What makes hamburgers tough

Ensuring tender, juicy burgers and not dry, dense hockey pucks has to do with both sourcing and technique.

Chowhounds have shared a few simple tricks and tips over the years, starting with buying the right ground beef. Tip 1: Avoid extra-lean grinds. The higher the fat content of your ground beef , the moister the patty. Tip 2: Minimal handling is just as important. Just as overworking pastry and dough will make it tough, so will over-handling your meat. Tip 3: Make an indentation in the middle of each patty. Just press your thumb not too firmly into the meat and the divot will prevent it from puffing up and will allow it to cook evenly, mike says.

Your spatula is strictly for flipping, and only once. We're not suggesting that you go full-on Salt Bae while seasoning your hamburgers, but sprinkling the seasoning on from high above is a helpful technique that will get you delicious tasting burgers.

It's natural to sprinkle a hearty pinch of table salt onto ground beef when you're making burgers. But Dino DeBell, executive chef and partner of Allen Burger Venture in Buffalo, New York, says that using table salt instead of kosher salt when making burgers is a big mistake. Why should you use kosher salt? The flakes are bigger, which means there's a higher density of flavor added to the meat. Table salt's flakes, on the other hand, are smaller and dissolve pretty quickly.

Those big kosher salt flakes are great for drawing out the moisture in the meat, making those burger patties even juicier.

How to fix it: Invest in some quality kosher salt and season those patties to perfection. Did you burn your burgers while cooking them? The culprit is likely uneven thickness. While the shape of the patty doesn't matter, the thickness does.

Fun tip: If you are looking to double-stack burgers, make sure to have thin patties, or else you will have a very tall burger! You can also try this tip from Harwell: Put a little thumbprint in the middle of the patty once it's formed, and it will prevent the patties from balling up during the cooking process. When making burgers, it's important to remember that the meat loses volume while cooking.

That means that when you're shaping your patty, you need to account for shrinkage and make patties that seem bigger than they need to be. How to fix it: Harwell suggests combating patty shrinkage by making your patty about one inch wider than the bun. This way, when the burger cooks down, it's still perfect for whatever bun you're putting it on. Cooking burgers on a backyard grill is iconic, but it's not necessarily the best way. Both Harwell and DeBell prefer cooking their burgers on a flat surface at home, specifically a cast-iron skillet.

DeBell says to use a hearty amount of butter on the skillet to help with sticking, and of course, flavor. How to fix it: Don't be afraid to cook burgers indoors!

After going through the trouble of making hamburgers, it can be tempting to throw them on just any old buns. But that's a mistake, as buns play an important role. So don't grab just any package of buns at the grocery store! How to fix it: Soft, pillowy buns are the best, according to Harwell.

They taste great, plus they're nice to chew into when taking a bite out of your burger. Think potato or egg rolls, which have the right texture for your burgers.

That's why you buy good buns: to hold up to the burger and all the ingredients. And for more tips, here's How to Grill Burgers Perfectly. Food keeps cooking once it's taken off the heat, a process known as residual cooking. It's easy to forget about during the cooking process, but keeping it in mind can make a huge difference with your burgers. How to fix it: "Allow the beef patty to rest at least a couple of minutes after cooking.

Some blood and juices will drip away, thus keeping the bun from getting soggy," says Fabrice Poigin, culinary director at King's Fish House. Harwell suggests using a thermometer and to pull the meat when it's five to 10 degrees before the desired temperature. When it is, pull it off the cooking surface and let it finish cooking and come to rest.

Like [with] most meats, giving your burger the chance to rest allows all of the deliciously mouthwatering juices to collect and re-distribute throughout the patty, for a real concentrated juicy flavor," says Patrick Ochs, corporate executive chef for INK Entertainment USA.

For larger patties, you should allow the burger to rest for up to minutes. There's no wrong way to build your burger, but when it comes time to construct your burgers, it's important to put the lettuce down on the bun before the patty.

The lettuce acts as a barrier between the bun and the patty and the other ingredients , keeping it from getting too soggy. Terms Privacy Policy. All rights reserved. Westend61 via Getty Images. Right those wrongs, and eat better home-grilled burgers. If feeding a crowd, we understand going for a bargain. But if grilling burgers for you and a select few, go for the good stuff. Get nice, preferably freshly ground beef, with at least 20 percent fat.

Because remember, you can taste the difference between grass-fed beef and the conventional, grain-fed stuff. Don't over-work your burgers OR add a bunch of other stuff into the mix. First, burgers are already perfect as they are.

Adding onions, herbs or sauces to the meat is only detracting from their inherent greatness. Secondly, adding ingredients means having to overwork the meat, warming up the fat in the burger which emulsifies it and makes the meat rubbery.

No one wants a rubbery burger, especially with onions and herbs in it. Instead, lightly shape the burgers, top with a little salt and leave it alone. Don't forget to put a divot in the middle. It's commonly thought that one should form a burger into a perfect patty, but this doesn't account for the shrinking and expanding that happens to the meat as it cooks.

Instead, shape the burger into a patty, then push a dimple into the center. This will create a perfectly flat burger when cooked making it so toppings stay in place when eating it. Those rounded burgers so common at backyard barbecues make topping burgers impossible. Burgers like heat -- high heat. It's all about the sear on a perfect burger.