Essential Summer Grilling Tips

There is no end to the variety of tasty hamburgers 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 recipes and appears in videos for NYT Cooking. He is also the developer and host of Kenji's Cooking Program on YouTube. This video and short article belong to, our series on cooking area principles.

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs a professional chef, food writer and cookbook author, I have actually spent the last 20 years of my career rigorously researching and testing dishes, methods and widely accepted kitchen knowledge to figure out the whys of cooking. Over this time, I have actually run multiple hamburger joints and even wrote a month-to-month column for Serious Eats called the Hamburger Lab, in which I isolated and evaluated every possible variable that can impact the flavor and texture of a hamburger.

That doesn't suggest you can't intend for something better. Here are the most crucial ideas I have actually found for optimizing your hamburger experience, whether in the yard or the cooking area. Working ground beef too much can trigger it to become thick. Credit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York City Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

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In bread, this can be an advantage, however with burgers, overhandling can develop an undesirable dense texture. (Integrating extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or extra seasoning, like onions and herbs, also forces you to strain the meat and distract from the beef taste, so skip it.) Salting the beyond your patties keeps their texture loose and tender.

This is an excellent thing in sausages, which need to have a firm texture, however with burgers, you want looseness. A burger needs to be tender, with plenty of pockets for juices and rendered fat to collect.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Browning your patties deeply makes the most of taste. Credit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York 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 crucial. For thicker grilled or griddled burgers, wait up until your pan or grill is hot before including the patties, and cook them until they're well browned on both sides.

This maximizes taste while maintaining juiciness. Preparing your buns ahead of time lets you get to eating so much quicker. Credit ... Bryan Gardner for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Do not let your patties sit around on the cutting board (or worse, a steam table). Hamburgers 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 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.

Selecting High-Quality Beef for Tasty Burgers

Updated May 7, 2026, 8:42 a.m. CTI have actually constantly been a burger 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).

Catch me on the best day and I may admit that a cheeseburger is my favorite food. Even if you do, it's most likely we do not have the same concept of what makes the best hamburger.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

I kept some old favorites, included some new ones and continued to end the ones I understand individuals like however I simply. do not. get. Yes, I understand your favorite isn't there. Perhaps we have different taste. Maybe I have not attempted your favorite burger yet. Possibly I'm out to get you (simply kidding).

Let me share with you what makes the best burger for me. Let's begin with the patty.

When I bite in, I require to see a little shimmer, some glowing from the beef and possibly 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 must be seared to help secure the juices, however not too crusty.