Selecting the Best Meats for Tasty Burgers

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

J. 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 developer and host of Kenji's Cooking Program on YouTube.

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs an expert chef, food writer and cookbook author, I have actually spent the last 20 years of my profession rigorously looking into and evaluating recipes, techniques and commonly accepted kitchen knowledge to find out the whys of cooking. Over this time, I've operated numerous hamburger joints and even composed a regular 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 hamburger.

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

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In bread, this can be an advantage, however with hamburgers, overhandling can produce an unwanted thick texture. (Integrating extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or extra flavoring, like onions and herbs, likewise requires you to strain the meat and sidetrack from the beef flavor, so skip it.) Salting the outside of your patties keeps their texture loose and tender.

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

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

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

This optimizes taste while maintaining juiciness. Preparing your buns ahead of time lets you get to consuming so much faster. 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). Burgers are at their best fresh from the fire, before any juices have actually had a chance 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 Backyard BurgerCredit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Follow,,, and.

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Updated May 7, 2026, 8:42 a.m. CTI have actually always 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 do not have the very 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 leave off the ones I understand individuals like however I just. Maybe I haven't tried your favorite hamburger. Possibly I'm out to get you (simply kidding).

There's one ideal burg out there for everybody. Let me share with you what makes the ideal hamburger for me. Let's begin with the patty. Can I say I'm growing a little fed up with smashburgers? The very best ones amazingly remain juicy with just a hint of flaky char around the edges, but sadly, many places go too hard on the smash.

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