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by imstate 1413 days ago
You definitely don't want to flip a burger multiple times. There is a drastic difference in quality. They advocate it cooks the middle more, but the real trick is to move the burger to the side of grill that is off and close the lid to cook it like an oven.

It's a rule in many kitchens I've been in to only flip once, because you don't want to lose the juices from the fat.

4 comments

So they dug into the science a fair bit in https://www.seriouseats.com/the-burger-lab-how-many-times-sh... and concluded it really doesn't impact the quality at all.

Is there something specific that you feel they failed to do correctly in their process?

It's really comically how many people here, including yourself, are just assuming they know more than then author. Kenji has done numerous studies debunking this and has dug into every single part of the burger making process and so much more to come up with these steps.

Flipping your burger less doesn't help. Yes, the salt level is correct. Yes, putting the grinder in the freezer is a good idea. Stop assuming you know more than experts without conducting studies your self, you arrogant people.

> It's really comically how many people here, including yourself, are just assuming they know more than then author.

Surely not here - on Hacker News? I'm shocked! Shocked!

Kenji has done lots of testing about this, and his result was: flipping doesn't matter. I tend to trust him over old kitchen myths, although I cannot prove he's right.
It also doesn't matter because you're usually eating a burger with some kind of condiment or side.

Whether it's a mushroom/egg/tomato, coleslaw on the side, ketchup, tzatziki (lamb burger) or something else, most burgers will have juices enough to not make them dry.

You also might not want to eat 100% of the rendered fat from a burger. Some fat is good, but it's still a very high-calorie substance.

this is just an old tale, testing shows it doesn't matter