6 Simple Tips To Prepare Better Specialty Burgers

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We know you love good Specialty Burgers near me (not to mention, a good veggie burger). It's the best fast and hearty summer meal - simple, satisfying, and loaded with flavor on the grill, yet surprisingly difficult to prepare right. What is the ideal ratio of lean to fat? To mix or not to mix? Is it okay to break the patties while they cook? And the coverage?

Paula Disbrowe, our resident grill Sherpa and author of our latest cookbook, Any Night Grilling, shares six tips on how to consistently create the juiciest, most flavorful burger. With Paula's advice, you will never find a dry burger again!
Quality meat for a quality meal:

No matter what variety of meat you are using to make your Specialty Burgers near me using freshly ground beef (rather than a dense, prepackaged block) creates a lighter texture. When it comes to beef, opt for a blend of 80/20 percent ground beef in fat; anything leaner can lead to dry burgers. Use the same approach with other varieties of meat. For chicken or turkey burgers, look for ground thigh meat, not breast, or consider adding grated zucchini ...
... to the mix (a Yotam Ottolenghi trick) to add moisture. For the best flavor, look for pasture-raised or heirloom meat breeds sourced from specific ranches.
Shape the right:

I learned a few invaluable tricks from J. Kenji López-Alt's burger explorations for his book The Food Lab. He points out that burgers shrink during cooking, so to prevent a small burger from getting lost in a giant bun, you need to make sure the diameter of the raw patty is 1 ⁄ 2 inch (1.3 cm) larger than the bun. Then use your thumb to create a small indentation in the center of the burger, which prevents the meat from shrinking and bulging in the middle. That means they are still heavy because if you don't need both hands to hold a burger, you've done something wrong. Just season the outside.
Season well, but only outside:

Incorporating salt and pepper into the meat when you are shaping the patties results in a dense and stretchy texture, because the salt begins to dissolve the proteins in the meat, causing them to criss-cross each other. Fix this by seasoning only the outside of your burger, but doing it generously (another tip from Kenji).
Flip it well:

Relying on a single turn allows the side facing up to lose too much heat. Flipping frequently (and moving the burger to the coldest part of the two-zone heat as needed to avoid flare-ups) cooks both sides simultaneously and helps the meat cook more evenly. Whatever you do, resist the urge to press down on the burger with your spatula, as this squeezes out tasty juices.
Rest well:

Yes, it's hard not to dive right into a hot, juicy burger. But, as with other meats, letting the burger rest for a few minutes allows the hot juices to settle and results in a more satisfying taste and texture.