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The Cooking Technique That Gives You Thick Pub-Style Burgers

A juicy, thick hamburger patty is central to burger night, especially if you're making pub-style burgers for dinner. These burgers originated in British pubs, as the name suggests, and are traditionally a hearty serving of 80/20 beef, lightly seasoned with just salt and pepper. The burger is topped with lettuce, tomato, cheese, and a classic hamburger bun. Twists on the pub burger include using a brioche or sesame seed bun, or adding different toppings and sauces. The point is that the pub burger is a filling meal that's easy to prepare fresh and fast. It's a great go-to for family dinner night and perfect for a build-your-own hamburger bar. The pub burger hinges on the hamburger, and a great cooking technique for pub-style burgers is to reverse sear them. Combine reverse searing with other techniques like Gordon Ramsay's trick for better cheeseburgers to really elevate burger night this week.

Reverse searing a hamburger means you cook it first in a low-temperature oven before dropping the burger onto a piping hot pan and searing both sides. It's a great cooking technique for burgers, because the oven first raises the internal temperature of the meat without drying it out. Finish the burger on the frying pan and create a crust on the outside, creating a juicy and flavorful hamburger. The technique works especially well for evenly cooking thicker patties, like pub-style burgers.

Can you reverse sear a hamburger on a grill?

You can reverse sear pub-style hamburgers on the grill, and they're actually a great type of hamburger for this cooking technique. Burgers that are high in fat are great on the grill, and the thick patties of pub-style burgers are perfect for outdoor grilling. You don't need an oven to reverse sear pub-style burgers on the grill, but you can pop the patties into the oven and cook them on low before searing them on the grill to finish. Or, you can just use a pellet grill, like this one, or a smoker to reverse sear your burgers.

Any kind of grill or smoker will work, so long as it can reach a temperature of at least 500 degrees Fahrenheit. You'll start by warming your grill up to around 250 degrees and cook your hamburgers until they're almost done. Remove the burgers from the grill or smoker and then crank up the temperature to 500 degrees. Replace the burgers and sear both sides to get a crispy and even crust on the outside and a juicy, tender pub-style burger on the inside.

Other cooking tips for making reverse seared hamburgers

Get to know the source of your hamburger if you want to make the best pub-style hamburgers you've ever tasted. You could just go to the grocery store and grab some hamburger off the shelf, but there are a few good reasons to avoid store-bought ground beef. Instead, look for grass fed, organic, and locally-raised beef for making the best burgers. Talk with your local butcher about your pub-style burger project, and you'll have a better chance of getting the best quality ground beef for your burgers.

Before searing, let your burgers rest, covered, for about five minutes to get juicier, more flavorful hamburgers. You should also make sure the temperature is high when you're searing your burgers to ensure they don't dry out. If the temperature is too low and they sit on the grill or pan too long, they lose moisture and become dry and crumbly. Serve alongside an easy kale Caesar salad, or maybe with a deconstructed watermelon gazpacho and some Campari (or another seriously underrated summer cocktail) for a memorable burger night.

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