Shaping burgers by hand sounds easy enough. Then you end up with one thick patty, one thin one and a third that’s lopsided, and they all cook at different speeds. By the time the thick one is done in the middle, the thin one has gone dry.
The Weber Original Burger Press sorts that out. There’s a round base, and a lid with a knob on top. Drop a ball of mince in, push the lid down, and out comes an even, flat disc. It’s sized for quarter-pound or half-pound burgers, so you can split a pack of mince into equal patties without weighing each ball on the scales.
It also presses a dimple into the middle of each patty, which is easy to dismiss until you’ve watched a flat burger puff up into a small meatball on the grill. As the meat cooks, the edges tighten and push the centre up. If you start with a slight dip in the middle, it cooks back to flat. It sits better in the bun, and the cheese melts over it evenly instead of sliding off the dome.
Smash burgers are a different thing entirely. Those crispy, lacy-edged patties get squashed flat on a hot griddle with a heavy flat press. The Weber is for the classic, thicker backyard burger.
Cleaning is easier than you might expect for something that’s handled raw mince, because the handle comes off. It also works well for batch prep. Press out a dozen patties, stack them with a square of baking paper between each one, and freeze them. They’ll separate easily when you want a couple for a weeknight tea.
