Key Tips for Perfect Summer BBQ Sides thumbnail

Key Tips for Perfect Summer BBQ Sides

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4 min read


Cast iron drops in temperature level after each hamburger. Steel does not. That's why I developed it I originate from a steel family and I understood the material might outperform cast iron for high-heat cooking. Yes. Put your Baking Steel Original directly on your grill grates, preheat for 15-20 minutes on high, and smash your burgers right on the steel.

I do this all summer season. Cook smashburgers at on a preheated griddle or steel. This high heat is crucial for developing the Maillard reaction, which offers smashburgers their signature crispy, lacy edges and deep flavor. Get it ripping hot. You want to hear that sizzle the second the beef strikes the steel.

Flip, add cheese, and cook for another to melt the cheese and surface cooking. That's what makes it so good. The 20% fat content is necessary for developing a juicy hamburger and crispy edges.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & SteakburgersFreddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers


Leaner beef will lead to a drier, less tasty burger. Stick with 80/20. Crispy edges come from 3 things: (500-550F) Get your frying pan ripping hot. The fat renders and fries the edges. Take full advantage of contact with the griddle. Heat, fat, and surface contact. Master those 3 things and you'll get best crispy edges every time.

Applying Global Techniques to Contemporary Cuisine in 2026

The technique requires direct, high heat from a griddle to develop the signature crust. You can bake burgers in the oven, but they won't be smashburgers. They'll simply be ... baked hamburgers. is the classic option it melts completely and has a velvety texture. Cheddar, Swiss, and provolone are also excellent if you wish to mix it up.

Perfecting Restaurant-Quality Sides at Home

This makes the most of surface area for browning and develops the signature crispy edges. Don't be shy. Truly smash it. That's where the magic occurs. Season on the griddle. Don't season the beef before forming the balls it can make the texture mushy. Definitely. I utilize mine for pancakes, bacon, eggs, grilled cheese, quesadillas, seared steaks, and more.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & SteakburgersFreddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers


As soon as you understand how steel holds and moves heat, you begin utilizing it for whatever. I developed the Baking Steel in 2012 after reading that steel performs heat better than stone.

Every Baking Steel is still made at our family shop. Cast iron is fine. If you're major about smashburgers, steel is better. It stores more heat, recovers much faster, and offers you a constant crust from the very first burger to the last. Get it ripping hot, work quickly, and make some bad ass hamburgers.

What started as a Kickstarter job (increased by an early endorsement from Kenji Lpez-Alt on Serious Consumes) has become the go-to tool for numerous countless home cooks. His fixation with high-heat cooking goes method beyond pizza. After years of screening smashburgers on cast iron, stainless steel, and every griddle on the market, he designed the Skinny Frying pan and Mini Griddle specifically for stovetop cooking engineered to hold heat the way only steel can.

The Skinny Frying pan is his go-to tool for smashburgers in the house. He's the co-author of Baking with Steel with Jesse Olson Moore and teaches high-heat cooking through his complimentary online classes and recipes.

Achieving Restaurant-Quality Fries in Your Kitchen

It's a simple meal, and it takes just a couple of minutes to prepare and a few minutes to cook your scrumptious frying pan hamburgers. Choose your burger patty, choose your cheese, and pick your buns and filling.! Cooking up your hamburgers on a flat griddle is a great method to get all the flavor you can out of both your burger patty and your cooking surface area.

These flat, smooth cooking surface areas can take a great deal of heat, and they can offer your hamburger the ideal sear, and a well rounded, even prepare. We love griddles due to the fact that they are so flexible, and while typically they are used on stovetops, we regularly cook hamburgers on a frying pan in the oven, or perhaps over an open campfire.

If you're using your frying pan on the stovetop, in the oven, or on the campfire, there are a couple of universal rules to follow when you're cooking hamburgers: If you have cast iron frying pans, they are going to need a layer of flavoring to secure the surface. This makes it non-stick, and likewise protects it from rust.