The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

Burgers shouldn’t be confused with health food, or
even everyday food. A great burger is a once-in-a-
while treat, and if I’m going to treat myself, I want it
to taste awesome. Without enough salt and pepper,
even the most carefully selected and ground meat
blend will taste flat—you’re better off dining with
the King or the Clown, who, despite their significant
shortcomings, at least understand the benefits of a
little sodium chloride.
A word of warning: salt your beef only after the
patties are formed. Salt will dissolve muscle proteins,
which subsequently cross-link, turning your burgers
from moist and tender to sausage-like and springy
(which is desirable for actual sausages; see here).
The effect is quite dramatic.
The two burgers shown below were made with
identical cuts of beef, formed in the exact same way,