YouTubeChef interpretation
Gordon Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay Upgrades Your Burger | Next Level Kitchen
Ramsay’s own take on the smashburger, alongside Richard Blais.
Watch on YouTube ↗Not yet watched end to end by us
Discover / Smash
Classic Diner-Style Smashed Cheeseburger
J. Kenji López-Alt · The Food Lab
Jump to the recipe ↓
Illustration created with AIGenerated with ImagineArt (Nano Banana)
The foundational smash method from Kenji’s 2015 book, served with raw onion, pickles and fry sauce.
The recipe
How to make it
2 servings
Ingredients
Burgers
- 1 lb freshly ground beef
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- Vegetable oil
- 4 deli-cut slices American cheese
- 1 small onion, finely sliced (optional)
Buns and toppings
- 4 soft hamburger buns, ideally Martin’s potato rolls
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- Thinly sliced raw onion, pickles and fry sauce, as you like
Method
- Divide the beef into 4 pucks about 2 in tall and 2½ in wide. Keep them in the fridge until you cook.
- Open the buns without splitting the hinge, brush with butter and toast under the broiler until golden, about 1 minute.
- Wipe a heavy 12 in skillet with oil and heat over medium-high until it just smokes. Season the tops of the pucks, lay them seasoned side down and press each to 4–4½ in wide and ½ in thick. Season again.
- Cook without moving until a brown crust forms, about 1½ minutes. Scrape up, flip, add onion and cheese and cook about 30 seconds more for medium-rare.
- Build on the toasted buns with your toppings.
Note on the source: From The Food Lab, as printed by WBUR’s Here & Now. The book’s fry sauce recipe is suggested as a topping; its quantities aren’t shown here.
Quantities come from the source. The method is written in our own words. See the original ↗
Video
Watch the Masters Cook It
Learn from the chefs who know this burger best. We link out to their own channels; we don’t host or edit anyone’s videos.
YouTubeChef interpretation
Gordon Ramsay
YouTubeTechnique
J. Kenji López-Alt
How to make a smash burger
The smash method Kenji uses at Wursthall. It shows the technique, not the book recipe.
Watch on YouTube ↗Not yet watched end to end by us
