How to Make Crispy Restaurant-Style Sides

There is no end to the variety of scrumptious hamburgers you can make, however here are 12 that will make your mouth water.

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

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs an expert chef, food author and cookbook author, I've invested the last twenty years of my career rigorously researching and checking dishes, methods and extensively accepted kitchen area knowledge to determine the whys of cooking. Over this time, I have actually run multiple burger joints and even wrote a month-to-month column for Serious Eats called the Burger Laboratory, in which I separated and evaluated every possible variable that can affect the flavor and texture of a hamburger.

Here are the most important pointers I have actually found for enhancing your hamburger experience, whether in the backyard or the kitchen. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Using Chef Flat-Top Methods in the Home

In bread, this can be a good thing, however with burgers, overhandling can produce an unwanted dense texture. (Incorporating extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or additional spices, like onions and herbs, likewise forces you to exhaust the meat and sidetrack from the beef taste, so skip it.) Salting the outside of your patties keeps their texture loose and tender.

This is a great thing in sausages, which must have a company texture, however with burgers, you want looseness. A hamburger ought to be tender, with plenty of pockets for juices and rendered fat to collect.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

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

This optimizes taste while keeping juiciness. Do not let your patties sit around on the cutting board (or worse, a steam table). Hamburgers are at their finest fresh from the fire, before any juices have actually had a chance to leak 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 Yard BurgerCredit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Follow,,, and.

Chef-Level Culinary Techniques for Superior Homemade Burgers

Updated May 7, 2026, 8:42 a.m. CTI have actually always 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 may admit that a cheeseburger is my preferred food. Really, I may say that on many days. And you may say the exact same. But even if you do, it's most likely we do not have the very same concept of what makes the best hamburger.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

I kept some old favorites, added some brand-new ones and continued to end the ones I know individuals like but I just. don't. get. Yes, I understand your favorite isn't there. Maybe we have different taste. Perhaps I have not attempted your favorite hamburger yet. Maybe I'm out to get you (just joking).

There's one ideal burg out there for everybody. Let me show you what makes the best hamburger for me. Let's start with the patty. Can I state I'm growing a little fed up with smashburgers? The best ones amazingly stay juicy with simply a tip of flaky char around the edges, however regrettably, most places go too tough on the smash.

When I bite in, I require to see a little shimmer, some sparkling from the beef and perhaps a little grease running down the sides. When I see a smashburger on the menu, I constantly go with a double patty. Smashburger or not, the patty must be burnt to assist secure the juices, but not too crusty.