This is your standard, smashed-thin, griddled hamburger from your favorite diner or takeout joint. Instead of using a grill, you should use a cast-iron pan coated with oil or grease for the finest results.
Meat should be coarse-ground chuck steak with at least 20% fat content, which can be purchased pre-ground from a butcher or ground at home. Refrigerate it until you’re ready to use it in a recipe, and try to avoid touching it with your fingers; an ice cream scoop or spoon works much better.
Put a few ounces in the pan, mash it using a spatula, sprinkle it with salt, cook it until it’s crispy, and flip it. Put some cheese on it and toast a bun. Rapid progress is being made.
What is a Smash Burger?
On the grill, ground beef is shaped into balls, which are then “smashed” with a burger press into thin patties. This allows for a deeper browning and richer flavor on the exterior while keeping the interior juicy. Juicy Burgers and Cheeseburger Sliders are two of our favorite burger varieties.
Compared to flash-frozen or fast food patties, homemade patties made from ground beef have a far better flavor. Because you know exactly what went into your homemade burger, it goes down easier and leaves you feeling better.
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Ingredients You Need to Make Smash Burgers
The smash burger is famous for being easy to make. These burgers’ simple yet excellent ingredients create a lasting impression. For specific amounts of each item, please refer to the recipe card provided at the post’s conclusion.
Ground Beef: When cooking ground beef, an 80/20 split is ideal.
Salt & Black Pepper: season the meat with black pepper and salt. It’s the perfect amount of seasoning!
American Cheese: American cheese is the best melting cheese for burgers.
Tomatoes: Cut up some luscious red tomatoes. I prefer burgers made with vine-ripened tomatoes.
Butter Lettuce: When I make a burger, I like to use butter lettuce, which has tender leaves. They fit so snugly among the stacked ingredients.
How to Make a Smash Burger
Using the smash method, you can make burgers at home that taste just like they did at the diner. By pressing the meat, you can make a crust that is both crunchy and juicy, and it will be the highlight of your burger in no time. Burgers that are “smashed” are not new.
Smash burgers are ubiquitous in American fast food restaurants due to their short prep and cooking times. The secret to this burger’s brown and crispy exterior is a small and surprisingly juicy patty, which is revealed upon biting.
Step 1: Toast or grill the cut sides of the burger buns and set aside. Preheat the oven to 100 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Celsius with the fan on) or gas mark 1/4.
Step 2: Salt the mince thoroughly and separate it into four loose piles. One of the stacks should be placed in a heavy frying pan or skillet with a quarter tablespoon of oil and heated over high heat. Rapidly cover with a square of baking paper and, using a second, smaller pan and oven mitts or the end of a rolling pin (careful of the heat and rising steam), press the beef patty down as firmly as possible. Give it two minutes to cook.
Step 3: Take off the paper and flip the burger. Cook for 1 minute while pressing down with a spatula and covering with cheese. Put on a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while you repeat the process with the remaining burgers.
Step 4: Slices of onion, lettuce, and tomato go on the bottom bun, followed by the patty, the sliced gherkins, and the top bun. Sauces of your choice can be served on the side.
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Conclusion
It’s common knowledge at this point that the adage “never press on your burger!” is either completely incorrect or outrageously off base. The method has been so effective that an entire burger chain has been built around it.
A smash burger aims for maximum crust, whereas a more classic griddled burger may be cooked with the purpose of a loose, tender texture. Put a meatball on a hot, greased griddle, break it down into a thin disk, and the contact area between the meat and the griddle will expand dramatically, leading to a more robust Maillard reaction.
That’s the chain of processes responsible for the delicious brown crust on our steaks and burgers. When it comes to cravings, more crust means more flavor.
