Double-Smashed Cheeseburger Recipe

While the method of cooking a smash burger has been around for decades ever since the act of smashing a hamburger patty firmly against a griddle to increase the crispiness of its texture was first popularized in the Midwest, the recipe for smash burgers has only been perfected ever since. This is most clearly seen in this recipe for the “Ultimate Smash Cheeseburger” from Serious Eats, in which you get twice the patty, texture, and flavor with every bite.

Cheeseburger Ingredients

Cheeseburger Recipe

  1. You’ll begin this recipe by preparing your burger bun. You’ll do this by laying your toppings of choice atop the bottom half of the bun. You’ll want this bottom bun nearby for when your burger is cooked, as the smash burgerbenefits from the freshness of the final product.
  2. Next, take a large stainless steel sauté pan or skillet and preheat it over high heat for about 2 minutes. After you’ve divided your 4 oz. of ground beef into two 2 oz. balls of beef, place the balls into the pan, and smash them down using the foolproof smash burger method of pressing the patty down with a stiff metal spatula and using a second spatula to add pressure. Smashed patties should end up slightly wider than the burger bun.
  3. After it begins to solidify beneath the spatula, season the burger generously with salt and pepper, cooking them until the patties are well-browned and the tops are just starting to turn a combination of a pale pink and gray coloration. This will take approximately 45 seconds. Then, using a bench scraper or the back-side of a stiff metal spatula, carefully scrape the patties from the pan and ensure that you get all of the browned bits.
  4. Flip your patties over, and then immediately place a slice of cheese over one patty and then stack the second on top, covering the cheese. Immediately remove this smash burger from the pan and transfer it to the burger bun that’s lying in wait nearby.
  5. Serve & enjoy!

Notes:

A properly prepared smash burger attributes its unique texture to the method in which the ground beef patty is cooked. As the name suggests, the chef smashes the beef patty firmly into an ungreased skillet or pan, which increases the points of contact between the cooking surface and the patty itself. This results in the overall texture of the burgerhaving as much “crust” or crispiness as possible while also enriching the flavor.

In order to ensure that your smash burger is the best it can be, time, attention, and care must be taken into the specific cooking instruments you are using in the smashing process. This recipe suggests utilizing the sturdiness and reliability of a stiff spatula or a bench scraper so that you can scrape up the burger from the skillet in one fluid motion, retaining the crust and beef patty integrity.

One of the criticisms often attributed to the smash cheeseburger isn’t regarding its taste or texture, but people take umbrage with its size. Sure it’s wide, but it’s often called “too thin,” but that’s just where this Serious Eats recipe comes into play. By cooking two separate 2-ounce patties per burger instead of the traditional single 4-ounce patty, you’re able to slide a piece of meltable cheese in between the two burgers; this will not only keep your meat base moist and crispy, but it will bulk up the overall burger.

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Southern Style Coleslaw Burgers

While coleslaw is a southern table-side delicacy, it doesn’t have to be only seen as a side dish anymore with this recipe for Southen Style Slaw Burgers from Buy This Cook That.

 Hamburgers stand as a dish that’s utterly incomplete without its collection of toppings, and coleslaw combines the texture and variety of vegetables with condiments and seasoning normally reserved for the bun alone. This particular recipe uniquely features the pairing of both sweet and sour flavors with its step-by-step guide to producing sweet + sour vinegar cabbage slaw that tastes perfectly atop a beef patty.

Ingredients for Slaw Burgers

16 oz. of cabbage slaw mix

¾ cup white vinegar

¾ cup water

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup yellow prepared mustard

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon celery seed

2lbs lean ground beef

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 cup yellow onion (finely chopped)

⅓ cup Italian parsley (finely chopped)

8 hamburger buns

2 tablespoons butter (optional)

1 tomato (sliced)

Dill pickles (optional)

Coleslaw Burger Recipe

  1. If you’re using pre-packaged hamburger patties, you’ll merely follow the instructions on the package. If making the patties from scratch, mix your beef, Worcestershire sauce, yellow onion, parsley, salt, and pepper thoroughly in a large bowl. Form the contents of the bowl into 8 patties and let them rest in the fridge for a minimum of an hour.
  2. Begin your coleslaw mixture by combining your vinegar, water, brown sugar, mustard, salt, pepper, and celery seed together in a small saucepan.
  3. Then, heat the combination to a low boil. During this process, stir the ingredients frequently until the sugar has dissolved.
  4. Afterwards, place the cabbage slaw mix in a medium-sized bowl and pour the hot vinegar mixture over the vegetable. Stir it all together to get the vegetables coated well, and then chill the total mixture while you prepare the burgers and buns.
  5. Take your patties out of the fridge and cook them on a pre-heated grill or stovetop skillet until they’re your desired level of doneness. At the same time as your cooking, the burgers spread some butter on the underside of your hamburger buns and toast them lightly on your heating element.
  6. Afterwards, it’s assembly time! Begin by stacking a tomato slice, dill pickle slices (or spear), hamburger patty atop a bottom bun. Then, take your coleslaw mixture and top the patty generously with your vinegar slaw. Top it with a bun, serve, and enjoy.

If you’re lacking time in the week or are far from an outdoor grill, this recipe can certainly be simplified with the prepackaged patties from Ball Park Steakhouse. These patties take the time out of sculping burger patties from scratch and still have that smoky grill flavor you’ve come to associate with summertime burgers.

This is the perfect meal to slap together as a celebration meal at summer’s end or on a weeknight when you just can’t find the time. Not only is the prep time under thirty minutes, especially if you’re using prepackaged patties but the juicy burgers pair so perfectly with the vinegar coleslaw that you might want to save some patties in the freezer for another rainy day.

Outside of the Ballpark-branded patties in this recipe, the simple combination of flavors in the ground beef hamburger patties stand as a simplistic, yet classic combination of familiar ingredients that can always be made in bulk and saved in the freezer until a later date, solving a problem you’ve yet to have.

So, treat yourself soon to the summertime classic that is coleslaw by topping your next hamburger with it!

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