | Control The Doneness

Sous Vide is all the craze these days in the foodie world. From fine dining restaurants to those of us just wanting something different, all the while creating new textures with foods that have been on our menus for years.  I’ll show you how to cook your burger to the doneness you personally like.

Jump to:

• 💭 What is Sous Vide?
• 📖 FAQ's
• 🧂 Seasoning & Shaping
• 🥘 Protein Substitution
• 📖 Grind Meat Using Kitchen-Aid Mixer
• 🍽 Machine Setup
• 📋 Cooking Temperatures
• Sous Vide Burger Recipe

💭 What is Sous Vide?

Sous Vide is a cooking technique where you place food items into airtight sealed bags and when placed into a temperature-controlled water /or oil bath set to an exact temperature of your choosing. Sous Vide means, Under Vacuum.

The very coolest part of Sous Vide cooking is the fact your food doesn't get overcooked. You set the temperature and how long you'd like it to cook for and that's it, you get repeatable perfectly cooked food.

📖 FAQ's

🧂 Seasoning & Shaping

1. Add all of your seasonings like salt, pepper one time. Never mix twice, unless you forgot an ingredient.
2. Adding egg yolks help bind the meat together. 1 egg yolk per pound (whip the egg yolk before adding to the protein)
3. Form the burgers quickly. Do not keep working the ground beef into shape. The heat from your hands starts to break down the fat. IE the fat is melting. So work quickly.
4. Once the burgers are shaped. Always place them into the refrigerator to chill and set up for 20-30 minutes. This will help make sure the burgers will stay in shape when you cook them.
5. When you can, grind your own beef for a luxurious-out-of-this-world-experience.

• For Sous Vide Burgers, add 1 yolk egg per pound of ground beef

Add salt and pepper to taste. I would suggest at least 2 teaspoons of salt per pound of ground beef. I used garlic salt for a little extra flavor. The key is not adding too much to the ground beef or you risk masking the natural flavor of the beef.

Shaping the burgers. I like using a burger shaper. It helps with the thickness being consistent across all the burgers, so everyone gets a burger that looks like everyone else's. The main reason for the burger shaper is the even cooking it creates. If every burger is the same thickness, all the burgers will be done at the same time.

Be gentle and do not press the beef into shape too hard, yet be delicate and lightly press down. Pressing hard and you will get gummy, tough burgers.

Place the sous vide burgers into the refrigerator for 20 to 30minutes. This will help the burgers set up and keep their shape when you cook them.

🥘 Protein Substitution

Ground Beef

• classic burger option that is sure to be juicy
• beef stands up to big flavors like onions, bacon, mustard, etc
• shop for beef that is labeled (80% meat / 20% fat) going even higher with the fat percentage is often used in restaurants.
• (Chef Tip: for more fat/flavor, grind-up bacon and add it to the beef)
• grinding your own meat is easy, plus you can blend different cuts of beef together. Create a burger flavor profile like no other.
• Examples of Cuts-of-Beef to Grind: short rib, sirloin, brisket, flank, bison, skirt steak

Ground Chicken

• most grocery stores sell either ground chicken or fresh chicken sausage. Option: you can remove the ground chicken from the sausage casing and form it into patties.
• chicken is a great protein to grind yourself. 
• adding additional fat is very helpful. I like grinding up bacon and mixing it in. Just be sure it is ground very well so the bacon plays the part of a back-up singer, not the lead.

Salmon / Fish

• needs additional fat, some options: mayonnaise, bacon grease, sour cream, butter, ricotta cheese (try our homemade recipe) 
• adding more texture, options: cooked quinoa, (learn to cook quinoa here), cooked barley, Ritz crackers
• Once the salmon is cooked and out of the sous vide machine, I like painting on something like mayonnaise and then adding panko bread crumbs, and finishing by pan-frying on a medium-low temperature for a few minutes to create a nicer presentation and added texture. 

