It’s no secret that I love burgers. Love going out for them and also love making them. And I think I do a pretty good job. Haven’t had too many complaints at least. That said, I’ve always been slightly bothered by one thing. I prefer my burgers with a slightly thicker patty. It’s just more pleasurable to chomp down on a nice fat burger. While I have had good burgers made with thin, flat patties–which necessitates at least two patties per burger–they just don’t have the same level of juiciness and taste compared to a well-made thick patty. My problem is that cooking a thick patty can be tricky. All too often, and unless you like your burgers well-done, it’s hard to gauge exactly when the whole patty is perfectly cooked. I like my burgers somewhere between medium-rare and medium. And all too often, after frying or grilling them for what I think is the right amount of time, and having developed what looks like the perfect crust on the exterior of my patty, I’ll bite into it and realize that the inside core is still under-done. And there’s nothing ickier than a mushy raw center.

Of course, this is why thin patties are so frequently made and used. It’s a lot easier to cook a thin patty completely to a preferred doneness (although with thin patties, you almost never get one any less cooked than medium–and that only if you insist). And while I could make life easy for myself, I’m not willing to sacrifice on flavour, texture or taste.

In my quest to build a better burger, and in part because of my recent obessive use of my SousVide Supreme (picked up from ToTT), I decided to see if I could cook my burger patties by sous-vide. (Keep reading)