Burger Myths You Probably Believe

It's safe to say that burgers inspire passionate debates between cooks. Everybody thinks they make the greatest burger ever, even though it's easy for people to screw up burgers at home. Generations of backyard cooks and food publications have spread recommendations for burger cooking that, upon further investigation, are proven to be flat-out wrong. All told, there's a mountain of confusing, often contradictory advice out there that makes it hard for the average home cook to sort out the good advice from misleading fiction. In a world awash with burger myths, we require the services of some burger Mythbusters.

Fortunately for us, brave souls have dared to challenge burger orthodoxy in order to debunk long-standing burger myths. With their guidance and the right recipes, anyone can make the best-tasting burgers they've ever had. It's time to set the record straight on burger lore. Prepare to forget everything you thought you knew about the humble hamburger. From faulty cooking techniques to specious science to questionable history, we will explore the biggest burger myths you probably believe and let you in on the real facts.

Another thing you see at so-called "fancy" burger places is burgers topped with expensive cheese. Now, we agree that fine imported cheeses are wonderful on a cheese board where they can be appreciated all on their own, but using them on a burger is oftentimes a waste. Not only do pungent cheeses disturb the delicate balance of flavors in a well-crafted burger, but they can lack the gooey, smooth, melty texture of an old-fashioned slice of American cheese. Even highbrow publications like Food & Wine can't argue with the fact that American cheese does something special when melted on a juicy burger.

The truth is that the cheapest American cheese (which, yes, we know is not technically cheese) available in your grocery store might make a better burger than the more expensive, name-brand varieties. In fact, Serious Eats named a generic brand of American cheese as the one that's best suited for burgers. The test also concluded that American cheese product, which has so little cheese that it can't legally be labeled as cheese, performed better than competitors that contained 100% cheese. Likewise, expensive organic brands fell to the bottom of the rankings. It's reassuring to know that sometimes, the cheapest option really is the best one.

Proper seasoning is the foundation of all good food. And, generally speaking, food tastes the most delicious if every component is well salted. That's why many people mix salt into their burgers before forming patties. Seasoning burgers this way ensures that they are evenly salted all the way through. However, pre-salting ground beef this way comes with a big downside.

Cook's Illustrated tested three techniques for seasoning burgers. In one, they mixed salt throughout the patties. The second batch was left with salt sitting on the exterior of the burgers for half an hour. The third batch wasn't salted until the moment before it hit the grill. The third batch was by far the tastiest of the trio, with the second batch drying out on the outside and the first batch coming out with an unnerving sausage-like texture.

So, what happened? Serious Eats explains that salt denatures the protein in ground meat, changing the texture and making it bind together more tightly. This is desirable in sausages like kielbasa and hot dogs where you want textural cohesion, but it's off-putting in what should be a more loosely-textured burger. This means that, for tender, melt-in-your-mouth burgers, you should wait until the last minute to apply salt.

Many burger myths revolve around the idea that there is a single ultimate type of burger. They claim that the only burger you should bother making is a smash burger, or a loosely-packed patty that barely stays together, or even a burger made out of some very time-consuming hand-minced beef. In reality, proper patty making is a function of what kind of burger you want to eat and how you're going to cook it. Some people like Pat Lafrieda say that pressing down on a burger patty will dry it out (via Food Network), but that's an integral part of the technique for smash burgers, which cook so quickly they tend to stay moist anyway. 

Meanwhile, loosely-packed burgers create a beautiful craggy crust when seared in a pan, but if you throw them on the grill they might fall apart and make a serious mess. Hand-minced burgers are delicious, but they're a far different experience than what most people are looking for when a burger craving strikes.

All of this is to say that burger patties come in a plethora of shapes and sizes, and choosing only one technique would rob us of other worthwhile burger experiences. You should feel free to make your burgers however you want to, perhaps with an eye to your particular craving or cooking method. Really, your only limit is your imagination.

The fast food cheeseburger is the ultimate symbol of cheap decadence, a calorie bomb that will make you gain weight and lead you to an early grave. It's true that most burgers you encounter in the wild are patently unhealthy, but burgers can be a part of a healthy diet — if you prepare them in the right way.

In an interview with Men's Journal, Pat LaFrieda debunked the unhealthy burger myth. LaFrieda, who supplies beef to many of America's most expensive restaurants, says that his professional bodybuilder friends eat a ton of burgers without it necessarily affecting their health. He notes that depending on the cut, beef can have a fat content under 5%. Even with fattier ground beef, a large percentage of that fat melts away while the burgers cook. As long as you stay away from relatively high-fat condiments like mayo, bacon, and cheese, a burger can qualify as lean protein.

Healthline further says that beef can be a beneficial part of a nutritious diet, especially for people with active lifestyles or those at risk of anemia. It's an excellent source of complete protein and is high in nutrients like iron, niacin, zinc, and vitamin B12. It also contains creatine, which may help build muscle strength. No wonder bodybuilders can't get enough of the stuff!

Veggie burgers don't have a great reputation. It's hard to engineer a plant-based food to be as primally satisfying as beef. In the past, many of us attempting to have a meat-free burger have had to suffer through mushy and dense black bean, grain, or soy-based burgers that just made us wish we were eating real cow. Fortunately, we live in the future now, and fake meat technology has progressed at an astounding rate. Epicurious says that two manufacturers now make plant-based burger meat that can actually satisfy your burger cravings.

For many, the Impossible Burger from Impossible Foods resembles beef so closely that it's almost uncanny. It looks like raw meat and indeed "bleeds" and renders fat quite a lot as real beef does. It also has a similar nutritional profile to beef and is the only meat substitute that might actually fool you into thinking it was real. Beyond Meat's plant-based Beyond Beef is another passable burger substitute, but it doesn't mimic the real thing quite as well. Still, with either of these products, you can give yourself a plant-based burger without sacrificing much of the taste and richness you have come to expect from a beef burger.

Louis' Lunch is a leading restaurant in the history of the hamburger in America. Founded in 1895, the New Haven, Connecticut restaurant claims to have invented the hamburger sandwich in 1900 when a customer asked for a handheld lunch. The restaurant's long history might qualify it as America's oldest continually-running burger place, but its claim to being the originator of the burger has been thoroughly debunked.

The New Haven Register discovered that there are several references to hamburger sandwiches in American newspapers from 1894, one year before Louis' Lunch was founded and six years before they claim to have invented the hamburger. The first was an ad for burgers at Barny's Saloon from the Shriner, Texas Gazette. Later in that same year, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Chicago Tribune both wrote articles about nightlife characters eating burgers from carts on the street. 

So who invented the burger? It's impossible to tell. These three mentions from the same year are spread all over the country, indicating that the burger was already widespread well before 1894. It's possible that innovators in separate regions invented the burger independently from each other. They might also have been riffing on a far older idea for minced meat dishes that stems all the way back to 1st-century Rome. What we do know is that burgers were available from coast to coast by the time Louis' Lunch "invented" them in 1900.