Selecting High-Quality Meats for Savory Burgers

There is no end to the variety of scrumptious burgers 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 dishes and appears in videos for NYT Cooking. He is also the creator and host of Kenji's Cooking Program on YouTube. This video and post become part of, our series on kitchen area principles.

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs an expert chef, food writer and cookbook author, I have actually invested the last twenty years of my career rigorously researching and testing dishes, techniques and commonly accepted cooking area knowledge to determine the whys of cooking. Over this time, I've run multiple hamburger joints and even wrote a monthly column for Serious Eats called the Hamburger Lab, in which I separated and evaluated every possible variable that can impact the taste and texture of a burger.

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

How to Perfect the Ideal Griddle Patty

In bread, this can be an excellent thing, but with burgers, overhandling can develop an undesirable dense texture. (Integrating extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or additional flavoring, like onions and herbs, also requires you to exhaust the meat and sidetrack from the beef taste, so avoid it.) Salting the exterior of your patties keeps their texture loose and tender.

Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Salt breaks down muscle proteins and assists them to link up more quickly. This is a great thing in sausages, which should have a firm texture, but with hamburgers, you desire looseness. A hamburger should be tender, with lots of pockets for juices and rendered fat to gather.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Browning your patties deeply maximizes 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 flavor, and high heat is essential. For thicker grilled or griddled hamburgers, wait till your pan or grill is hot before including the patties, and cook them until they're well browned on both sides.

This takes full advantage of flavor while maintaining juiciness. Don't 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.

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

A Complete Guide to Flat-Top Grilling Perfection

Upgraded May 7, 2026, 8:42 a.m. CTI've 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).

Capture me on the best day and I may confess that a cheeseburger is my favorite food. In fact, I may say that on many days. And you may say the exact same. 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 understand individuals like but I simply. Possibly I haven't tried your preferred hamburger. Maybe I'm out to get you (simply joking).

Let me share with you what makes the perfect hamburger for me. Let's begin with the patty.

When I bite in, I need to see a little sparkle, some sparkling from the beef and maybe a little grease diminishing the sides. When I see a smashburger on the menu, I constantly opt for a double patty. Smashburger or not, the patty must be scorched to assist secure the juices, however not too crusty.