homemade cheeseburgers

You probably wonder why I’m posting a recipe for Smashburgers, but the truth is there is a technique to making the perfect one!

I mean you can’t just cook a piece of ground meat, you have to do it the right way and you have to have the right fat to lean ratio. Most common is 80/20 but there is 75/25 which has even more fat. You have to have the fat. If you insist on any leaner like 90/10, it will not be a good burger! A good burger has juice that drips down your arms!! A burger that takes a dozen napkins!! Yes!! Here’s a link about the fat to lean ratios: https://schweidandsons.com/blog/lean-vs-fat-perfect-burger-ratio/

Heavenly Homemade Smashburgers

I’ve mentioned before that my Granny had a cafe in Central Texas! She made the best burgers ever and yes, they were Smashburgers! This is not a new concept, that’s how diners, cafes, Mom and Pop operations made them, on a hot griddle with fresh meat! My youngest sister and I spent most summers with her and days that we didn’t want to hang out at the cafe, she’d pack us up with cheeseburgers and fries. Remember when hamburger buns came in a cardboard carton? Well she’d stuff the carton with our burger and load the rest with hand cut French fries! No frozen fries there! They’d cut them daily with a French Fry cutter.

Heavenly Homemade Smashburgers

So the first thing is the size. You want a thin patty. You don’t want less than 4 patties to a pound of beef. Granny would make balls of meat every morning and store them in the refrigerator on a platter until she made the next burger! No frozen patties, only fresh ground!

You want a hot griddle. I set my griddle at about 375 degrees. I’m such a fanatic about my burgers that when we build our house I had a 48 inch range installed with 4 burners, a grill and a griddle. Boy, do I use that griddle. How can you have a griddle like a restaurant in your home and not make smashburgers at least a week?

Starting with a hot griddle throw a couple of the beef balls on, let them sit a few minutes to brown and get that crust started before you turn and smash. Then turn like the picture below, and smash with a spatula!

If you don’t have a griddle built in an iron skillet works well and there are great griddle/grill pans you can purchase fir not a lot of money. I have one that is cast iron, it covers two burners and has a flat griddle on one side and a grill on the other when you want some grill marks.

Cook them on the side you turned to for a few minutes, salt and pepper, turn and immediately add the cheese to the other side if you want a cheeseburger. Top with a lid and cook only until the cheese is melted! You don’t want to overcook. So, have your buns and condiments ready because this takes minutes!

Yum!! So delicious! Serve with chips, French Fries or Onion Rings or even a good potato salad which I do a lot. Here’s my potato salad if you need a recipe!! https://the2spoons.com/super-good-southern-potato-salad/.

We like to switch it up and sometimes we’ll have yellow mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup or special sauce like I did this time! These have lettuce, tomatoes from my garden (literally makes the burger) pickles and shredded lettuce, and of course American Cheese! Sometimes I’ll have just a party with cheese, pickles and mustard and ketchup!

So go make a smashburger this weekend!