My favorite food is a medium-rare cheesburger. I'll go out of my way to find a good cheeseburger or to try a new one. My current favorite is the wagyu burger from Nicco's Prime Cuts in Las Vegas. That burger inspired me to try cooking my own cheeseburger at home.

Before I show you how to do this at home, here is a picture of the finished cheeseburger. It might look like any ordinary burger, trust me, it's not!

The Ingredients

I've made cheeseburgers with several different brands of ground beef. This American Ground Wagyu Beef by Mishima Reserve is the best I've had so far. If you can't find this, use one with an 80/20 ratio of ground beef to fat for the best taste.

Here is the back of the package showing the nutrition facts. I make four cheeseburgers at 4oz each from one package.

Here is the list of ingredients I use. I prefer a simple burger with only meat, cheese, and bun. You may want to add your own garnish, such as lettuce, tomato, etc.

✅ American Ground Wagyu Beef by Mishima Reserve (16oz)
✅ Salt and pepper
✅ Extra virgin olive oil
✅ Salted butter
✅ American cheese (or your favorite cheese)
✅ Hamburger bun

Food Preparation

Before embarking on this quest to make the best burger possible at home. I spent a lot of time searching the internet, mostly Reddit, for advice. This is the most common advice I found mentioned frequently and these are the steps I follow.

1. Use 80/20 ground beef (in this case wagyu).
2. Spread the beef gently and do not pack it tightly. This is an important step. The more you press the beef together and handle it, it becomes tougher and less tender.
3. Gently press an indentation in the center of the patty as you prepare it. This is to allow space for the burger to shrink as it cooks. Otherwise, it will tend to get too round in the center.
4. Season with salt and pepper to taste before frying.
5. Place a small piece of butter in the center where you've left the indentation. One piece when you put the patty in the pan, another piece on the back side before you flip the burger.
6. Make sure the frying pan is HOT before cooking.
7. Cook for 2:30 on each side, 5 minutes total.

Here is the brick of ground beef before making the burger patties.

I first break the slab into four roughly equal pieces. I gently spread them out as thinly as reasonably possible, without packing them tighly. As I said earlier, I keep a small indentation in the center to allow for the burger to shrink. It's hard to see in the photo, but it's there. After that, I add generous amounts of salt and pepper (but not too much).

Here I am holding the four burger patties after prep. They are ready to cook. I add a small piece of butter to the center right before putting it on the grill.

Time to Cook!

In December, we bought some cookware from Hexclad and I'm using one of their frying pans here. I like this pan and it cooks the burgers quickly and evenly.

While the pan is heating, I add a little bit of olive oil and salted butter. I use a heat setting of 6 (out of 8) on my electric stove. Once the pan is hot, I put a small piece of butter in the middle of the patty and place it in the center of the pan (butter side down).

While the first side is frying, I add salt and pepper to the second side of the patty. I also add another small piece of butter before flipping the patty.

For a medium rare burger, I cook the patty for 2:30 (two minutes and thirty seconds) on each side. After I flip the patty, it has a nice brown color and slighly charred texture.

I add one slice of American cheese while the second side is cooking. It looks like two because I tear it into smaller pieces so that none of it hits the pan.

The Finished Burger

After five minutes, I take the burger out of the frying pan. My wife has already buttered the bun and warmed it in the toaster oven.

After placing the burger patty on the bottom bun, I dip the top of the bun into the olive oil and butter in the pan and place it on top. This both helps melt the cheese and makes the burger juicier.

Here I am holding one of the finished burgers.

Here is another close-up from the opening picture.

Here are a couple of pictures showing the medium rare center. You can cook them a little longer if you prefer your burger more medium or well done.

This is my first post on the Foodies Bee Hive community. I hope you found this useful. Please let me know if you try this at home and what you think of the results!