A burger patty is ground meat, portioned and shaped, and almost nothing else. Its texture comes from how little you handle it, and its size decides everything after it: how it cooks, how much of it ends up as crust, and which bun it fits. Most burgers here use thin patties, because a thin patty is mostly crust and a burger is mostly about crust.
The variables
- Fat. 70:30 (regular ground beef) for a smashed patty, 80:20 for a pressed or frozen one, 85:15 at the leanest.
- Grind. Medium grind for a loose, crumbly bite. Double-ground for a soft, almost pillowy patty like a fast-food burger (see McDouble).
- Weight. 115–140 g (4–5 oz) for a single. For a double, 75 g each for a fast-food double, up to 115 g each for a smash burger. Two thin patties beat one thick one.
- Size. Press the patty 5–10% wider than the bun. It shrinks as it cooks, and a patty that matches the bun is the first rule of a navigable burger.
- Salt. None in the meat. Salt mixed in early pulls out moisture and binds the proteins, which turns a loose patty into a dense, springy one. Season the outside, at the pan or after cooking (see Seasoning burgers).
Shaping
Portion the meat into loose balls by weight. Don’t knead or pack them; some irregularity helps the crust form.
For a smashed patty, keep the balls cold and smash them in the pan.
For a pressed patty, set each ball between two squares of parchment, about 10 cm, and press it flat with a cutting board or the bottom of a pot to 5–7 mm (¼ inch). Tidy the edges with your fingers. Stack the patties with their parchment and freeze them, at least partly, before cooking. Freezing tightens the texture a little, in a good way, and the parchment peels off as the patty drops into the pan.
Options
| Option | Pick it when | Changes |
|---|---|---|
| Thin, pressed (115–140 g, 5–7 mm) | Most of the time; make-ahead | Cooking: hot griddle or pan, from frozen |
| Paper thin, smashed (3–6 mm) | You want the most crust and lacy edges | Cooking: smash on a hot griddle, flip once |
| Thick (170 g and up) | You want a pink centre | Cooking: grill or reverse sear |
The thick option is the Pub burger’s patty.
How it fails
- Dense and springy: the meat was salted, mixed, or packed.
- Tough: handled too much, pressed too hard, or the mince got warm. Keep it cold.
- Bigger than the bun, or lost in it: the patty wasn’t sized against the bun, or wasn’t pressed wide enough to allow for shrinking.
- Balled up in the pan: too thick in the middle. Press to an even thickness, or smash it.
- Dry and grey: too lean, or too thick to brown before the centre overcooks.
Other meats
Lean meats need help. Turkey and chicken don’t have the fat to brown and stay juicy, so Turkey burgers adds roasted eggplant or mushrooms, soy, and Marmite for savouriness and browning, and presses the patties thin. Ground chicken worked until tacky becomes sausage-like, which is a different patty again (see Chicken patties and the texture scale in The impossible quest for the perfect chicken burger). Plant patties are their own method: Veg patties, Vegan burger.
Recipes
White Spot burger (smashed), McDouble (double-ground, pressed and frozen), Turkey burgers (pressed thin). Other meats and plants: Chicken patties, Pan-fried chicken burger, Veg patties, Vegan burger.