Hamburger

Method

1. prep4 min
   cold meat, minimal handling
   divide beef into 2 loose 170 g balls, cupped not compacted, and keep them cold — every extra squeeze warms the fat and works soluble myosin into a sticky web, which is exactly what makes a bad burger chew like a sausage. Do not salt the meat now: salt dissolves that same protein and turns the interior springy and pink-cured within twenty minutes
2. toast3 min
   dry pan, medium
   buns, cut side down, buttered, until the crumb is dry and freckled brown — the toasted, fat-sealed face is a waterproof layer, and it is the only thing standing between the bottom bun and a puddle of rendered juice
3. sear2 min
   cast iron, near-smoking, lightly oiled
   beef balls placed far apart, then flattened hard to 1/4 inch with a stiff spatula within the first 20 seconds. Press only in that window — while the surface is still raw and slack it spreads, but once the proteins set, pressing just wrings out the fat you paid for. Season the exposed top with salt + pepper the instant it is flat, so the salt seasons a crust instead of the mix
4. sear2 min
   high, one flip only
   flip when the edges go lacy and dark and the patty releases without tearing, which means the Maillard crust has set and stopped gripping the iron. + cheese slice immediately on the seared side; residual heat plus the patty's own steam melts it in about a minute, no lid needed for meat this thin
5. top2 min
   off heat, assembled hot
   bottom bun + mayonnaise or ketchup + mustard + patty with its cheese + onion + pickle, then tomato and lettuce on the TOP bun so the leaf shields the crown from tomato water. The patty goes on straight from the pan — a burger left to rest cools into set fat and loses the point