Selecting High-Quality Meats for Savory Burgers

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

By J. Kenji Lpez-AltJ. Kenji Lpez-Alt composes a column for The New york city Times on food and science, and he develops recipes and appears in videos for NYT Cooking. He is likewise the creator and host of Kenji's Cooking Show on YouTube. This video and post become part of, our series on kitchen fundamentals.

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs a professional chef, food writer and cookbook author, I have actually spent the last 20 years of my career carefully looking into and evaluating dishes, methods and widely accepted kitchen knowledge to determine the whys of cooking. Over this time, I've operated multiple hamburger joints and even composed a monthly column for Serious Consumes called the Burger Lab, in which I isolated and tested every possible variable that can affect the taste and texture of a burger.

Here are the most essential pointers I've found for optimizing your burger experience, whether in the yard or the kitchen. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Selecting High-Quality Beef for Savory Burgers

In bread, this can be a good idea, however with burgers, overhandling can create an unwanted dense texture. (Integrating extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or extra flavoring, like onions and herbs, likewise requires you to overwork the meat and distract from the beef taste, so skip it.) Salting the outside of your patties keeps their texture loose and tender.

This is a good thing in sausages, which should have a company texture, however with burgers, you desire looseness. A burger must be tender, with plenty of pockets for juices and rendered fat to gather.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

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

This takes full advantage of flavor while keeping juiciness. Preparing your buns ahead of time lets you get to eating a lot quicker. Credit ... Bryan Gardner for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Don't let your patties sit around on the cutting board (or even worse, a steam table). Hamburgers are at their finest fresh from the fire, before any juices have had an opportunity to leak out.

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

Creative Savory Dinner Inspiration for Busy Home Cooks

Updated May 7, 2026, 8:42 a.m. CTI've constantly been a hamburger enthusiast. 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 confess that a cheeseburger is my preferred food. Really, I might state that on most days. And you might say the exact same. But even if you do, it's likely we don't have the exact same concept of what makes the ideal hamburger.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

I kept some old favorites, included some brand-new ones and continued to leave off the ones I know individuals like but I simply. Possibly I haven't tried your preferred burger. Perhaps I'm out to get you (just kidding).

Let me share with you what makes the ideal burger 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 maybe a little grease running down the sides. When I see a smashburger on the menu, I constantly opt for a double patty. Smashburger or not, the patty should be scorched to help lock in the juices, however not too crusty.