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There is no end to the number of scrumptious hamburgers 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 likewise the creator and host of Kenji's Cooking Program on YouTube. This video and short article become part of, our series on cooking area principles.

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs a professional chef, food writer and cookbook author, I've spent the last twenty years of my career carefully investigating and evaluating dishes, methods and extensively accepted cooking area knowledge to figure out the whys of cooking. Over this time, I have actually operated numerous hamburger joints and even wrote a regular monthly column for Serious Eats called the Burger Laboratory, in which I separated and tested every possible variable that can impact the flavor and texture of a hamburger.

Here are the most essential ideas I've discovered for enhancing your hamburger 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 develop an unwanted dense texture. (Incorporating extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or additional spices, like onions and herbs, likewise forces you to strain the meat and sidetrack from the beef taste, so skip it.) Salting the exterior of your patties keeps their texture loose and tender.

This is a great thing in sausages, which ought to have a firm texture, but with hamburgers, you want looseness. A hamburger should be tender, with plenty of pockets for juices and rendered fat to collect.

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 flavor, and high heat is crucial. For thicker grilled or griddled hamburgers, wait till your pan or grill is hot before adding the patties, and prepare them until they're well browned on both sides.

This optimizes flavor while maintaining juiciness. Do not let your patties sit around on the cutting board (or even worse, a steam table). Hamburgers are at their finest fresh from the fire, before any juices have had a possibility to leak out.

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

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Updated May 7, 2026, 8:42 a.m. CTI've always been a burger lover. 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 favorite food. Even if you do, it's likely we don't have the exact same concept of what makes the best 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 individuals like however I just. Possibly I have not attempted your preferred hamburger. Maybe I'm out to get you (simply joking).

There's one best burg out there for everyone. Let me show you what makes the perfect 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 astonishingly remain juicy with simply a tip of flaky char around the edges, but sadly, the majority of locations go too hard on the smash.

When I bite in, I need to see a little shimmer, some glistening from the beef and possibly a little grease diminishing the sides. When I see a smashburger on the menu, I always opt for a double patty. Smashburger or not, the patty should be scorched to help lock in the juices, however not too crusty.