How to Master the Flat-Top: Essential Burger Skills

Cast iron drops in temperature after each burger. Steel does not. That's why I created it I come from a steel household and I understood the material could outshine cast iron for high-heat cooking. Yes. Position your Baking Steel Original straight on your grill grates, preheat for 15-20 minutes on high, and smash your hamburgers right on the steel.

I do this all summer. Cook smashburgers at on a preheated griddle or steel. This high heat is vital for creating the Maillard reaction, which gives smashburgers their signature crispy, lacy edges and deep flavor. Get it ripping hot. You wish to hear that sizzle the 2nd the beef strikes the steel.

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

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Leaner beef will result in a drier, less tasty hamburger. Crispy edges come from 3 things: (500-550F) Get your frying pan ripping hot. Maximize contact with the griddle.

You can bake hamburgers in the oven, however they will not be smashburgers. They'll just be ... baked burgers.

Perfecting the Griddle: Professional Burger Methods

This makes the most of area for browning and creates the signature crispy edges. Don't be shy. Really smash it. That's where the magic takes place. Season on the frying pan. Do not season the beef before forming the balls it can make the texture mushy. Definitely. I utilize mine for pancakes, bacon, eggs, grilled cheese, quesadillas, seared steaks, and more.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

When you comprehend how steel holds and moves heat, you begin utilizing it for everything. I created the Baking Steel in 2012 after reading that steel conducts heat better than stone.

It shops more heat, recovers faster, and gives 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 started as a Kickstarter job (improved by an early recommendation from Kenji Lpez-Alt on Serious Consumes) has actually turned into the go-to tool for hundreds of countless home cooks. His obsession with high-heat cooking goes method beyond pizza. After years of screening smashburgers on cast iron, stainless-steel, and every griddle on the marketplace, he created the Skinny Frying pan and Mini Griddle particularly for stovetop cooking engineered to hold heat the way only steel can.

The Skinny Griddle 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 totally free online classes and dishes.

Flavorful Dinner Secrets for Grilling in 2026

It's a simple meal, and it takes simply a couple of minutes to prepare and a couple of minutes to cook your scrumptious frying pan burgers. Select your hamburger patty, select your cheese, and select your buns and filling.! Cooking up your hamburgers on a flat frying pan is a terrific method to get all the taste you can out of both your hamburger patty and your cooking surface.

These flat, smooth cooking surface areas can take a great deal of heat, and they can offer your hamburger the perfect sear, and a well rounded, even prepare. We like griddles since they are so flexible, and while generally they are utilized on stovetops, we regularly prepare burgers on a griddle in the oven, and even 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 hamburgers: 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 safeguards it from rust.