Advanced Culinary Techniques for Superior Hand-Pressed Burgers

There is no end to the variety of tasty burgers 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 developer and host of Kenji's Cooking Show on YouTube.

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs a professional chef, food writer and cookbook author, I've spent the last 20 years of my profession rigorously investigating and checking recipes, methods and extensively accepted cooking area wisdom to find out the whys of cooking. Over this time, I've run numerous burger joints and even composed a regular monthly column for Serious Consumes called the Burger Laboratory, in which I separated and tested every possible variable that can impact the taste and texture of a burger.

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

Chef-Level Culinary Techniques for Juicier Homemade Burgers

In bread, this can be a good thing, but with burgers, overhandling can create an undesirable dense texture. (Integrating extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or additional seasoning, like onions and herbs, likewise requires 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.

Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Salt breaks down muscle proteins and assists them to connect more easily. This is an advantage in sausages, which must have a firm texture, but with burgers, you want looseness. A burger ought to be tender, with plenty of pockets for juices and rendered fat to gather.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Browning your patties deeply optimizes flavor. Credit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York City Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Whether you're making a big burger 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 hamburgers, wait until your pan or grill is hot before including the patties, and prepare them till they're well browned on both sides.

This maximizes taste while maintaining juiciness. Don't let your patties sit around on the cutting board (or even worse, a steam table). Burgers are at their finest fresh from the fire, before any juices have had a possibility to leak out.

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

A Ultimate Guide to Smashed Cooking Success

Upgraded May 7, 2026, 8:42 a.m. CTI've constantly been a hamburger enthusiast. Maturing, I 'd happily chew them down at sit-down restaurants and from the drive-thru coming 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).

Capture me on the best day and I might 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 burger.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

I kept some old favorites, added some brand-new ones and continued to leave off the ones I know people like however I simply. Perhaps I haven't attempted your preferred hamburger. Maybe I'm out to get you (just kidding).

There's one perfect burg out there for everyone. Let me show you what makes the best hamburger for me. Let's start with the patty. Can I say I'm growing a little tired of smashburgers? The finest ones amazingly stay juicy with just a hint of flaky char around the edges, but regrettably, many locations go too tough on the smash.

When I bite in, I need to see a little shimmer, some glowing from the beef and maybe 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 needs to be seared to help lock in the juices, however not too crusty.