I like medium rare burgers, but I know they can be risky. I've used MH's method of taking a whole chuck roast, giving it a quick bath in boiling water, then grinding it up and cooking immediately. However, it's a bit of a process and it makes a quick meal like burgers a not-so-quick meal. My question is, can I make a big batch of ground beef this way, seal it up, freeze and thaw in the future and maintain the same level of safety? Does the freezing/thawing part introduce new contamination risk?
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Your proposed method should be as safe as fresh if you follow proper food handling techniques, i.e. thawing in the fridge or cold water bath. However, as you mentioned, cooking hamburger to medium rare does involve a little roll of the dice. Done it for years with no problems, but had a friend get a nice load of E coli that way. He mentioned that it was not fun at all and vowed to never eat burger below 160 again. I have taken to the SV method of making MR burgers and, frankly, I find them to be superior to the traditional method. Either that or smash burgers which are cooked through. -
I agree with CaptainMike It appears SV is calling your name, probably more than anyone in the pit for safety reasons alone. Most folks recover from E. coli infections. The risk of illness and death is strain dependent and the little beggars don't ID themselves for consumers. There are published thermal death curves for most of the foodborne pathogens. Purchase a SV widget, get the death curve info, and your good to go.
I forgot to answer one of your questions. I would not repeatedly perform freeze/thaw cycles. Your really asking for it. Freeze in batch sizes. Then pull a bag and use it completely.Comment
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Know that a big concern with vacuum sealed meats that are cooled after some cooking is Clostridium perfringens. Not that E. coli is totally ignored, it's just E. coli doesn't sporulate. Scroll down to the frist pdf listed.
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CaptainMike I drop food on the floor and still eat it, assuming the dog doesn't beat me to it. I only get sick once and awhile. 😠-
CaptainMike 😂 Nope, if i saw that on the floor both the dog and i would keep on walking.
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I'd do it, nothing jumps out at me as unsafe.Comment
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SV never really caught my interest, but if it's the safest way to enjoy a medium rare burger then you've both peaked my interest.Comment
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SV is a time/temperature thing and it depends on what you are "cooking". There are scads of tested recipes available for just about anything that benefits from SV, i.e. meat, fish, poultry, and vegetables. It is also considered a pasteurizing process. The units have a display that shows the current water temp as well as the temp you set. -
I was skeptical at first as well, but Anova had a good sale on their top seller and I picked it up for about 100 bucks. Once I became a customer they did a special offer for $80 and I grabbed another one. I've done quite a few different things with it, and have not had an overcooked, dried-out chicken breast of pork chop since I got it. Plus, it's another fun way to cook. -
One of its most useful attributes is large batches of the same food. For instance, I did 8 tri tip roasts for a nephew's grad party. SV 131/6 hrs, a quick chill in an ice bath, then all I had to do was rewarm to add some bark and a little smoke and every bite of every roast was a perfect medium rare (except for one that I purposely brought up to medium for those who wanted it).
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Originally posted by Jerod Broussard View Post
I would NOT SV the meat, then cool it. I'd a) grind it up, portion it and form into patties, then vac seal and freeze, b) either thaw the vacsealed burger then SV or simply SV, adding ~30 minutes to the time to allow for the start from frozen, c) sear/char etc.
This is actually what I'm planning to do this week - I want to grind my own beef but I want to do something like 3-5lbs of it so I'm not having to go through the grinding process ever few burgers.Comment
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