Five habits from our kitchen that make a home burger taste like a restaurant one, no special equipment needed.
We would love to cook for you every night, but some evenings call for your own kitchen. Here is what our cooks do at home.
Start with the beef
Buy ground chuck with about 20 percent fat. Lean beef makes a dry burger, and no sauce will fix that.
Handle it as little as you can. Shape the patty loosely, a little wider than the bun, and press a shallow dimple in the middle so it cooks flat instead of puffing up.
Season late, cook hot
Salt the outside just before the patty hits the heat, never mixed into the meat. Salt worked in early gives you a texture closer to sausage.
Get the pan or grill properly hot and flip only once. Add the cheese in the last minute and cover the pan so it melts all the way to the edges.
Build it in the right order
Toast the bun in the fat left in the pan. Sauce goes on the bottom bun, then lettuce to keep the bread from going soggy, then the patty, then anything pickled or sharp on top.
Let the burger sit for a minute before you bite. It is the hardest step and the one that matters most.
