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

By J. Kenji Lpez-AltJ. Kenji Lpez-Alt composes a column for The New york city 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 Show on YouTube. This video and article become part of, our series on kitchen principles.

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs an expert chef, food author and cookbook author, I've invested the last twenty years of my profession rigorously looking into and evaluating dishes, techniques and widely accepted kitchen 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 Hamburger Laboratory, in which I isolated and tested every possible variable that can impact the taste and texture of a hamburger.

Here are the most essential suggestions I have actually found for enhancing your burger experience, whether in the backyard or the kitchen. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

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In bread, this can be a good idea, but with hamburgers, overhandling can create an undesirable thick texture. (Integrating extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or extra flavoring, like onions and herbs, also requires you to exhaust the meat and distract from the beef taste, so avoid it.) Salting the beyond your patties keeps their texture loose and tender.

This is a great thing in sausages, which should have a company texture, however with burgers, you want looseness. A burger needs to be tender, with plenty of pockets for juices and rendered fat to gather.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Whether you're making a huge burger on the grill or a crisp-edged smash hamburger on a frying pan, browning is taste, and high heat is crucial. For thicker grilled or griddled burgers, 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. Do not let your patties sit around on the cutting board (or worse, a steam table). Burgers are at their best fresh from the fire, before any juices have actually had a possibility to leak 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.

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Upgraded May 7, 2026, 8:42 a.m. CTI have actually always 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 right day and I may confess that a cheeseburger is my favorite food. Even if you do, it's most likely we don't have the very same idea of what makes the perfect burger.

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 simply. Perhaps I have not tried your favorite hamburger. Maybe I'm out to get you (simply 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 state I'm growing a little fed up with smashburgers? The finest ones astonishingly remain juicy with simply a tip of flaky char around the edges, however sadly, most places go too difficult on the smash.

When I bite in, I need to see a little shimmer, some shining from the beef and maybe a little grease diminishing the sides. When I see a smashburger on the menu, I constantly choose a double patty. Smashburger or not, the patty must be burnt to help secure the juices, however not too crusty.