The Complete Guide to Smashed Grilling Perfection

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

By J. Kenji Lpez-AltJ. 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 likewise the creator and host of Kenji's Cooking Show on YouTube. This video and short article become part of, our series on cooking area basics.

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs a professional chef, food writer and cookbook author, I've spent the last 20 years of my career carefully looking into and testing dishes, strategies and commonly accepted kitchen wisdom to find out the whys of cooking. Over this time, I've operated numerous hamburger joints and even composed a monthly column for Serious Consumes called the Hamburger Laboratory, in which I isolated and tested every possible variable that can impact the flavor and texture of a hamburger.

That doesn't indicate you can't intend for something better. Here are the most important suggestions I've found for enhancing your hamburger experience, whether in the yard or the cooking area. Working hamburger excessive can trigger it to become dense. Credit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

How to Perfect the Ultimate Flat-Top Patty

In bread, this can be an advantage, however with burgers, overhandling can create an undesirable dense texture. (Integrating extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or additional flavoring, like onions and herbs, also forces you to overwork the meat and sidetrack from the beef flavor, so avoid it.) Salting the outside of your patties keeps their texture loose and tender.

This is a great thing in sausages, which must have a firm texture, but with hamburgers, you want looseness. A burger should be tender, with plenty of pockets for juices and rendered fat to gather.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Browning your patties deeply takes full advantage of flavor. Credit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Whether you're making a big hamburger on the grill or a crisp-edged smash burger on a griddle, browning is flavor, and high heat is key. For thicker grilled or griddled hamburgers, wait till your pan or grill is hot before including the patties, and cook them until they're well browned on both sides.

This maximizes flavor while maintaining juiciness. Preparing your buns ahead of time lets you get to consuming a lot faster. Credit ... Bryan Gardner for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Do not let your patties relax on the cutting board (or even worse, a steam table). Hamburgers are at their best fresh from the fire, before any juices have actually had a possibility to leak out.

Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

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Upgraded May 7, 2026, 8:42 a.m. CTI've always been a hamburger 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).

Capture me on the ideal day and I may admit that a cheeseburger is my favorite food. Even if you do, it's most likely we don't have the exact same idea 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 simply. do not. get. Yes, I understand your favorite isn't there. Perhaps we have different taste. Perhaps I haven't tried your preferred burger. Perhaps I'm out to get you (just joking).

Let me share with you what makes the ideal hamburger for me. Let's start with the patty.

When I bite in, I require to see a little sparkle, some glowing from the beef and perhaps a little grease running down the sides. When I see a smashburger on the menu, I constantly choose a double patty. Smashburger or not, the patty needs to be burnt to assist lock in the juices, but not too crusty.