The Best Way to Assemble a Burger

There are plenty of tips for making better burgers online. But even if you invest in the best ingredients and cook them to perfection, that won't stop your sandwich from falling apart the moment you bite into it. For connoisseurs who believe structural integrity is just as important as taste, there's a better way to build a burger.

This TikTok from Problem Solved breaks down the secrets to perfect burger assembly. Many culinary disasters stem from soggy buns, and there's an easy trick to prevent this. Toasting your bread before loading it with ingredients helps it stand up to heat, weight, and moisture. For an extra flavor boost, butter the buns before applying heat. Next, add the condiment of your choice to the bottom bun; this will act as the glue for what goes on top of it.

The order of the remaining burger ingredients should be as follows: lettuce, tomato, patty, cheese, pickle, and onion. The lettuce leaf cradles the ingredients and catches any juices that would otherwise soak through the bottom bun. Add the pickles to the cheese when it's still hot and melty to stop the slippery slices from sliding around. (Drying your pickles with a paper towel also prevents this.) Top the pickles with onion if desired. For your final step, add another swipe of condiment to the top bun to hold the upper ingredients in place.

For some burger chefs, assembly is the easy part. Cooking their meat—or even starting up their heat source—may be where they run into trouble. Here are some tips for preparing your grill for barbecue season.