The Benefit To Using Sous Vide For Burgers

A barbecue grill is considered the "classic" way to make a burger, and it's a great choice if you're throwing a barbecue. However, if you've got the time and you want to make an especially juicy burger batch, you might consider using a sous vide method to cook it more evenly. The way sous vide works is by sticking the meat inside of a vacuum-sealed bag and placing that bag into a water bath, which is heated to an extremely precise degree. Rather than preheating an oven or using an open flame, the sous vide machine heats the water to specific temperatures. 

It's a great way to work with beef, which benefits from being cooked to precise degrees — steaks and burgers are one of the few foods where the customer (or your guest) will specify temperature by saying "rare" or "well done." It resolves any issue of overcooking or undercooking the meat because sous vide ensures the meat is being cooked evenly on all sides. It might take slightly longer than grilling, and a burger can sometimes require an hour or longer in the bath, but you're guaranteed a juicy patty, and burning your burger is much less likely. 

There are only a couple of steps for a burger sous vide. If you make your hamburger patties from scratch, you can assemble the patties individually or just form a cylinder of ground beef to separate later. Then, seal it into a bag and let it cook in the water bath. If you're worried about time, you can freeze them after the sous vide and reheat them when you're ready. It's convenient, and it's difficult to get wrong, and the method has caught on among larger chain restaurants: Chipotle is a fast food restaurant that sous vides its beef, and Arby's also sous vides ground beef for certain burgers.

Sous vides are considered fairly safe because they minimize the risk of accidentally undercooking meat, but is it safe for burgers otherwise? The process usually involves plastic bags, and certain types of bags are safer than others. Polyethylene and polypropylene plastic bags are considered non-toxic for food contact by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. If you're concerned about the broader risk of microplastics from plastic food storage, then reusable silicone bags will also work for ground beef sous vide. It doesn't have to be just ground beef, either; you can also sous vide thick-cut bacon for a bacon cheeseburger.