A Ultimate Guide to Smashed Cooking Perfection

There is no end to the number of tasty burgers you can make, however here are 12 that will make your mouth water.

J. Kenji Lpez-Alt composes a column for The New York Times on food and science, and he establishes dishes and appears in videos for NYT Cooking. He is also the creator and host of Kenji's Cooking Show on YouTube.

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs a professional chef, food author and cookbook author, I've invested the last 2 decades of my career carefully looking into and testing dishes, methods and widely accepted kitchen wisdom to find out the whys of cooking. Over this time, I've operated numerous hamburger joints and even wrote a monthly column for Serious Consumes called the Hamburger Lab, in which I separated and tested every possible variable that can impact the taste and texture of a hamburger.

However that doesn't suggest you can't intend for something much better. Here are the most essential pointers I've discovered for enhancing your burger experience, whether in the yard or the cooking area. Working hamburger excessive can cause it to become dense. Credit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York City Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

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In bread, this can be an advantage, but with hamburgers, overhandling can create an undesirable dense texture. (Incorporating extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or extra spices, like onions and herbs, also forces you to overwork the meat and sidetrack from the beef flavor, so skip it.) Salting the exterior of your patties keeps their texture loose and tender.

Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Salt breaks down muscle proteins and assists them to connect more quickly. This is a good idea in sausages, which should have a firm texture, however with burgers, you want looseness. A burger ought to hurt, with lots of pockets for juices and rendered fat to collect.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Whether you're making a big burger on the grill or a crisp-edged smash burger on a griddle, browning is taste, and high heat is essential. For thicker grilled or griddled hamburgers, wait till your pan or grill is hot before adding the patties, and cook them till they're well browned on both sides.

This maximizes flavor while maintaining juiciness. Do not let your patties sit around on the cutting board (or worse, a steam table). Burgers are at their finest fresh from the fire, before any juices have had a chance to drip out.

Smash BurgersCredit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Restaurant BurgerCredit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Thick Backyard BurgerCredit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Follow,,, and.

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Upgraded May 7, 2026, 8:42 a.m. CTI have actually constantly been a burger fan. If there were any little melty American cheese leavings stuck on the wrapper, I 'd drag my french fries through them (I still do this).

Catch me on the best day and I might admit that a cheeseburger is my favorite food. Even if you do, it's likely we don't have the exact same concept of what makes the best hamburger.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

I kept some old favorites, added some new ones and continued to leave off the ones I understand individuals like but I just. Perhaps I have not tried your preferred hamburger. Possibly I'm out to get you (simply joking).

Let me share with you what makes the best hamburger for me. Let's begin with the patty.

When I bite in, I require to see a little sparkle, some sparkling from the beef and possibly a little grease diminishing the sides. When I see a smashburger on the menu, I always go with a double patty. Smashburger or not, the patty should be scorched to assist lock in the juices, however not too crusty.