Daniel Brooks 
Burgers shrink because heat pushes out three things at once: fat melts and drips away, water turns to steam and escapes, and the meat proteins tighten up as they cook. That is normal, and a well-made patty loses roughly a quarter of its raw diameter. The patties that end up as hockey pucks are usually … Read more
Grinding your own beef for burgers takes about 30 minutes of hands-on work and one afternoon of your time. You trim cold chuck, brisket, sirloin or short rib, cut it into strips that fit the grinder, and run it through a coarse plate for fresh ground beef with a fat ratio you picked yourself. The … Read more
If you want the straight answer: the best beef to fat ratio for juicy burgers is 80/20, meaning 80 percent lean and 20 percent fat by weight. It is the blend most cooks land on because the fat renders as the patty cooks and bastes the meat from the inside. Drop to 85/15 when you … Read more
To keep burgers from puffing up in the middle, press a shallow indent into the center of each raw patty with your thumb before it hits the heat. It takes about ten seconds per patty and it is the difference between a burger you can stack and a meatball that slides off the bun. Here … Read more
To make smash burgers on a griddle, heat the surface to 400-450F, drop loosely rolled 2.5-3 ounce balls of 80/20 ground beef, and press each one flat within five seconds. Leave them alone until the first side is deeply browned, then flip for 60-90 seconds and add cheese. The whole burger cooks in under four … Read more