Everyone has a personal preference when it comes to building the best burger. Whether it’s cheese or no cheese, well-done or rare as can be, or loading up on your favorite toppings, there’s no shortage of variety. But celebrity chef Bobby Flay has one very specific rule: Always cook the burger to medium.
When cooking ground beef, medium denotes a temperature range between 140 and 145 degrees Fahrenheit, yielding a juicy patty that is slightly pink in the center. Cook times can vary depending on the burger’s thickness, but on average, the beef needs to sizzle for around eight to nine minutes in total. The burger continues to cook as it rests, which should result in the perfect medium doneness. For Flay, reaching a perfect medium temperature has a true purpose. “I think that in order for a burger to meet its optimal enjoyment, you need the fat to start to melt and basically create this juiciness in the burger,” he told Mashed in 2024. “That’s the way I like my burgers, medium.”
Bobby Flay says we’ve been told to prefer rare meat
Bobby Flay’s preference for medium temperature burgers might seem a bit unconventional to some, but he doesn’t think so. Rather, he believes that a big reason people get their meat cooked rare is simply because they’ve been told to do so — and not because they actually prefer it that way. “I think there’s some peer pressure on us to order red meat rare and medium rare,” he told Mashed.
The fat is what gives ground beef its flavor. When it melts, it distributes throughout the meat, building that rich, juicy burger flavor we know and love. For the best, juiciest burger, Flay is a fan of 80% lean beef, which is one of the fattier options. If you want some flavor but a little less fat, you can choose 85% lean, but keep in mind that anything over 90% might lack that chef-approved juiciness and richness. If you’re not grilling, Flay also likes cooking the burgers in a cast-iron pan, which conducts heat well to give them a perfectly crispy exterior while keeping the interior a little pink. And if you want to add cheese, use Flay’s quick trick of steaming the patty with water to help it melt perfectly. Finally, only flip them once, so a crust has time to form nicely on both sides.
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