Using Professional Flat-Top Styles in the Home

There is no end to the variety of tasty burgers you can make, but 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 likewise the creator and host of Kenji's Cooking Program on YouTube.

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs an expert chef, food author and cookbook author, I've invested the last two years of my profession carefully investigating and testing dishes, strategies and extensively accepted cooking area wisdom to determine the whys of cooking. Over this time, I have actually operated several hamburger joints and even wrote a monthly column for Serious Eats called the Burger Lab, in which I separated and checked every possible variable that can affect the flavor and texture of a hamburger.

Here are the most important pointers I've found for enhancing your burger experience, whether in the backyard or the cooking area. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

How to Perfect the Ideal Flat-Top Burger

In bread, this can be a great thing, but with burgers, overhandling can develop an unwanted thick 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 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 helps them to connect more quickly. This is a good idea in sausages, which ought to have a firm texture, however with burgers, you want looseness. A hamburger needs to be tender, with a lot of pockets for juices and rendered fat to collect.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

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

This optimizes flavor while maintaining juiciness. 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 actually had a possibility to leak out.

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

Choosing High-Quality Meats for Savory Burgers

Updated May 7, 2026, 8:42 a.m. CTI've always been a hamburger fan. Growing up, I 'd happily munch them down at sit-down restaurants and from the drive-thru getting home from gymnastics practice. I 'd squish the soft bun and let ketchup dribble down the sides over my fingers. 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 right day and I might confess that a cheeseburger is my favorite food. Even if you do, it's likely we do not 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 people like however I just. Perhaps I haven't attempted your favorite hamburger. Possibly I'm out to get you (simply joking).

There's one ideal burg out there for everyone. Let me share with you what makes the ideal burger for me. Let's begin with the patty. Can I state I'm growing a little fed up with smashburgers? The finest ones unbelievely remain juicy with simply a tip of flaky char around the edges, however unfortunately, many places go too tough on the smash.

When I bite in, I require to see a little sparkle, some glistening from the beef and perhaps a little grease diminishing the sides. When I see a smashburger on the menu, I always opt for a double patty. Smashburger or not, the patty must be burnt to help lock in the juices, however not too crusty.