It was hard to get a good picture, sorry it’s not that amazing of a photo 😅 thoughts on how to better photograph a smashburger are welcome if something comes to mind
Just some cheap buns
Two smashed pattes on each (w/salt and pepper)
American cheese
Sliced poblano
And ketchup & mayo
I used to really like doing fresh jalapeno, but now generally have to avoid spicy food for dumb reasons so poblano has been a nice substitute.
For the patties you just roll ground beef into a ball roughly the size of a golf ball, maybe a tad bigger if you want, get your cast iron super hot, and then place your patty ball on the cast iron, and smash it down with a suitable metal implement- I use a flat, non-slotted cookie scraper and use the butt of a silicone spatula to press down on the top of the spatula since it’s hard to get good leverage on the cookie scraper without putting your hand too close to the sputtering hot pan
Looks delicious! There are a couple of techniques to get good pics of food; here are a couple I can think of off the top of my head:
Take the picture in an area void of distractions like an empty table
Center the item of interest in the middle of the plate and make sure it’s clean of crumbs or fingerprints
Use garnish to make colors pop (e.g. like green chives on white mashed potatoes)
Take the pic in good lighting, sunlight from a window is best
Get close enough to the food to fill the whole frame, leaving a little space on the edges . Get even closer to get good food texturesThose are all great tips. Sadly I usually can’t have sunlight due to a sleep disorder, I have two layers of blackout curtains over all my windows
I think the big thing I’d wanna have done differently is that after putting one layer of pepper slices I put one more slice on top as a second layer, and it made the buns sit really high and cast a shadow over the peppers and beef
I definitely feel like centering the burgers on the plate and taking the picture a little closer could have been nice. Sadly my kitchen is often a mess, hence why I took the pic in front of a wall lol
Thanks for the tips! ☺️
Diffuse “daylight” lights can work fairly well, you want around 5600k for a neutral light. You want the whole food to be in focus but having a wide aperture can help lock in the focus to just the food. The rest is composition though and part of that is just rearranging until it feels like it looks good. Oh and i think you’re better off not cutting the plate off like that or being closer, so centering more like you said could help.
Crust on the beef looks great and cheese looks great!
I say this as a Poblano pepper and burger lover, roast em (grill or oven).
Thanks! Personally I love them best fresh for a bit of crunch and some bright fresh flavor contrast. Jalapeno worked a little better in that way, but I’m cutting down on spicy stuff sadly
I can see how roasted or grilled would be delicious Though! ☺️
Good burgers.
Would smash.
Commenting so I actually remember to post the vegetarian chickpea curry I made next time I fix myself a bowl
They look really nice. The poblano looks a bit thick for my tastes. Would prefer jalapeno, but other than that really good.
For extra delicious but unhealthy, frying the buns in the same pan in the fats after both sides until toasted is chef’s kiss.
Yeah it’s sliced like a third of an inch or two cm thick, and then I put an extra slice on top of the single layer of slices which made the bun look lifted up really high 😅 I’d pick the jalapenos too, but I have rosacea and sometimes spicy food is a trigger that makes my skin upset
I really like the bright fresh green pepper with the crispy beef though, so I like to have a lot of it, be it poblano or jalapeno :P
I was wondering what a “smash” patty was. After reading the description they… Are just patties. Flattening a ball of hamburger has always been part of making patties… I guess you can call it “smashing”.
Looks delish, regardless.
When you smash it into the griddle or pan instead of flatting it before cooking the patty ends up thinner and browns really deeply, getting crispy lacey edges that crunch slightly as you bite into them
Smash burgers turn out fairly distinct from regular burgers where you form the patty in advance :)
I think the difference is that a traditional patty is shaped before you grill it. A smash burger is shaped by being smashed directly on the grill.
The end result is very different, it gets a very thin and crispy crust and nice crispy edges. The patties are also usually about half the weight (and therefore half the thickness) so the ratio of crust to interior is higher. If you just gently place a pre-formed patty on the pan you get something with a lot less browning and none of the crispy crust
Yeah, I’ve tried to make a smash burger by squishing down a pre-formed patty. It doesn’t bring the magic in the same way.
sighs and unzips
Hmmm… ಠnಠ
I think my burgers had enough salt as is… /j
