How many times should you flip a burger?

Joe Isidori knows a thing or two about burgers. He’s the owenr of Black Tap, a NYC restaurant specializing in bold, gourmet-flavored burgers and sky-high milkshakes adorned with donuts, sparklers, and oversized cookies. Black tap has generated a massive cult following on social media and the streets of New York, with people waiting in line for hours just to score a seat at the restaurant’s lunch counter.

In his new cookbook Craft Burgers & Crazy Shakes from Black Tap, Isidori delivers recipes for the restaurant’s signature burgers, tasty condiments and toppings,and gravity-defying milkshakes. Not surprisingly, he also weighs in on the best way to cook a burger. In an excerpt from his cookbook provided to Grub Street, Isidori explains why he believes that flipping your burger only once is the way to go. 

This recommendation is at odds with the advice given by J. Kenji López-Alt, who promotes a multi-flip approach. The author of The Food Lab notes that burgers that are flipped frequently have less overcooked meat around the edges, and they also cook faster. He admits, however, that in a blind taste test he would be hard pressed to tell the flavor of the multi-flip versus single-flip burgers apart. 

Which way do you go when you make burgers at home? A single flip or multiple flips? 

Photo of Thick and juicy home-ground grilled cheeseburgers from Serious Eats