Inspired by the ketchup thread yet appaled at the concept of ketchup on every side of a hamburger, I feel compelled to ask. Say I take take a fresh steak, sear the outside, grind in a clean grinder, shape into patty, (optionally cook), and instantly submerge in liquor.
Cooked then liquored: Will it last longer? Will it degrade in alcohol?
Uncooked and liquored: Will it last longer? Is it disinfected as well as it would be if it was cooked? Will it degrade in alcohol?
Now, I suppose this could have different answers depending on the liquor, so let’s consider 80 proof burbon (40%AVB), 92 proof rum (46%AVB) and 151 proof rum (75.5%AVB) and 191.2 proof grain alcohol (95.6% AVB).
When I was in college, and I was just learning how to cook through trial-and-error expiramentation, I decided one day to marinate my uncooked hamburger patty in straight Jim Beam (which I believe is a bourbon?). I had planned on letting it set for a few hours, but when I checked on it after about a half hour, the flesh was starting to deteriorate. I figured I should cook it now before it ended up a pink pile of slush floating in liquor.
Result: It was about the nastiest thing I’ve ever tasted. I couldn’t eat more than two bites. Bourbon’s okay, and I love hamburgers, but when you’ve got a burger completely saturated with hard liquor, it’s very, very, very, very difficult-- damn-near impossible-- to enjoy.
Bourbon is actually a pretty normal marinade for steaks. You can marinate steaks in pretty much undiluted bourbon, olive oil, scallions, etc., for about 4 hours or so without ill effect. If you want to overnight it, I’d go down to a 1/2 cup of bourbon with a cup or so of water. I’d imagine marinating hamburgers would be a different thing with all the ground meat and more porous surface.
Let me know when dinner is served!
