Tonight I made hamburgers so good they’d bring tears of joy to the eyes of Gordon Ramsay.
How do you make a fine hamburger? Here I am not talking about trimmings - that’s a matter of personal preference. I’m taking about the PATTY.
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Let’s be honest, even the patty is a matter of personal preference, as is the cooking method, long before we get to toppings, bread, and cheese/no cheese. 
So, generally, I have 3 or so main patty styles.
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Fast food clone - 85/15 ground beef, garlic and onion powder, salt, light black pepper, mashed super flat on a silicone mat, 1/4 lb per section. Cooked hot and fast on a rocket hot cast iron skillet or griddle.
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Green Chile burger - 80/20 ground beef, mixed with roasted green chile in a fine chop, heavy pinch of smoked dried chipolte, kosher salt, loosely formed 1/3 lb burger with thumbprint in the middle. Cooked again on hot cast iron or griddle, but slightly longer for the increased thickness.
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Black Pepper burger - 80/20 ground beef, tablespoon (divided) of fresh cracked coarse black pepper (M&P for this, not grinder), half the pepper, kosher salt and onion powder mixed in, then more tightly pack the 1/3 lb burger and gently press the surface into the remaining half of the peppercorns. Cooked on lower heat to not over blacken.
Generally cook to medium on all 3 styles.
80-20 (or fattier) beef. Salt & pepper (or seasoned salt.) That’s it. For the love of God do not mix anything into your patty, especially salt. Completely wrecks the texture of the burger. Do not overhandle the meat. I mean, do what you want, but that’s just a big no-no for me. No need to overcomplicate. All the best burgers I’ve ever had, whether my own or at a restaurant, have not been anything more complicated than this in terms of the patty itself.
ETA: If you want to be specific and grind your own, I like a mix of short rib, chuck, and sirloin. Or if I’m feeling extra decadent, just all short rib.
ETA2: Oh, and technique? Don’t handle them too much. Smash 'em down – either beforehand or on the pan.
Step one: very cold, fatty ground beef. Smash as flat as possible (talking somewhere just north of an 1/8"). I have two smallish, identical cutting boards that I use as a press.
Step 2: add salt and pepper, cook in cast iron skillet on medium-high heat; get plenty of Maillard reaction before flipping (once only). Two patties per burger.
Preferred toppings; American cheese and grilled onions, or Swiss and sauteed mushrooms.
combine 70% 80/20 ground beef with 30% spicy pork sausage meat
form even 1/2" thick patties if they’re going in a skillet on the stove
if they’re going on a grill, I form big fat oval shaped patties, then make a dimple in the center to keep them from turning into a meatball while cooking
sprinkle liberally on both sides with salt and pepper
cook on grill or in a cast iron skillet over high heat
I usually make thick half-pound patties out of ground chuck and cook them in my cast iron about 5 minutes per side, seasoning with salt and pepper as I go, until it’s cooked through and both sides have a nice crust. Usually with grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup and mustard, and maybe bacon and bleu cheese crumbles if I’m feeling fancy, or from time to time I’ll use it for a chili size.
I’ve been meaning to try a Hemingway burger, though. I’ve already tracked down the India relish and Beau Monde seasoning for it, I just haven’t been in a burger-making mood lately.
- Take ground beef out of refrigerator.
- Shape into hamburgers.
- Put on hot plancha (griddle)
- Flip
- Add plenty of salt and pepper.
- Remove from griddle.
- Put in bun with stuff.
- Eat
Fresh ground beef, 15%-20%
Gently firm into patties, being careful not to over handle the meat. I want the finished burger to crumble when i pull it apart.
Pre-heat a cast iron skillet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Place parties into hot skillet. Flip at least once to get a crust on each side. Cook until done.
I don’t like fat, so mine is different than most. I buy a pound of steak, trim off all fat that I can, and grind it. I then make four 1/4 pound Patties or two 1/2 pound Patties and vacuum seal them. Then sous vide rare. Then sear with a torch and serve my rare steak burgers.
Don’t smash then in the pan; you’ll lose a lot of juices that way.
My dad used to barbecue burgers by forming the meat into near-spheres (I’m not exaggerating) and severely mashing them once they’d been on the grill for a while. He loved the sound of all the juices sizzling when they hit the charcoal — to me, it just sounded like goodness lost.
