{"id":101586,"date":"2019-02-15T13:51:20","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T19:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=101586"},"modified":"2021-09-10T11:23:35","modified_gmt":"2021-09-10T16:23:35","slug":"how-to-make-the-perfect-diner-style-smash-burger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/leisure\/food-drink\/how-to-make-the-perfect-diner-style-smash-burger\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make the Perfect Diner-Style Smash Burger"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/burger1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-101673 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/burger1.jpg\" alt=\"A mashed meet in a fry pan.\" width=\"650\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/burger1.jpg 650w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/burger1-372x230.jpg 372w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/burger1-320x197.jpg 320w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/burger1-640x394.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a perennial matter of debate: which makes for a better burger &#8212; griddling or grilling?<\/p>\n<p>For almost my entire life, I felt sure the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/articles\/grilling-basics-building-a-better-burger\/\">grilling burgers<\/a> was the correct answer. There&#8217;s just something about a thick, juicy, flame-kissed burger fresh off the backyard grill. In contrast, the pan-fried burgers I grew up with at home were gray and mealy (a result, I realized later, of the meat having been frozen before cooking).<\/p>\n<p>But then as an adult, I became a big fan of the burgers served up at Freddy&#8217;s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers &#8212; a restaurant chain. Thin, with craggy edges and a crispy textured crust, these griddle-fried burgers are just crazy delicious. It&#8217;s the same kind of burger you get at the Smashburger chain, and which have also been popular at Mom and Pop diners for decades.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I wanted to figure out how to make this kind of &#8220;smashed&#8221; burger at home, so I did some research and started trying out some techniques. The result was a homemade pan-fried burger so tasty, I have to say there&#8217;s no real going back to the grilled kind. Which is especially good news in these cold months &#8212; burger season is all year round now.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to start making your own perfect diner-style smash burgers at home, we&#8217;ve put together this easy-to-follow, step-by-step visual guide to the process:<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">What You Need<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/supplies.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-101618\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/supplies.jpg\" alt=\"Fry pan on a stove and materials around it.\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/supplies.jpg 550w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/supplies-320x214.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Making the perfect pan-fried\/griddled burger isn&#8217;t rocket science, but an ideal result does require a few tools and ingredients:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tools:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Cast-iron skillet.<\/strong>&nbsp;The thick, flat, evenly-heated surface provided by cast-iron makes for perfect burger cooking and browning. A thick, non-non-stick griddle will work too.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B078WKC8B4\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;linkCode=sl1&amp;tag=artofmanliness03-20&amp;linkId=f9ce6c4b5fb24027ed9488da6e42a12a&amp;language=en_US\"><strong>Heavy-duty spatula.<\/strong><\/a>&nbsp;You&#8217;re going to be smashing your burgers flat, and to do so, you need a heavy-duty spatula &#8212; something thick, wide, and made with stainless steel. A nice metal spatula will also help you flip the burgers while retaining the delicious brown crust which will form underneath.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2UZIdKl\">4 oz. ice cream scoop\/disher<\/a>.<\/strong> When you&#8217;re making a thin smash burger, you don&#8217;t want to pack the meat together too tightly by shaping them into patties with your hands. Instead, it&#8217;s best to keep the meat loose in a semi-ball shape, and then create the patty by smashing it down with your spatula. To create perfectly sized and shaped quarter-pounder patties, you&#8217;ll want to scoop the meat up with a 4 oz ice cream scooper or &#8220;disher&#8221; &#8212; a handle with a bowl at the end that&#8217;s got a retractable blade that cleanly releases the meat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Ingredients:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>80\/20 or 85\/15 ground beef.<\/strong> 80\/20 is often recommended as the ideal meat\/fat ratio for hamburgers. But grocery stores sometimes only have 85\/15, and that&#8217;s what we get. Still seems good. Freshly ground is ideal if you want to go that extra step.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Oil<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Salt<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Sliced cheese.&nbsp;<\/strong>American cheese is classic &#8212; extra salty and melty. I used cheddar because we had some to use up.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bun + whatever dressing and condiments you like on your burger<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">How to Make a Diner-Style Smash Burger<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3>Step 1: Make sure you have all your supplies ready and at hand before you begin cooking; things will move quickly once the process begins.<a href=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/prep.jpg\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_101614\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/prep.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-101614\" class=\"wp-image-101614\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/prep.jpg\" alt=\"Mashed meat in a bowl and utensils around in a kitchen. \" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/prep.jpg 550w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/prep-320x214.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-101614\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Don&#8217;t take the burger meat out of the fridge until you&#8217;re ready to cook; you want it cold when it hits the pan for reasons explained below.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Step 2: Rub a cast iron skillet with a thin layer of oil and preheat it over medium-high heat for a few minutes.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/wipe.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-101619\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/wipe.jpg\" alt=\"Rubbing of a cast iron with thin layer of an oil.\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/wipe.jpg 550w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/wipe-320x214.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/h3>\n<h3>Step 3: Crank the heat of the skillet up to high and scoop up a disher full of ground beef.<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_101616\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/scoop.