When I was a kid, I wanted mine to look like McDonald’s. My chef parents were probably offended by my rejection of their thick, juicy burgers. Now as an adult, my kids want the McDonald’s and I make thick, juicy ones.
I generally don’t eat bread these days. So fitting on a bun isn’t a consideration. Personally I prefer potato buns grilled in butter w/ 1/3 lb-ish patties (thick discs).
Thickish patty, and it should have sizeable indents in it to counteract the thickening that occurs during cooking.
Love 'em thick. I’ve had 'em almost spherical, and they were surpassing yummy.
Thicker. If it’s too thin, it’ll have to be a cheeseburger, with the cheese between the patties.
I agree with this, but brioche is much too rich and substantial for my tastes. I prefer just a simple white bun, or one of the squishier versions of pretzel or potato rolls.
I can get behind this. From a meat standpoint, thicker is better because it is the only way you can get the proper pink center. The problem is that if you intend to top you burger with lettuce, tomato, and onions, thick patties make an unwieldy base layer.
Before my friends moved away, we had Wednesday Night BBQ. I’d make these monster burgers. Seriously, they were at least half a pound, and probably more. Nowadays I prefer a smash burger, nice and thin as a traditional hamburger should be.
I choose in between the two options: “just right”, which is about 3/4".
Most restaurants (other than fast food joints) make burgers with way too much meat. I don’t want a huge hunk of meat with a bit of bread, I want a sandwich. 1/4 lb to 1/3 lb is ideal.
Medium rare (nice and red but warm in the center). Lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, musrhooms, mmm. Pickle? Sure! Real mustard (pretty much any kind except the bright yellow stuff). And yeah, ketchup! Or steak sauce.
Cheese? Sure! But real cheese, not “singles slices”. Swiss or cheddar.
I’m another who says it varies if frying or grilling. Frying I’ll smash it down to a very thin crisp patty. Grilling I want it to be about 1/3 pound and about 3/4 inches thick.
For some reason, when frying I’m fine with a medium well burger, but when grilling I want some pink in the middle.
I also go easy on the condiments. Cheese is a must, but then just some ketchup and mustard works well for me. Others are ok, but I want to taste the burger foremost.
Thin, with a grind that’s higher in fat. That gives you a burger with a nice char on the outside that’s still juicy even though it’s thin.
I hate thick lean burgers.
Is there a secret to making thin burgers? Whenever I try do it, they end up breaking apart. I always end up with my burgers being too thick and with too much taper from the center to the edge.
Yes. No matter the thickness, it should be uniform all the way across. No “burger balls” please!
Thin, salted, and cooked in a heavy pan or griddle. I just happened to make one for lunch yesterday. I served it on a nice soft roll, with only mayo, melted American cheese and pickled onions. It was one of the better burgers I’ve ever had, which surprised me for some reason.
Thin hamburgers are for piling on the various condiments and vegetables and cheeses so that you can disguise how tasteless the actual patty is.
If you want a proper burger, you make it thick (1.5" - 2" before cooking), put a dimple in it to avoid it turning into a meatball while you cook it. If you love the taste of meat, salt and pepper is probably enough. If you love the taste of herbs and spices with your meat, get creative. But not so creative that you turn it into a minin meatloaf. My go to seasoning is Montreal steak (or hamburger) spice and some Worcestershire. A great grilled bun is a must. Keep the condiments to an absolute minimum.
You think thin parties are flavorless, yet you mix Montreal spice and Worcestershire into your thick burgers? That’s… confusing, to say the least.
You spelled the word ‘delicious’ wrong. 
Try -
A) Using a better grade of meat.
B) Using a better cut of meat.
C) Using meat with a higher fat content.
Dry, lean meat has a tendency to fall apart.
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Thick or thin burgers made with tasteless meat will still taste, well, tasteless. Season with more salt, more pepper, more garlic, what-ever-it-takes to bring out what little flavor there is.
I tell friends who complain about tasteless meat, to start buying better meat from a trusted store or butcher. Ask the butcher which store-offered ground beef product they would recommend for a tastier burger. You can’t make meat taste more like meat, you can only enhance the flavor that is already there.
I just use 20% or fattier chuck (if I’m feeling lazy and buying pre-ground), and then I just smash it into a thin disk with a pan. It never breaks apart when cooking. But I’ve used even leaner meat and it hasn’t been an issue. If I’m grinding my own, I usually just use straight-up boneless short ribs, which are also probably in the 20-30% fat range. I’ve also tried using generic “ground beef” and the beef that comes in a plastic tube and, honestly, that’s terrible for a burger. It just doesn’t taste right. I occasionally buy some “manager’s special $2 off” ground beef at Aldi for the dog, and I tried making burgers from it and, man, did they just not taste “right.” I looked at the ingredients and, sure enough: “Ingredients: Beef, beef flavoring.” What the hell do I need “beef flavoring” for in beef, if it’s any good? That said, the dog enjoys it, and I’ll use it for dishes where the beef is just but a generic protein and not so much front-and-center in the flavor department.
Literally, here’s my technique:
Heat up cast iron pan over medium high heat until it’s nice and hot (maybe around 4-5 minutes). Take ball of meat, somewhere between golf ball sized and racquet ball sized. (about two inches in diameter, I guess. You don’t want to over handle the ground beef. Just grab what you need out of the packaging or the pile o’ meat you just ground and massage it into a ball. Don’t manhandle it. You want to keep it fairly loose and airy. This is key to the proper texture of a burger.
Now, you can go one of a couple of ways on this. You can place the meat ball between a sheet of wax paper or similar and smash it confidently with a flat, heavy object like another pan. Voila, thin patty. Peel it off, salt and pepper it and throw it in the pan for about 1.5 - 2 minutes a side. You don’t need to mess about with it. Just throw it in, time it, flip, time it, done. There’s also a technique with constant flipping, but that’s unnecessary for this type of burger.
Option 2 is the “Smashburger” route. Take your ball of raw meat and place it in your hot pan. You can lightly press the ball down to get about a quarter sized or so surface area for it to fry on. Now don’t touch it. Let it cook for about a minute. Flip it and smash it down with a spatula. Cook about 1.5 minutes or so. (Just check for a nice brown crust). Flip and finish for another 1 - 1.5 minutes on the other side. All this is over medium high heat. The initial sear helps keep the burger together for the in-the-pan smash technique.
I clicked thick, but over an inch is TOO thick.