No. DO SMASH! That’s a standard method for thin patty burgers you want with crispy edges. Hell, there’s a chain called Smashburgers named after the technique. Love that style. No issue with them drying out.
Note: this is a flat top method, not a grill method. I don’t particularly like grilled burgers.
Here is the full technique:
That there is my ideal cheeseburger.
Keeping an eye on this thread because though I love to grill and BBQ, hamburgers are kind of my Achilles’ Heel. I’ve tried everything: 80/20 beef; dimple in the middle; mixing stuff into the ground beef; NOT mixing stuff into the ground beef; smashing to get a nice crispy crust; NOT smashing to keep juices in; my burgers aren’t terrible but they always seem to be lacking in some way, either flavor-wise or structurally; falling apart like Sloppy Joes.
Confession time from a guy who normally takes pride in making everything from scratch: my wife buys pre-made hamburger patties from Costco. 1/3 lb. perfectly shaped disks of ground sirloin. Throw them on the grill while still frozen and they cook up perfectly every time. They’re a super simple option for when I feel like grilling but I’m feeling too lazy (or don’t have time on a weekday) to do much prep. And, as burgers, they’re not half bad.
So, I guess MY technique for homemade hamburger patties is… forget the ‘homemade’ part! Just throw some Costco pucks on the grill, flip & season, slice some veggies, toast some buns and call it done 
Roll it into a ball, then gently press flat and put them on the grill.
Nothing else is needed.
I dunno. To me, hamburgers are about the easiest thing to make. Everybody tries to make them more complicated than they need to be. If they’re lacking flavorwise, season them a bit more, and make sure your pan is hot enough to get a good crust (medium high heat should do. The process should produce a little bit of smoke, so put that vent hood on high.) Don’t be shy with the salt (unless you’re watching your salt intake) or pepper. Hell, do what I do and sprinkle a little bit of MSG on it, even. Most of the time, I just use regular 80-20 store ground chuck, and even my picky mother-in-law who generally doesn’t eat hamburgers loves it.
I personally have never liked the frozen hamburger patties. They all just taste a bit – odd to me. And it’s no harder just slapping some ground beef on a pan.
When I was trying to get an elderly dog to maintain her weight I bought a huge box of burgers that were on sale. I was surprised to see they were a mix of beef and beef heart. The dog loved them and they smelled great cooking. Eventually I tried some and it was delicious.
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A couple of things that help with homemade burger nirvana. One, good meat is fine, great meat isn’t needed (IMHO). Ground chuck, sirloin, or even just ‘hamburger’ works well. Two, if it doesn’t taste like ‘store’ burgers, it’s normally one of three things - fat, salt, or smoke. 80/20 is normally right around the sweet spot for most people, but try a 70/30, mix a 70/30 and an 80/20 and work with it. Add more salt, unless diet precludes otherwise - store burgers are swimming in it. Lastly, if you’re missing a bit of the smokiness, CHEAT, a touch of liquid smoke can add that ‘steakhouse’ flavor some people love.
But again, if it doesn’t taste as good as a store or restaurant, I’d bet it’s the salt and fat more than anything else. I also have had a bit of luck going old school and putting a touch of clarified butter / ghee on the griddle before cooking - adds a touch of that fat mouthfeel, and aids crisping. Cleaned bacon grease also works well in this application.
Yeah, I am the poster child for making things more complicated than they need to be. And not just with cooking
I know what you mean about frozen hamburger patties, but I think the Costco ones are a cut above the usual. Also, if I’m making something quick that requires a small amount of ground beef, like a nice plate of nachos, I can defrost a patty in the microwave and break it up into loose meat in a pan-- they make for nicely portioned little ground beef units.
The key point is that you smash them ONCE, just as you put them onto the griddle in order to get maximum surface area in contact with the hot metal.
AFAIK, when they say “don’t smash your patties”, they are meaning not to just press on them as they cook repeatedly.
As for me, I pretty much do the exact thing you do, except with two minor exceptions. Mixing a little bit of fish sauce (or even straight MSG, if you’ve got it) into the meat makes a big difference in terms of umami.
The other one is that if you make the patties concave on top, they’ll level out as they cook, and you won’t end up with the hockey-puck style patty. Some sources say to put a “dimple” in them, but the real trick is to just make the top shallowly concave with a bit of a lip.
Quarter-pound of ground beef, shaped into a ball. Put a sheet of waxed paper on the cutting board. Put the beef on one half, and fold the other half over it. Press down firmly with a pot.