Thisbeers burgers

Got me thinking. What's your rule for "doneness"?

cook till blood shows on top, flip, then how long?

Thermometer?

Good beef, I like rare

no flipping all the time and no smashing after they are on the cook top?

By looking for a warm pick center. Pass the cheese.

It doesn't take them long. I have a bacon press I use for smash burgers. I also use an IR gun and cook them on my charcoal heated griddle top. I check the griddle top with the IR gun until it's at about 600°f, smash the burgers into the griddle with the bacon press, give it a minute or so, flip, put cheese on top, and pull the meat once the cheese starts to melt.

Smash burgers and a traditional burger are different flavor profiles to me. For me it's what mood am I in on how I want my burger.

This is where my OCD really kicks in. I love all of my meat rare to medium-rare, and nice and juicy. If I know the history of it (my own deer/elk) or good quality steak cuts, I will even go very rare. Hamburger (ground beef) and chicken will probably get you sicker than anything else in the store! I have a great butcher who grinds almost all of their own burger from just a couple cows a day, not from hundreds like you get from the big groceries. Trust your eyes and nose, if it has dyes to make it red again, has a brown center while the outside looks perfect, or smells like anything beside fresh steak, it only gets used for browned meat, and is done well.

Smash burgers are fantastic, but have to be fresh!!!

Med rare for me.

thin and fast. you can always make doubles. the trick is a HOT griddle. char is everything on a patty. also, and this may be controversial, swiss cheese has no place on a propper burger.

Well done for me

I prefer my steaks to medium rare but hamburgers I prefer medium ... cook until blood shows on top, then flip and cook until juices are clear

Ketchup is fine on my fries but not on my burgers.

Another note. It also depends on how thin you like to smash them. The ones i did where as thin as you can get and keep them together. There is no way around it they will be well done. I don’t know exactly what it is but they are not dry. A thick burger I like medium. I smash burger I focus on the crust instead of the finish temp. A smash burger all the flavor is in the crust it creates. Give it a try and I think you would be surprised.

True. Doneness is irrelevant.

Very True.

I like my burger to make the buns red.

One 1/2" thick burger, rare, cheese on top, smash burger on top of cheese. Heavy mayo on the toasted bun. None of that veggie stuff.

Medium for me!

I have moved into the world of you can keep the lettuce and tomatoes off my burger.

Me to except for home grown tomatoes.