Expert Flat-Top Strategies for 2026 Summer Grilling thumbnail

Expert Flat-Top Strategies for 2026 Summer Grilling

Published en
4 min read


Cast iron drops in temperature level after each hamburger. Steel does not. That's why I created it I originate from a steel household and I knew the material might outshine cast iron for high-heat cooking. Yes. Position 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 essential for developing the Maillard response, which offers smashburgers their signature crispy, lacy edges and deep taste. Get it ripping hot. You wish to hear that sizzle the second the beef strikes the steel.

Flip, include cheese, and cook for another to melt the cheese and surface cooking. You need to work fast. This is high-heat, high-speed cooking. That's what makes it so great. is the best ratio for smashburgers. The 20% fat material is essential for developing a juicy hamburger and crispy edges.

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


Leaner beef will result in a drier, less delicious hamburger. 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. Make the most of contact with the griddle. Heat, fat, and surface area contact. Master those three things and you'll get perfect crispy edges every time.

You can bake burgers in the oven, however they will not be smashburgers. They'll just be ... baked hamburgers.

Delicious Dinner and Home Recipes for Grilling Patties

Season on the frying pan. Do not season the beef before forming the balls it can make the texture mushy. 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 comprehend how steel holds and moves heat, you begin utilizing it for everything. I created the Baking Steel in 2012 after checking out that steel conducts heat better than stone.

Every Baking Steel is still made at our household store. Cast iron is great. But if you're serious about smashburgers, steel is much better. It stores more heat, recovers faster, and provides you a constant crust from the first hamburger to the last. Get it ripping hot, work fast, and make some bad ass burgers.

What started as a Kickstarter project (enhanced by an early endorsement from Kenji Lpez-Alt on Serious Consumes) has actually turned into the go-to tool for hundreds of countless home cooks. His obsession with high-heat cooking goes method beyond pizza. After years of testing smashburgers on cast iron, stainless steel, and every griddle on the marketplace, he developed the Skinny Frying pan and Mini Griddle specifically for stovetop cooking crafted to hold heat the way just steel can.

The Skinny Griddle is his go-to tool for smashburgers in your home. He's the co-author of Baking with Steel with Jesse Olson Moore and teaches high-heat cooking through his totally free online classes and dishes.

The Definitive Guide to Flat-Top Grilling Success

It's a basic meal, and it takes just a couple of minutes to prepare and a couple of minutes to prepare your delicious griddle burgers. Select your burger patty, pick your cheese, and pick your buns and filling.! Cooking up your hamburgers on a flat frying pan is a terrific method to get all the flavor you can out of both your burger patty and your cooking surface.

Popular Menu Trends to Explore in 2026

These flat, smooth cooking surface areas can take a great deal of heat, and they can give your hamburger the perfect sear, and a well rounded, even cook. We enjoy griddles since they are so versatile, and while traditionally they are used on stovetops, we frequently prepare burgers on a griddle in the oven, and even over an open campfire.

If you're utilizing your frying pan on the stovetop, in the oven, or on the campfire, there are a few universal rules to follow when you're cooking hamburgers: If you have cast iron griddles, they are going to require a layer of flavoring to safeguard the surface area. This makes it non-stick, and likewise secures it from rust.

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