I’m not a picky eater in general. But when it comes to burgers, I like them only one way: smashed.
This wasn’t always the case. Growing up, I longed for my mom’s neighborhood-famous burger nights featuring soy-sauce-infused, extra-thick quarter-pound patties that were blackened on the outside yet a little bloody on the inside. It was what I considered the gold standard of juicy burgers for the longest time. But then I tried Shake Shack, which is known for its crispy, ultra-thin smashed patties—and my entire perception of a damn-good burger changed.
Even though the ingredients for making a regular burger and a smash burger are exactly the same, the defining element, as is the case with most recipes, comes down to the cooking technique. With smash burgers, flattening the burger patty until it’s merely a quarter-inch thick maximizes its surface area for more umami-unlocking potential, and it also creates a wider platform to pile on extra toppings. It’s a match made in heaven.
However, achieving the perfect smash is easy if—and only if—you have the right equipment. That’s why I always enlist the help of my ride-or-die grill press, the Cuisinart CISB-275 Stainless Steel Smashed Burger Press, when burgers (or other smashable foods) are on the menu.
With this sturdy grill press, you can evenly smash foods without overexerting yourself. Plus, it’s especially easy to clean thanks to its sleek stainless steel surface.
After many frustrating and failed attempts to evenly smash burger patties using the back of a flexible silicone turner, I finally invested in a grill press for the first time four months ago. I picked this model from Cuisinart because it isn’t cast iron, which makes it something of an anomaly in the category.
All the other presses I had tried were cast iron, and they all had their flaws. They offered a bit more weight to help flatten foods, but they were finicky to maintain and annoying to wash, as all cast-iron kitchen tools can be. Not to mention, I often needed a layer of parchment paper between the food and the cast-iron surface to prevent them from sticking together, which could be pretty wasteful. Plus, the cast-iron handles could get really hot, really fast. Ouch.
The Cuisinart grill press is made of heavy-duty stainless steel, with a 6-inch flat surface wide enough to create perfectly sized patties with every smash. It weighs only 1 pound, while cast-iron models are around 2 pounds, but it performs just as well. It also comes equipped with a fixed wooden handle, which sits a comfortable 2.5 inches away from the heat source to make maneuvering around sizzling ingredients safer. I’ve also encountered very few sticking issues when using this handy (pun intended) tool, and I’ve needed a layer of parchment paper only when smashing especially sticky foods, such as cinnamon rolls.
Another perk: The sturdy handle helps me secure a good grip to apply an even amount of pressure and easily flatten foods, which is why I’ve dubbed it “The Hulk” of my kitchen tools—it can smash a lot of things with great ease.
And it’s not just great with burgers. Evenly toasted grilled cheeses, griddled cinnamon rolls, croissant ham and Swiss sammies, crispy asparagus spears, smashed mini potatoes, or my personal favorite, tostones, crispy, flattened green plantains—the list goes on.
That wooden handle, though, is also one of my biggest complaints. Although it resists heat extremely well and doesn’t scald my hand when I’m in close proximity to a piping-hot cooktop, its sheer gloss coating gets slightly slippery as the sizzling oil splatters onto its surface. The good news: That’s nothing a quick wipe won’t fix.
Then, there’s the matter of the press’s circular shape. For smash burgers, it’s everything I could ever want, and more, but when I’m working with more abstract food shapes, the 6-inch diameter poses some limitations. My workaround typically consists of smashing in sections at a time until I’ve completely flattened the entire surface of what I’m cooking. Keeping several slices of bacon from curling up on a flat top, for instance, can quickly turn into a game of Whac-A-Mole when I’m using this tool. A rectangular grill press would be better suited for that job, but in my mind, getting two tools for basically the same task isn’t worth the investment.
That’s because my kitchen is small—it’s, like, less than 40 square feet—so I’m exhaustingly selective about any new kitchen tools I bring into my already-cramped space. One-trick ponies aren’t welcome here. And this grill press certainly isn’t a one-hit wonder.
That said, more often than not, I’ll still revert to a toasted brioche bun filled with good ol’ American cheese, grilled onions, extra pickles, and an ultra-thin smash-burger patty that never ceases to fill my heart—and belly—with an abundance of joy. Sorry, Mom.
This article was edited by Megan Beauchamp and Maxine Builder.
