Flavorful Dinner Ideas for Summer 2026

Cast iron drops in temperature level after each burger. Steel does not. That's why I developed it I come from a steel household and I understood the material might exceed cast iron for high-heat cooking.

I do this all summer. Prepare smashburgers at on a preheated frying pan or steel. This high heat is essential for producing the Maillard response, which provides smashburgers their signature crispy, lacy edges and deep flavor. Get it ripping hot. You wish to hear that sizzle the second the beef strikes the steel.

Flip, add cheese, and cook for another to melt the cheese and surface cooking. You have to work fast. This is high-heat, high-speed cooking. That's what makes it so good. is the finest ratio for smashburgers. The 20% fat content is vital for producing a juicy burger and crispy edges.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Leaner beef will lead to a drier, less flavorful burger. Stick to 80/20. Crispy edges come from 3 things: (500-550F) Get your griddle ripping hot. The fat renders and french fries the edges. Optimize contact with the griddle. Heat, fat, and surface contact. Master those 3 things and you'll get perfect crispy edges each time.

The strategy needs direct, high heat from a frying pan to create the signature crust. You can bake hamburgers in the oven, but they won't be smashburgers. They'll just be ... baked burgers. is the timeless option it melts perfectly and has a creamy texture. Cheddar, Swiss, and provolone are also fantastic if you desire to blend it up.

Top Culinary Tips for Juicy Griddle Patties

This takes full advantage of surface location for browning and creates the signature crispy edges. Don't be shy. Actually smash it. That's where the magic happens. Season on the griddle. Don't season the beef before forming the balls it can make the texture mushy. Absolutely. I utilize mine for pancakes, bacon, eggs, grilled cheese, quesadillas, seared steaks, and more.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Once you comprehend how steel holds and transfers heat, you begin utilizing it for whatever. I developed the Baking Steel in 2012 after reading that steel performs heat better than stone.

Every Baking Steel is still made at our family store. Cast iron is fine. However if you're severe about smashburgers, steel is better. It shops more heat, recuperates faster, and offers you a constant crust from the very first burger to the last. Get it ripping hot, work quick, and make some bad ass hamburgers.

What began as a Kickstarter job (enhanced by an early endorsement from Kenji Lpez-Alt on Serious Eats) has turned into the go-to tool for hundreds of countless home cooks. His obsession with high-heat cooking goes way beyond pizza. After years of testing smashburgers on cast iron, stainless-steel, and every griddle on the market, he created the Skinny Griddle and Mini Frying pan specifically for stovetop cooking engineered to hold heat the way just steel can.

The Skinny Frying pan is his go-to tool for smashburgers at home. He's the co-author of Baking with Steel with Jesse Olson Moore and teaches high-heat cooking through his free online classes and dishes.

Mastering the Flat-Top: Professional Burger Techniques

It's a simple meal, and it takes simply a few minutes to prepare and a few minutes to cook your delicious griddle burgers. Select your burger patty, choose your cheese, and select your buns and filling.! Cooking up your hamburgers on a flat frying pan is a fantastic way to get all the taste you can out of both your burger patty and your cooking surface area.

These flat, smooth cooking surface areas can take a great deal of heat, and they can offer your hamburger the best sear, and a well rounded, even cook. We like griddles due to the fact that they are so versatile, and while generally they are used on stovetops, we frequently prepare burgers on a frying pan in the oven, or perhaps over an open campfire.

If you're utilizing your frying pan on the stovetop, in the oven, or on the campfire, there are a few universal rules to follow when you're cooking burgers: If you have actually cast iron griddles, they are going to require a layer of seasoning to secure the surface area. This makes it non-stick, and likewise secures it from rust.