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Smash Burgers
Thin patties, brutal heat, thirty seconds of pressure. Better than most restaurants.
20 min totalEasyServes 2Beef · Fast · Sharing
Ingredients
Scaled for 2 people
- Beef mince (20% fat)400 g
- Brioche buns2 buns
- Burger cheese slices4 slices
- White onion×1
- Pickles1 jars
- Mayonnaise2 tbsp
- American mustard1 tbsp
- Ketchup1 tbsp
Method
- Divide the mince into 4 loose balls. Do not compact them and do not season yet — salt before cooking draws out water and makes them bouncy.
- Mix the mayo, mustard and ketchup for the sauce. Slice the onion as thinly as you possibly can. Toast the buns cut-side down in a dry pan.
- Get a heavy pan or flat griddle as hot as your hob goes. Place two balls in, put a small pile of onion on each, and smash flat hard with a stiff spatula for 10 seconds. Thin is the point.
- Salt the tops. Cook 90 seconds until the edges are lacy and dark, then scrape underneath with the spatula edge — you want that crust to come with the patty, not stay in the pan.
- Flip, immediately add cheese, cook 30 seconds more, and stack the two patties together.
- Build: bottom bun, sauce, pickles, double patty, top bun. Eat straight away.
Chef’s note
The pan must be hotter than feels sensible, and the patty must be pressed within 10 seconds of hitting it. After that the meat sets and it will not smash.