When to salt your burger patties.

[Mosca]

I’m another one who salts right before they hit the heat.

[holehogg]

Just before cooking.

[DavidNorcross]

Same for me. Never mix....have tried it, not good.

[fkrall]

I sense I'm in the minority, but I pull the meat, add salt and seasonings, and form the burgers just before I put them on indirect, sear at the rear. Works for me and those who stand in line* for my burgers. Clearly, this is a "to each his own" situation! *Three people, but a line's a line.

[Pobeque]

Depends on type of burger....smash burgers on a griddle, i'll smash then salt raw side, flip then salt cooked side. For larger burgers cooked to temp, I just season right before they go on the grill. Never mix in, it gives a rubbery meatbally texture

[JakeT]

What about dry brining the whole piece of meat for a couple days prior to grinding? I have a piece of chuck in my fridge doing just that to test the theory. I think someone posted about that here recently.

[Mr. Bones]

Another interested in yer results...

[Guttenberg]

JakeT how did it go?

[JakeT]

Guttenberg Mr. Bones RonB the results were less than desirable. I reverted back to just seasoning when the burger hits the grill/griddle.

[barelfly]

Like most, I salt when I add to the grill and smash. I just made smash burgers about a month ago but I can’t remember if I added anything else to the meat.

[Troutman]

I too season burgers just before cooking. I really don't mix a lot of anything in my patties to begin with, just meat and fat 80/20. What is interesting though is I do preseason the mix on meatballs. I cook meatballs about the same as I cook burgers. Haven't really noticed any adverse problems with meatballs. Hmmmm, interesting.

A little off topic but also interesting is a Guga video about an experiment he did with dry brining steaks. He went 24 hours, 3 days, one week, and one month respectively. I typically go 24 hours on an 1 1/2" steak but occasionally have gone 48. Interesting to see the results going any longer...ruined meat !!

[Steve R.]

I can't believe he even cooked the 1 week and 1 month ones, much less tasted them. Blech!!!

[Troutman]

This experiment closely follows dry aging meat. Although you can dry age much longer than dry brining, there comes a point when enough is too much. Personally I like 28 day dry aging much better than 60 or even 90 day equivalents. Meat begins to get way too dense when the moisture is sucked out of it.

[rickgregory]

I've cooked a few burgers, an in my experience, mixin salt in th beef (especially way too much salt) makes a smushy, oozy, gummy, snotlike mixture that sticks tenaciously to everthing it comes into contact with: yer hands, mixin bowl, spatula, skillet, especially a hot grill grate, even CI pans, or a griddle. But at least it has lousy texture an mouth feel goin fer it...

And none of that will happen if you mix it and then grill it right away. Like I said above, Kenji's post is terrible at isolating why this happens. There's HOW to salt... there's WHEN to salt and there's HOW MUCH to salt. They all have an effect.

[Mr. Bones]

Thanks, I fully unnerstand th timeframe thang...What I referred to was (perhaps) over saltin, an leavin it mix very long, at all. Makin em up, then cookin em off is decidedly a non-issue, ime.

[shify]

Yes he didn't test every iteration but he tested salting pre-grinding, salting post grinding/pre-forming and salting post-forming (I would like to see dry-brine pre-grind). the burger sat only as long as it took to take pictures. Could a lot change in those 15 min? I guess
As far as the amount of salt, although the amt seems like alot, if 1 tsp is the right amount of salt for his taste, why would he ever test 1/4 or 1/2 a tsp? If it is underseasoned to him, why test it if its not to his taste?

[rickgregory]

" if 1 tsp is the right amount of salt for his taste, why would he ever test 1/4 or 1/2 a tsp"

Because it's not is personal blog. It's an article about the effect of salt and he's making pronouncements on what's good and bad.

Kenji's thing is to bring some rigor to common cooking assumptions and that article fails to do that. Now... it's from 2009 when he was new, so I cut him slack for that.

[hoovarmin]

Here in the Pit there's a video seminar of Meathead and Dr. Blonder on the topic of salt that addresses mixing salt and ground beef using some of Dr. B's fancy MIT equipment. It's well worth watching.

[BFlynn]

I salt and pepper on the grill - right before I flip them.

That's how they did it at my favorite burger shack growing up, and I've never done anything different.
If it ain't broke......
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[smokenoob]

I use bacon as a salt substitute, right after cheese and before the bun!

[au4stree]

Bacon makes everything better.

[Santamarina]

Right after hitting the cooker. Whether thick burger on the grill or a smash burger on the griddle, I’ll hit’em with salt and pepper right after landing.

[Oakgrovebacon]

I have been mixing in salt, pepper and some Cavenders Greek seasoning for smash burgers right before cooking. Not all scientific-a couple pinches of kosher salt, a few shakes of fresh ground black pepper and the Cavenders. In 2-3 lbs of fresh ground beef. Make 1/3 cup sized balls of ground meat and head to the griddle that was preheating while I prepped meat. Smash flat and cook till brown and crispy. 2 patties, cheese, mayo, ketchup and thin sliced sweet onion makes a fine burger.

[au4stree]

I season right before they hit the grill. Never thought about it before, just the way I was taught to cook a burger.....SPG for us. I have tried others, but always come back to simple salt, pepper and garlic.