How to Craft a High-Quality Flat-Top Burger thumbnail

How to Craft a High-Quality Flat-Top Burger

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Cast iron drops in temperature after each burger. Steel doesn't. That's why I created it I come from a steel family and I knew the product could exceed cast iron for high-heat cooking.

I do this all summer. Prepare smashburgers at on a preheated griddle or steel. This high heat is crucial for producing the Maillard response, which gives smashburgers their signature crispy, lacy edges and deep flavor. Get it ripping hot. You desire to hear that sizzle the 2nd the beef hits the steel.

Flip, include cheese, and cook for another to melt the cheese and finish cooking. That's what makes it so great. The 20% fat content is essential for developing a juicy hamburger and crispy edges.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & SteakburgersFreddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers


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

The Molecular Evolution of the Steakburger Sear in 2026

The method requires direct, high heat from a frying pan to create the signature crust. You can bake burgers in the oven, however they won't be smashburgers. They'll just be ... baked hamburgers. is the traditional option it melts completely and has a creamy texture. Cheddar, Swiss, and provolone are likewise great if you wish to mix it up.

Understanding Flat-Top versus Traditional Grill Methods

Season on the frying pan. Do not season the beef before forming the balls it can make the texture mushy. I utilize mine for pancakes, bacon, eggs, grilled cheese, quesadillas, seared steaks, and more.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & SteakburgersFreddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers


When you understand how steel holds and transfers heat, you start using it for whatever. I did Andris Lagsdin. I invented the Baking Steel in 2012 after reading that steel conducts heat better than stone. My family has actually run Stoughton Steel Company in Hanover, MA considering that the 1960s, so I grabbed a piece from my dad's store, evaluated it, and the rest is history.

It shops more heat, recovers much faster, and provides you a consistent crust from the first hamburger to the last. Get it ripping hot, work quickly, and make some bad ass hamburgers.

What began as a Kickstarter task (improved by an early recommendation from Kenji Lpez-Alt on Serious Eats) has grown into the go-to tool for numerous 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 frying pan on the market, he developed the Skinny Griddle and Mini Frying pan particularly for stovetop cooking engineered to hold heat the method 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 free online classes and recipes.

How to Prepare a Premium Flat-Top Burger

It's an easy meal, and it takes just a couple of minutes to prepare and a few minutes to cook your delicious frying pan hamburgers. Choose your burger patty, select your cheese, and pick your buns and filling.! Cooking up your hamburgers on a flat griddle is a fantastic method to get all the flavor you can out of both your hamburger patty and your cooking surface area.

The Molecular Evolution of the Steakburger Sear in 2026

These flat, smooth cooking surfaces can take a lot of heat, and they can give your hamburger the perfect sear, and a well rounded, even cook. We love frying pans due to the fact that they are so flexible, and while generally they are used on stovetops, we routinely cook burgers on a griddle in the oven, or even over an open campfire.

If you're utilizing your griddle on the stovetop, in the oven, or on the campfire, there are a couple of universal guidelines to follow when you're cooking hamburgers: If you have cast iron griddles, they are going to require a layer of spices to secure the surface area. This makes it non-stick, and likewise protects it from rust.