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-101616\" class=\"wp-image-101616\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/scoop.jpg\" alt=\"A beef in a dish scoop and bowl.\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\"\/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-101616\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">If you don&#8217;t have a disher scoop, gently shape the meat into a golfball-sized ball with your hands; don&#8217;t smoosh and press.&nbsp;<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Step 4: Drop the scoop of beef onto the hot skillet.<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/drop.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-101613\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/drop.jpg\" alt=\"Scoop of beef in a hot skillet.\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/drop.jpg 550w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/drop-320x214.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Step 5: Smash down the meat with your spatula. Press very firmly, until the burger is about as thin as it&#8217;ll go.<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_101617\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/smash.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-101617\" class=\"wp-image-101617\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/smash.jpg\" alt=\"Smashing the beef with spatula.\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/smash.jpg 550w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/smash-320x214.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-101617\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">If you don&#8217;t have a very heavy duty spatula and find you can&#8217;t generate enough flattening force, apply a second spatula to the first. I probably could have smashed them even thinner still, but juggling smashing and photography was difficult.&nbsp;<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Let&#8217;s pause here for an extended note: I realize this step may seem like sacrilege to burger aficionados, as you&#8217;re squeezing out some of the meat&#8217;s juices. But when you smash a burger right after it hits the skillet (this is the only time you&#8217;ll smash the burger during the cooking process), when the fat is still cold and solid, it won&#8217;t lose any more of its juices than a non-smashed burger. And unlike a grilled burger, which loses some juice to the flames below it, even when it isn&#8217;t squished, the pan-fried burger will continue to cook in its own grease, imparting moisture, adding a wonderful, extra meaty flavor, and creating a craggy, evenly-browned texture so tasty, that even if a griddled burger was slightly less juicy than the grilled variety, which I&#8217;m not convinced it is, this crust would make up for it.<\/p>\n<h3>Step 6: Salt the burgers.<\/h3>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/salt.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-101615\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/salt.jpg\" alt=\"Salting a smashed beef.\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/salt.jpg 550w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/salt-320x214.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/h3>\n<h3>Step 7: After 90 seconds to 2 minutes, flip the burgers, scraping under them to maintain the crust as you do so.<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_101620\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/flip.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-101620\" class=\"wp-image-101620\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/flip.jpg\" alt=\"Crusted burger in a fry pan.\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/flip.jpg 550w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/flip-320x214.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-101620\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">By the time you&#8217;ve dropped and smashed 4 burgers, the first will be about ready to be flipped.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Step 8: Place a slice of cheese on the burgers <em>immediately<\/em> after they&#8217;re flipped.<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_101621\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/cheese.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-101621\" class=\"wp-image-101621\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/cheese.jpg\" alt=\"Cheese on the burgers.\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/cheese.jpg 550w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/cheese-320x214.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-101621\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">You want the cheese to be completely melted on your burgers, and that won&#8217;t happen unless you place the slices on right after your flip them.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Step 9: Fry for another minute or so and then remove from the pan.&nbsp;Place on a white roll and garnish as desired.<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/burger2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-101626\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/burger2.jpg\" alt=\"Final result of a burger.\" width=\"600\" height=\"492\" srcset=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/burger2.jpg 550w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/burger2-320x262.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Since these burgers are thin, you can certainly create a double for yourself with two. Potato rolls are often recommended, but not personally my thing. Buttering and toasting the roll takes things up a notch, though we usually just warm them in the oven for a bit. Keep it simple with the garnishes\/condiments. I personally just like special sauce and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/living\/food-drink\/know-your-pickles\/\">pickles<\/a>. Make it your own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s a perennial matter of debate: which makes for a better burger &#8212; griddling or grilling? For almost my entire life, I felt sure the grilling burgers was the correct answer. There&#8217;s just something about a thick, juicy, flame-kissed burger fresh off the backyard grill. In contrast, the pan-fried burgers I grew up with at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":101673,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,222,42273],"tags":[42283],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-101586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-food-drink","category-living","tag-recipes"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/burger1-538x280.jpg","aom":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/burger1-372x230.jpg","reactor-320":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/burger1-320x197.jpg","reactor-640":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2019\/02\/burger1-640x394.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101586"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170255,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101586\/revisions\/170255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101586"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=101586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}