Delicious Summer Dinner Ideas for the Future

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

J. Kenji Lpez-Alt writes 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 Show on YouTube.

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs an expert chef, food author and cookbook author, I've spent the last 20 years of my profession carefully researching and evaluating recipes, strategies and extensively accepted cooking area knowledge to determine the whys of cooking. Over this time, I have actually operated multiple burger joints and even composed a month-to-month 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 burger.

That doesn't indicate you can't intend for something much better. Here are the most essential tips I have actually discovered for enhancing your burger experience, whether in the yard or the cooking area. Working hamburger excessive can cause it to end up being dense. Credit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York City Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

The Complete Guide to Smashed Grilling Perfection

In bread, this can be an advantage, but with burgers, overhandling can produce an unwanted dense texture. (Integrating extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or additional seasoning, like onions and herbs, also requires you to exhaust the meat and sidetrack from the beef flavor, so skip it.) Salting the beyond your patties keeps their texture loose and tender.

Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Salt breaks down muscle proteins and assists them to connect more easily. This is a good idea in sausages, which need to have a company texture, however with hamburgers, you want looseness. A hamburger must hurt, 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 burger on a frying pan, browning is taste, and high heat is crucial. For thicker grilled or griddled hamburgers, wait until your pan or grill is hot before including the patties, and prepare them up until they're well browned on both sides.

This optimizes taste while keeping juiciness. Don't 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 had an opportunity to drip 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 have actually constantly 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).

Capture me on the ideal day and I may confess that a cheeseburger is my favorite food. Even if you do, it's most likely we do not have the same concept of what makes the perfect hamburger.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

I kept some old favorites, added some brand-new ones and continued to leave off the ones I know individuals like however I simply. don't. get. Yes, I know your favorite isn't there. Perhaps we have various taste. Perhaps I haven't tried your preferred hamburger yet. Maybe I'm out to get you (just joking).

There's one best burg out there for everybody. Let me share with you what makes the perfect burger for me. Let's start with the patty. Can I say I'm growing a little sick of smashburgers? The finest ones miraculously stay juicy with simply a tip of flaky char around the edges, but sadly, most locations go too hard on the smash.

When I bite in, I need to see a little shimmer, some glistening from the beef and maybe a little grease running down the sides. When I see a smashburger on the menu, I constantly opt for a double patty. Smashburger or not, the patty should be burnt to help secure the juices, but not too crusty.