How to Make Perfect Restaurant-Style Fries

There is no end to the variety of tasty hamburgers you can make, however 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 develops dishes and appears in videos for NYT Cooking. He is also the developer and host of Kenji's Cooking Show on YouTube.

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs an expert chef, food writer and cookbook author, I have actually invested the last twenty years of my career rigorously looking into and evaluating dishes, techniques and extensively accepted kitchen wisdom to figure out the whys of cooking. Over this time, I have actually operated several burger joints and even wrote a month-to-month column for Serious Consumes called the Hamburger Lab, in which I separated and checked every possible variable that can impact the taste and texture of a hamburger.

Here are the most essential tips I have actually found for enhancing your hamburger experience, whether in the yard or the cooking area. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

How to Perfect the Ultimate Griddle Patty

In bread, this can be a good idea, but with hamburgers, overhandling can develop an undesirable thick texture. (Including extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or extra spices, like onions and herbs, also forces you to strain the meat and sidetrack from the beef flavor, so avoid it.) Salting the exterior of your patties keeps their texture loose and tender.

Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Salt breaks down muscle proteins and assists them to connect more quickly. This is a good thing in sausages, which must have a firm texture, however with burgers, you desire looseness. A burger must hurt, with lots of pockets for juices and rendered fat to collect.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

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

This makes the most of taste while preserving juiciness. Do not let your patties sit around on the cutting board (or even worse, a steam table). Burgers are at their best fresh from the fire, before any juices have actually had an opportunity to leak out.

Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Better Heat Management for Better Grilled Burgers

Updated May 7, 2026, 8:42 a.m. CTI've constantly been a hamburger enthusiast. 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 best day and I might confess that a cheeseburger is my favorite food. Even if you do, it's most likely we do not have the exact same idea of what makes the ideal hamburger.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

I kept some old favorites, included some new ones and continued to leave off the ones I understand individuals like but I just. Perhaps I have not attempted your favorite hamburger. Possibly I'm out to get you (simply joking).

There's one best burg out there for everybody. Let me show you what makes the perfect hamburger for me. Let's start with the patty. Can I say I'm growing a little fed up with smashburgers? The very best ones amazingly stay juicy with just a tip of flaky char around the edges, however regrettably, the majority of locations go too difficult on the smash.

When I bite in, I require to see a little sparkle, some glowing from the beef and possibly a little grease diminishing the sides. When I see a smashburger on the menu, I constantly go with a double patty. Smashburger or not, the patty must be seared to help secure the juices, however not too crusty.