A Hamburger Today- aht.seriouseats.com

I vote for rare to medium rare. I think it makes for amazing food porn and there's nothing I hate more than a dry burger. Very few places make a decent well cooked burger. Shake Shack is the most well done burger I can enjoy usually.

Wow, I didn't think my little rant would rally the troops like that :)

I think what gets my goat is seeing so many amazing burgers on AHT and thinking 'damn, if only it was cooked.'

I've had raw, rare, medium rare, and any other kind of beef you can think of. I just think something magical happens when it gets cooked through, and the flavor jumps into another league. I'm not talking about crappy beef cooked to the point of dryness. I'm talking about quality stuff *just barely* cooked all the way through. It stays juicy when done right, trust me. Many places do fail on well done, thinking it means 'kill it again' but when well executed, there's nothing better. If there's doubt or when ordering from a place that overcooks the meat, I do go for medium well rather than well done.

I know most (all?) of AHT's expert reviewers don't prefer that type of burger preparation, but surely I can't be alone on this one? Nick, I know what I consider undercooked you would think is overcooked. I wasn't saying you guys are all eating undercooked meat, that was just my way of making the point. Different strokes, and of course it's all subjective.

I was just hoping to see a review or two cooked the way *I* like it. Maybe that was selfish of me, and please don't think I don't appreciate all the work you folks put into the reviews - I wouldn't check the site multiple times a day if they weren't great.

:beer:

Always been a "medium" guy, myself. I can do medium rare... but no lower. Don't care for higher than medium, either.

As rare as the law will allow for me!

Daniel Zemans (Chicago correspondent):" I will say that to the extent beef flavor is supposed to be the centerpiece of the burger, there is far more meat flavor when the burger has more fat and juice in it, elements that come out the more the meat is cooked."

I'm not sure about how you're saying what you're saying here.
I 'hope' you're saying that the burger is more flavorful and juicy when it is thoroughly (and obviously properly) cooked. Cooking is what makes anything flavorful and juicy. That's why we do it.

Have to admit, the sight of the interior of a really underdone burger makes me feel squeamish. I'm not saying they're 'bad' (once, I really liked my burgers rare right at the centre), but my reaction now is just a strong, visceral 'ERGH'. The unfortunate combination of an E. Coli infection traced to a burger (there was an outbreak, and unfortunately, unless the meat is ground in a completely clean machine, from pieces of meat that are entirely clean on their surfaces, this is a risk), was the original trigger. Then I researched it, and thought about it, and that put paid to my pleasure in less-than well-done burgers.

@bebo: I could have written that more clearly. Robyn is exactly right.

I wouldn't eat most of the burgers pictured. They look raw not undercooked,

I make hamburgers at home with ground sirloin cooked through and they are not dry. The secret is cover them with onions while you are cooking them.

@Sov: I'll replace "come out" with "leave the burger."

Sprout, have you ever been to London? At most fairly respectable places, you will get a medium burger, and at most good places, you will get a medium rare burger as standard.

I am a rare burger man myself (ever since the server at P.J. Clarke's mistakenly swapped my medium burger with a coworker's 6 years ago) but I think this is less about individual preferences than documenting well made, exceptional burgers.

Like it or not (I don't), a rare or even medium-rare burger is an exception these days, and worthy of photographing for reasons beyond aesthetics. Probably 75% of the time that I order a cheeseburger, not counting places like 5 Guys, my request for rare is received with a nod and a smile, after which I receive something that's gray and flavorless all the way through. My experiences have also been that outside of NYC, "underdone" burgers are even harder to procure. Well-done burger eaters, be content with the knowledge that outside of this site and a few accommodating spots, it's your world that we are all living in. Let me smile at the blood-dripping meat on the screen, even if you think I'm insane and/or risking my health.

(also, the idea of a well-done sirloin burger, mentioned above, is horrifying. Rare ground chuck, please, with a slice of American.)

I like great meat cooked medium well, average meat cooked well. Charred, even. I figure, our ancestors worked to harness fire, and I'm not going to diss their memory - or my digestive tract. Pink is good in other circumstances and locations, but my burgers? No way.

morganoliver, just to be clear, are you really saying people only dislike rare burgers out of fear?

These days, I find myself eating more steak tartare than cooked hamburgers of any level of doneness, so I disqualify myself from commenting on burger doneness. Raw meat is fine with me, and photos of lightly cooked meat with bright red centers are quite visually pleasing to me.

@morganoliver ~ good observation. My dislike of "pink" burgers goes back to getting sick from undercooked ground meat. Can't even eat my way around the undercooked parts of a burger; must be at least very medium well.

I do like my steak and lamb and tuna pink. However, I don't ever want to see bloody drippings on my plate. Others may eat what they like, even in my company. In fact, my ex-husband and best friend used to order steak tartare and I didn't care one bit! Just as long as I didn't have to eat it....