Sous Vide Bison Burgers

[ACW3]

My wife wanted burgers tonight.  I told her the only ground meat we had in the freezer was a package of bison.  Sounded good to her.  I told her I wanted to try to sous vide them.  “Whatever!”

My experience with bison is that since it is so lean, it is hard to cook when ground, unless you add some fat to it.  It can turn out "tough".  I didn’t have any fat to add, but I thought that the sous vide method may solve that problem.  After a little research on the site, I decided that I would cook the burgers in individual bags at 130 for at least 90 minutes.  My wife is super sensitive to cooking temperatures lately, so I actually ended up going 2 hours at 130.  (If the truth be known, I took a little "nap" that lasted longer than planned).  She got really sick from a bout of C-DF after her 2 surgeries earlier this year.  Essentially, her immune system was destroyed by the C-DF.  I/we/she can’t take any chances with food that could cause her problems.

We had some great corn-on-the-cob to go along with bison burgers sans buns.  I used a Top Secret rub that I am currently testing.  Given our previous experience with bison burgers, my wife said these were the best I have cooked.  They were not “chewy”, but nice and tender.  I concur with her assessment.  They were among the tastiest burgers I have had in a while.  I will be trying some grass-fed ground beef next.  Sous vide is da bomb!!

Here are a few photos so I don’t get accused of cooking unicorn burgers, sour vide style.



MY plate!!





Next time, I will make sure I have some buns to serve the burgers.  If you haven’t tried burgers, sous vide style, you really should.  This little “experiment” convinced me!

Art

[HighOnSmoke]

Those look delicious Art! I have been seriously pondering Sous Vide since my discussion with you and Tim a couple
weeks ago.

[muebe]

Yes Sous Vide burgers are just fantastic and Art your's did not disappoint

[pz]

Wow, those burgers look perfect!  I'm definitely going to try burgers - what you and muebe have shown looks as good as it gets for burgers

[Las Vegan Cajun]

Excellent looking burgers. 

I've done SV burgers too, not bison though, and they were fantastic.

[sparky]

those look great.  throw a sliced onion on mine plz.   

[hikerman]

Now that is a juicy burger! 

[sliding_billy]

That looks really good.

[Pappymn]

Now that is a juicy burger! 

X2

[MossyMO]

Excellent looking burgers Art!
Since my wife's parents raise buffalo we have had plenty of experience making buffalo burgers for almost 20 years now! Low 'n slow has always been the best, cooking them over hot, direct heat just doesn't work like it does for beef burger. We have never tried SV on buffalo burger, but your cook has inspired me and hope to try this within this next week... thanks for sharing!

[drholly]

Now that is a juicy burger! 

X2

X3 great job!

[teesquare]

They really do look awesome Art....

One of the most "convincing epiphanies" for me was the weighing the meat - before SV - and after. The moisture retention that we all talk about - is now more than just an expression or phrase. It is calculable, and provable.

I agree with Marty that bison, - as well as other lean meats like elk - fare much better when we do not treat them like we have traditionally done beef products. And, if I am understanding it correctly-SV seems to combine a few cooking techniques, in it's effect - if not in "fact" :
1. confit...you are cooking the meat in it's own juices and fats, just like with pork or duck confit.
2. pressure-cooking/steaming...kind of....in that - the prevention of moisture loos is a large part of what pressure cooking and steaming do for us. It is a "pressure positive" method in that we are cooking in a sealed environment ( the vacuum bag )
3. low and slow....the one that jumps out at you first, because we are cooking meats usually in the 120-135F range ( some exceptions apply - of course )usually. Vegetable need to be cooked at higher temps than meats - which is an interesting segue....But - what I notice about this form of low and slow is that i need to cold smoke first - not a problem. Even with chicken that normally you would NOT want to cold smoke ( too much time in the danger zone temps.) but - you can do now, because of the length of time you will be cooking the chicken albeit at perhaps 135F - but for long enough time to kill potential pathogenic bacteria. ( See current FDA guidelines for safe time/temps for SV cooking )

[spuds]

Add burgers to my endless cooks list.