How to Master the Griddle: Essential Burger Skills

Cast iron drops in temperature level after each burger. Steel does not. That's why I developed it I come from a steel family and I understood the product could exceed cast iron for high-heat cooking.

I do this all summer. Cook smashburgers at on a preheated griddle or steel. This high heat is important for producing the Maillard response, which provides smashburgers their signature crispy, lacy edges and deep taste. Get it ripping hot. You want to hear that sizzle the second the beef strikes the steel.

Flip, add cheese, and cook for another to melt the cheese and finish cooking. That's what makes it so great. The 20% fat material is essential for creating a juicy burger and crispy edges.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

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

You can bake burgers in the oven, but they will not be smashburgers. They'll simply be ... baked burgers.

Delicious Dinner Secrets for Summer 2026

This takes full advantage of surface area for browning and creates the signature crispy edges. Do not be shy. Truly smash it. That's where the magic occurs. Season on the frying pan. Do not season the beef before forming the balls it can make the texture mushy. Definitely. I use mine for pancakes, bacon, eggs, grilled cheese, quesadillas, seared steaks, and more.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Once you understand how steel holds and transfers heat, you begin using it for everything. I invented the Baking Steel in 2012 after checking out that steel carries out heat better than stone.

Every Baking Steel is still made at our family shop. Cast iron is great. If you're severe about smashburgers, steel is better. It stores more heat, recovers much faster, and offers you a consistent crust from the very first hamburger to the last. Get it ripping hot, work fast, and make some bad ass hamburgers.

What began as a Kickstarter task (enhanced by an early endorsement from Kenji Lpez-Alt on Serious Consumes) has become the go-to tool for hundreds of thousands of home cooks. His fascination with high-heat cooking goes way beyond pizza. After years of testing smashburgers on cast iron, stainless steel, and every frying pan on the marketplace, he developed the Skinny Griddle and Mini Griddle specifically for stovetop cooking crafted to hold heat the method only steel can.

The Skinny Griddle is his go-to tool for smashburgers in your 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.

Exploring Flat-Top vs Traditional Grill Techniques

It's an easy meal, and it takes simply a few minutes to prepare and a couple of minutes to prepare your scrumptious griddle hamburgers. Pick your burger patty, choose your cheese, and pick your buns and filling.! Cooking up your hamburgers on a flat griddle is a fantastic way to get all the taste you can out of both your burger patty and your cooking surface.

These flat, smooth cooking surfaces can take a great deal of heat, and they can give your hamburger the best sear, and a well rounded, even cook. We enjoy griddles due to the fact that they are so flexible, and while generally they are used on stovetops, we regularly prepare hamburgers on a frying pan in the oven, or perhaps over an open campfire.

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