Sous Vide Turkeyburgers

 Gave this a try. Results were good, for a turkey burger.

1.1 pounds ground turkey breast

3 tbsp chopped parsley

about a teaspoon of kosher salt

cracked pepper

garlic powder (pinch)

mustard powder (pinch)

makes three patties. load em into the bag. (Although I didn't do this, I think I would douse it in some olive oil next time)

Cook the turkey at 145 for one hour. I went about ten minutes over that, to be safe.

sear over high heat, flipping twice and then adding mix of swiss and jack cheese.

Result is as juicy as a turkeyburger would be. Our buns were awful, and this was the major disappointment. The bun makes the burger.

getting the timing right on hamburgers

grill at 450-525. Circa 15 minutes, opening the grill only to flip and to check towards the end. Also, I closed down the top damper, which dropped the temperature (down to 450). I had to open the damper again to keep the temp from dropping too far. At 12 minutes I opened the grill to toast the buns, then I pulled the buns, added cheese, and closed it for about two minutes.

The result was juicy and cooked throughout. Call the result medium to medium well for burgers that began at just under 1/2 pound of raw ground beef. I could have gone a few minutes less, but ten minutes is likely the minimum, at least for medium-range.

Dressing up burgers

I've never been good at dressing burgers, if only because I simply never make them. But they are one of the perfect bbq choices, especially for ten guests aged 18-20 who need to be fed cheaply, but still leave impressed.

So I bought 4 pounds of ground sirloin, dropped it in a bowl, and started splashing in worcestershire sauce, sprinkling in garlic salt, and finally dropping in freshly chopped parsley until it looked like it absorbed enough. Having eyeballed this, all I can say is that ground beef will take a lot before it impacts the flavor too much.

I formed patties about the size of my two cupped hands, which produced a 6-7 oz. burger. This is perfect size, except I have yet to locate the bun to match.

I dropped some mesquite in the egg and got it up to 600. I basted each burger with olive oil and kosher salt (quite a bit), then seared the meat for 2 minutes on each side, put on the lid and cooked the burgers at 400 for approximately an additional 10 minutes. I cut into a test burger when I thought they were done and found it still raw in the middle, but after leaving it a couple of minutes more, they came off medium, and full of juice. NOTE: clear juice is not necessarily a sign of doneness. The burger I tested I ran a knife into the middle, and out poured clear juice, but the middle was not quite there. I could try the paperclip test next time.

The result was woody on the nose, thanks to the mesquite. It was extremely juicy, but brown all the way through. I'm never a fan of leaving hamburger raw, or even undercooked, so I would rate it as perfect. Any more, though, and it will begin approaching shoeleather. The meat was flavorful, but the worcestershire sauce, garlic, and parsley seemed to balance itself well. It could have taken more of each. Also, the chopped parsley gave the burgers an appealing herbed appearance.