Delicious Summer Dinner Inspiration for the Future

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

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs a professional chef, food writer and cookbook author, I've spent the last 2 decades of my profession rigorously investigating and evaluating recipes, strategies and commonly accepted kitchen area wisdom to find out the whys of cooking. Over this time, I've operated several hamburger joints and even wrote a month-to-month column for Serious Eats called the Burger Lab, in which I separated and evaluated every possible variable that can affect the taste and texture of a hamburger.

Here are the most crucial ideas I've discovered for optimizing your hamburger experience, whether in the yard or the kitchen area. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Crafting Restaurant-Quality Side Fries in Your Home

In bread, this can be a good idea, however with burgers, overhandling can develop an unwanted dense texture. (Including extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or additional flavoring, like onions and herbs, likewise forces you to exhaust the meat and distract from the beef flavor, so skip it.) Salting the beyond your patties keeps their texture loose and tender.

This is a good thing in sausages, which should have a company texture, but with burgers, you desire looseness. A hamburger ought to be tender, with plenty of pockets for juices and rendered fat to gather.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Browning your patties deeply makes the most of flavor. Credit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York City Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Whether you're making a big hamburger on the grill or a crisp-edged smash burger on a frying pan, browning is taste, and high heat is key. For thicker grilled or griddled burgers, wait until your pan or grill is hot before adding the patties, and prepare them up until they're well browned on both sides.

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

Smash BurgersCredit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York City Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Restaurant BurgerCredit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Thick Backyard 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've always been a hamburger 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 ideal day and I might confess that a cheeseburger is my favorite food. Actually, I might say that on many days. And you might state the same. Even if you do, it's most likely we do not have the exact same idea of what makes the best hamburger.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

I kept some old favorites, added some new ones and continued to leave off the ones I know individuals like however I simply. Possibly I have not attempted your favorite burger. Maybe I'm out to get you (just kidding).

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

When I bite in, I require to see a little sparkle, some shining from the beef and maybe a little grease running down the sides. When I see a smashburger on the menu, I constantly choose a double patty. Smashburger or not, the patty must be scorched to help lock in the juices, but not too crusty.