Choosing the Best Meats for Tasty Burgers

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

By J. Kenji Lpez-AltJ. Kenji Lpez-Alt writes a column for The New york city Times on food and science, and he develops dishes and appears in videos for NYT Cooking. He is likewise the developer and host of Kenji's Cooking Program on YouTube. This video and post belong to, our series on cooking area principles.

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs a professional chef, food author and cookbook author, I've invested the last twenty years of my profession carefully investigating and testing dishes, techniques and commonly accepted cooking area wisdom to determine the whys of cooking. Over this time, I have actually run several hamburger joints and even composed a month-to-month column for Serious Eats called the Hamburger Lab, in which I separated and evaluated every possible variable that can affect the flavor and texture of a burger.

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

A Ultimate Guide to Smashed Grilling Perfection

In bread, this can be a good idea, however with hamburgers, overhandling can create an unwanted dense texture. (Incorporating extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or additional seasoning, like onions and herbs, also forces you to overwork the meat and distract from the beef taste, so avoid it.) Salting the beyond your patties keeps their texture loose and tender.

Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Salt breaks down muscle proteins and assists them to connect up more quickly. This is an advantage in sausages, which ought to have a company texture, however with hamburgers, you want looseness. A burger ought to hurt, with a lot 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 huge burger on the grill or a crisp-edged smash burger on a frying pan, browning is flavor, and high heat is crucial. For thicker grilled or griddled burgers, 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 taste while keeping juiciness. Preparing your buns ahead of time lets you get to eating a lot faster. Credit ... Bryan Gardner for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Don't let your patties relax on the cutting board (or worse, a steam table). Burgers are at their finest fresh from the fire, before any juices have actually had a chance to drip out.

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

Choosing High-Quality Meats for Tasty Burgers

Updated May 7, 2026, 8:42 a.m. CTI have actually 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 right day and I may confess that a cheeseburger is my preferred food. Even if you do, it's likely we don't have the same concept of what makes the perfect hamburger.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

I kept some old favorites, added some new ones and continued to end the ones I understand people like but I simply. do not. get. Yes, I understand your favorite isn't there. Possibly we have various taste. Perhaps I have not tried your favorite hamburger. Possibly I'm out to get you (just joking).

There's one perfect burg out there for everyone. Let me show you what makes the ideal hamburger for me. Let's start with the patty. Can I say I'm growing a little exhausted of smashburgers? The very best ones astonishingly remain juicy with just a tip of flaky char around the edges, however regrettably, 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 maybe a little grease running down the sides. When I see a smashburger on the menu, I always go with a double patty. Smashburger or not, the patty needs to be burnt to help lock in the juices, however not too crusty.