Pre-cooking Hamburgers


 
Ryan P.K.

Ryan P.K.

TVWBB Pro
I have a work potluck on Tuesday. I have been asked to be the hamburger chef. I will be grilling up 40 burgers the night before. So, I have a question/ideas about pre-heating the burgers back up. The only thing I am coming up is this, put the burgers in the crockpot with beef broth and onions. I will have access to electrical power and a microwave. Any ideas anybody??
 
I have reheated burgers and the microwave kills them. Ask if you can take a grill to work.
 
Last time we used a George Forman. It created too much smoke, and the building manager complained about it.
 
I have to agree with tony , the microwave is not great for reheating meat as a rule......but if its your only option and you use a low power (like defrost) its not TOO bad. Although then the time factors in because you have to leave them on longer to get them hot.....you probably have too many to do to make that work.
The crock pot has potential , but it might steam those burgers....be like Salisbury steak burgers. Hmmmmm......
 
Cook them just short of being done and then finish them finish them on a electric griddle. Keep them warm prior to cooking in a weak beef broth solution. Not an ideal way such as grilling them but it sounds like you are limited on what you can do.
 
If you package or seal them and reheat in near boiling water, not rolling but just a simmer, that would be best as it will not destroy the flavor and should keep them almost the same. Just make sure that water does not leak back into the water wrapper. You can try sandwich bags, but insert them into the water with opening up, and pack then in so they don't rotate and all are on the top, might take several pots or times to do them all............try one at home to see how long it takes to warm them up................................d
 
Just a thought... You can cook the burgers to a point of being rare and then chill them after resting. If you reheat them in the microwave at low power - 3 and no more than 4 for 30 to 45 seconds (you can experiment with this), they will warm up and go to medium rare. Not ideal, but given what you've got to deal with this is probably your best option. Toast the buns on the grill at home too.
 
A roaster oven will work perfect. Take a roaster oven from home if you have to. Place the rack inside the roaster oven and stack the patties on the rack. Add liquid and turn the roaster on.
 
How about a chaffing dish with a few cans of sterno? Do they have any that have a rack on them so you could creat a little steam to keep them from drying out, ,or maybe just a bit of beef broth and onions like your crock pot idea. ?
 
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Pete in PG said:
Just a thought... You can cook the burgers to a point of being rare and then chill them after resting. If you reheat them in the microwave at low power - 3 and no more than 4 for 30 to 45 seconds (you can experiment with this), they will warm up and go to medium rare. Not ideal, but given what you've got to deal with this is probably your best option. Toast the buns on the grill at home too.
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Would the cooling period create quite a lot of bacteria in the middle of the burger? I know that I love love love a medium rare burger, but I always use some really fresh ground beef that either I grind myself, or ground beef from the one place I'll buy it already done up (Son's in Jasper, AL). Seems like just taking a rare burger to medium rare in the microwave the next day wouldn't kill much of the bacteria. I personally would be fine with doing a burger like that, but with 40 people and some of them possibly having compromised or weak immune systems, their digestive systems may not destroy what little bacteria is left in the center of the burger as well as us carnivore folks do. ;)
 
RCBaughn said:
Would the cooling period create quite a lot of bacteria in the middle of the burger? I know that I love love love a medium rare burger, but I always use some really fresh ground beef that either I grind myself, or ground beef from the one place I'll buy it already done up (Son's in Jasper, AL). Seems like just taking a rare burger to medium rare in the microwave the next day wouldn't kill much of the bacteria. I personally would be fine with doing a burger like that, but with 40 people and some of them possibly having compromised or weak immune systems, their digestive systems may not destroy what little bacteria is left in the center of the burger as well as us carnivore folks do. ;)
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You may be right. I always grind my own beef for hamburgers because it makes a better tasting burger and it ensures food safety I won't get from the store. It's just the two of us at home (wife) and of course I cook a couple extra burgers. Anyway, you are right in that there is always the possibility of some bacteria a less than full strength immune system not being able to handle getting ill.

If it were me, I'd make a sloppy joe's which could be kept warm in a slow cooker.
 
Here is my fallow up! So I cook the burgers medium on the grill. Then I transferred them to the crock pot. When I started to reheat the burgers, I added can of beef broth and a small onion. It turned out pretty darn good.
 
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