Food - Drink
The Shaping Technique For Perfect Grilled Burgers
By KATHERINE BECK
When making hamburgers, a patty around 5 ounces is ideal, since it fills the bun, but isn’t so big and juicy that the sandwich falls apart. When shaping your 5-ounce patties, not only should you make them a little bigger than the bun, since they'll shrink as they cook, but you should also perform a small but crucial step before grilling.
Use the tip of your thumb or the back of a spoon to create a small indentation in the center of each hamburger patty, so it will cook more evenly without shrinking as much. Without the dimple, your patties are at risk of bloating and swelling as the meat juices expand, causing them to curl up and become rotund in shape.
After you have your round, dimpled patty, it’s ready to go on the grill, which must be hot when the meat hits the metal. Once the patty is on the grill, let the heat do its magic and resist the temptation to press down on them, which will cause them to lose the juices that make the final hamburger so amazing to sink your teeth into.