Today, we ground-up fresh Sirloin Flap Beef

• highly marbled - which brings more flavor

• only 12 pounds per steer/cow (makes it special)

• excellent for incredible fatijas

Butter N Thyme Article On Sirloin Flap aka Bavette

📖 Grind Meat Using Kitchen-Aid Mixer

First, unscrew and remove the protective cap seeing in the photo below. Next, attach the meat grinder to the utility port located at the front of the mixer.

Putting the Kitchen Aid grinder together is a snap. Start by placing the grinding gear in the middle of the grinder base, push it all the way to the back to secure. Next, add the blade followed by the extruder plate (the part that decides the size of the ground meat). Screw on the front cap and you're all set to go! (See Below)

Secure the meat grinder attachment to the kitchen aid with the front plate screw

Place the blade onto the Kitchen Aid grinder first (left)

The followed by the grinder size plate (right)

Last place the front cap on to secure everything into place.

To grind the meat, slice the meat into long strips so it will fit into the meat grinder. Run all the meat through. If you would like a normal ground meat size, remove the grinder plate, and switch it out for the one with the smaller holes for the second grind. Use the long stick to help push the beef through.

TIP: Never try to grind with the small plate before using the large plate first. You need to tenderize the meat with the large one first. Plus the machine will give you trouble with trying to use the small one first. Yeah, I made that mistake before.

🍽 Machine Setup

Remove the sous vide machine from its case. Place the attachment that holds the sous vide machine in place and connect it to the edge of the temperature-safe tub and screw it into place. Slide the sous vide machine in place and plug it in. Fill the tub with water to the indicated fill line. Make sure you fill it to the said level to protect your sous vide machine motor.

Our setup consists of, Anova Sous Vide immersion circulator, 1 tub to hold the water. Be sure to use a temperature-safe water tub.

Below are Butter N Thyme affiliate links to both the Sous Vide machine we like and the temperature-safe water tub. The coolest feature is the Anova Sous Vide machine has an excellent smartphone app. This helps with setting the temperature and cook timer, along with a ton of recipes with instructions right in the app.

Want to know how long your cook is going to take or how much time is left, just look at the app.

The Anova app is great, with very clear instructions and Bluetooth controlled.

SHOP NOW

• COOK LIKE A PRO - The Anova Precision Cooker allows anyone to cook a restaurant-quality meal at home. Our Sous Vide circulator is the perfect kitchen appliance for hands-off cooking of vegetables, meat, and much more with consistent control and precision. We're so confident in our product Anova backs it with a 2-Year Warranty

• "Everie" Sous Vide Container Bundle - 12 Quart container and lid with corner mount hole to snugly mount Anova cooker to the container.

Great Sous Vide Burgers can happen in a number of ways. The texture of the ground beef is the key. Often cooks will "overwork" the ground beef and they end up with burgers that are tough. Be gentle with the ground beef and break it up with two forks.

📋 Cooking Temperatures

Temperatures List To Control The Burger Doneness

• Rare 128-130
• Medium Rare 133-137
• Medium 140-145
• Well Done 150-160

Here's the key to sous vide cooking. The sous vide technique cooks your food beautifully. The finished product will look pink on burgers & steaks. This does not mean in any way the meat is undercooked or raw. It is just new to most people, so your brain is telling you one thing, but it's just not the truth. The burgers will be cooked beautifully.

The doneness will always be controlled by what temperature you cook your proteins at and for how long. One of the features of sous vide cooking is you set the temperature and the meat cannot cook to a higher temperature no matter how long you cook it. This offers even, repeatable cooking. Also, next to zero rest time is needed.  Welcome to the wonderful world of Sous Vide Burgers.

Once the sous vide machine reaches the desired temperature place your burgers into the sous vide water bath and set the timer for a minimum of 1 hour. I like two hours for sous vide burgers made with beef.

• 10-speed slide control ranges from a very fast whip to a very slow stir
• Includes Flat Beater, Dough Hook and Wire Whip
• Power Hub for Additional Attachments, Volts- 120
• Unique Mixing Action