The Accidental Invention of Smash Burgers #history #food

Smash burgers feel like a food the internet invented. But cooks were pressing beef onto hot griddles long before TikTok and Instagram existed.
So why were they doing it?
We explore the history while making a double Oklahoma-style onion smash burger with thin beef patties, paper-thin sweet onions, American cheese and a soft potato roll.
Quick facts
Style: Oklahoma fried-onion smash burger
Beef: 170 g total
Patties: 2 × 85 g
Onion: 100–120 g
Cooking surface: Approximately 190°C / 375°F
Yield: 1 double burger
Cheese: 2 slices American cheese
Ingredients
170 g finely ground 75/25 or 80/20 beef
100–120 g sweet onion, sliced paper-thin
2 slices American cheese
1 soft potato roll
Fine salt, to season
A small amount of beef tallow for the griddle
Instructions
Divide the beef into two loose 85 g balls. Do not tightly pack them.
Slice the sweet onion as thinly as possible.
Heat a cast-iron pan or flat-top griddle to approximately 190°C / 375°F.
Lightly coat the cooking surface with beef tallow.
Place both beef balls onto the hot surface and season with salt.
Pile the paper-thin onions directly over each ball of beef.
Using a rigid metal spatula, forcefully smash each burger once, pressing the onions into the beef.
Do not continue pressing the patties while they cook.
Leave them undisturbed until a deeply browned crust develops underneath.
Use a sharp metal scraper or spatula to scrape each patty cleanly from the cooking surface.
Flip each patty so the onion side contacts the hot griddle.
Add one slice of American cheese to each patty.
Place the bun crown over one patty, then place the heel above it so the bun warms and steams over the beef and onions.
Continue cooking until the onions soften and the beef is safely cooked.
Stack the two patties.
Close the burger with the steamed potato roll and serve immediately.
Why smash the beef?
Burger historian George Motz argues that smashing goes back to some of America's earliest hamburger cooking.
The technique solved a simple problem: speed.
A thin piece of beef pressed against a hot griddle cooks much faster than a thick burger.
Oklahoma's famous fried-onion burger added another practical idea. Historical accounts from El Reno describe cooks combining small amounts of beef with large quantities of inexpensive sliced onion when meat was costly.
Smashing the onion into the beef helped turn those ingredients into one burger.
And the technique had another benefit that people still love today: pressing the beef into direct contact with hot metal creates a large browned surface and those thin, crisp edges associated with modern smash burgers.
So smash burgers aren't really a new internet invention.
They're an old American cooking technique that the internet helped make fashionable again.
Practical notes
Use loosely portioned beef rather than tightly formed burger patties.
Slice the onion extremely thin so it can soften quickly against the griddle.
Smash the burger once at the beginning. Repeatedly pressing it afterward is unnecessary.
A rigid metal spatula and metal scraper make it easier to preserve the browned crust when flipping.
A heavy cast-iron or stainless-steel cooking surface works better than a lightweight pan that loses heat quickly.
Allergen information
Milk/dairy: American cheese
Wheat/gluten: Potato roll
Soy: May be present in some commercial cheese or buns
Always check individual product labels if you need to avoid allergens or cross-contact.
Food-safety note
Ground beef should reach a safe internal temperature of 71°C / 160°F, measured with a food thermometer.
Do not rely only on whether the center appears brown or pink to determine safety.
Discussion prompt
Did you think smash burgers were a modern invention?
And what other “viral” food should Cooking Club investigate to see how old it really is?
Related-video bridge
Next, discover why Hawaiian Pizza isn’t actually Hawaiian in another Cooking Club food-origin story.
Sources and further reading
Bon Appétit — George Motz at Hamburger America
City of El Reno — history of the fried-onion hamburger
Oklahoma Historical Society — Oklahoma onion-burger history
Good Morning America — George Motz's Oklahoma Fried Onion Burger
Serious Eats — smash-burger browning technique
USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service — safe ground-beef temperatures
#SmashBurger #OklahomaOnionBurger #CookingClub

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