My love for food is rooted in tradition and family — so it can take me a while to catch on to current trends in Foodie Land. I have thus only just discovered the smash burger.

Smash burgers are the current chic descendant of the hamburger, a dish that has been nourishing humans for almost two millennia. Author George Motz was quoted in the Washington Post in 2021 as attributing the concept to the Romans.

“A first-century A.D. Roman cookbook by Apicius [an epicure who was one of the first known cookbook authors] has a recipe in it that is suspiciously close to the modern burger, a minced meat patty blended with crushed nuts and heavily spiced and cooked,” Motz told journalist Jay Wilson.

Hamburgers became popular in the United States in the late 19th century, according to Wilson. Smash burgers are a little newer. Identifying the first person or restaurant to make a new dish can be difficult. Food is a bit of a folk practice, and recipes can’t generally be copyrighted.

The smash burger may have been invented in Pikeville, Kentucky, in the mid-20th century. A line cook at an establishment called Dairy Cheer is said to have used a can of beans to flatten a hamburger. Owner Bill Culvertson took to the practice, which spread to various Dairy Cheer locations.

Others attribute the smashing idea to Carl’s Drive In in Brentwood, Missouri, a neighborhood in St. Louis. Whoever started smashing burgers, the practice is now widespread. A Denver-based chain called Smashburger not surprisingly specializes in the burgers, and both In-N-Out Burger and Shake Shack apparently serve them.

I have to admit that when I first heard about smash burgers, I was perplexed. My mother had always told me not to tamp down my burger patties when I cooked them. She thought this practice pushed the juices out of the meat.

I also didn’t necessarily approve of the fact that smash burgers are always well done. The flattening makes them cook very quickly.

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Despite the USDA’s strictures on eating undercooked meat, I am a fan of rare meat. A nicely browned outside and an almost red inside provide my favorite color palette for burgers.

Nevertheless, I decided to try to make smash burgers for my family. I figured that I should explore this food trend. After all, one well-done burger wouldn’t hurt me.

Lover of food paraphernalia that I am, I even purchased a cast-iron burger press to help flatten my burgers. After I got it home, I realized that the bottom of a small cast-iron skillet would work just as well and wouldn’t take up extra room in my kitchen. It was fun to use the new tool, however.

It’s possible that readers, like the pre-smash burger me, don’t see the point of smashing a burger. Here is the rationale.

Contrary to my mother’s kitchen lore, flattening a burger (and cooking it over high heat) actually seals the juices inside the meat. It also provides more surface area for a nice crusty outside.

Another plus to smash burgers is how quickly they cook. If your heat is high enough, they cook in two minutes or so per side.

I worried at first that this quick cooking time would keep the cheese on my smash burgers from melting. (Cheese is traditional on a smash burger.) Thanks to the high heat, however the burger surface easily melts a thin slice of cheese. If for some reason your cheese resists this heat, you can always cover the pan briefly.

One can vary the toppings in the recipe below. Some people like avocado or cooked bacon as garnishes. A thin slice of red onion would provide both flavor and texture.

I wanted to taste the burger above all so I made a relatively plain smash burger. Even so, my burger wasn’t quite plain enough for my brother who wanted only ketchup (not a special sauce) on his burger.

Despite his complaints (he seems to enjoy objecting to all of my cooking experiments), he had no trouble eating most of his supper. He left only a little morsel for the dog.

I’m not sure I will always smash my burgers in future. This cooking method does tend to set off one’s smoke alarms, even with the exhaust fan running.

Nevertheless, I’ll definitely try this recipe again. Despite my love of red meat, the burger was remarkably flavorful.

And of course I need to justify the purchase of my burger press.

Ingredients:

for the sauce:

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1-1/2 tablespoons ketchup

1 tablespoon pickle relish

1/4 teaspoon mustard or maybe a little more if you love mustard (I used Dijon)

1 dash Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon paprika

for the burgers:

1 pound hamburger meat (You need a fair amount of fat in your burger meat to do this, at least 20% and perhaps more. If your burger meat is too lean, add a small amount of canola oil to the pan before cooking the burgers.)

salt and pepper to taste

4 thin slices cheese (I chose provolone)

for assembly:

4 hamburger buns (brioche buns are nice but not essential), lightly toasted

the sauce

4 slices of seasonal fresh tomato

lettuce leaves as needed

Instructions:

In a bowl, combine the ingredients for the sauce with a small whisk or a fork.

Set aside.

Turn on your kitchen exhaust fan. Preheat a cast-iron pan over high heat for at least a couple of minutes, until you can feel the heat when you put your palm near the surface of the pan. Shape the meat into loose balls.

Place the balls of meat on the hot pan, and smash them as flat as you can using a heavy spatula, the bottom of a pan, or a burger press. Cook the flat burgers for about two minutes, until they begin to crisp up on the bottom.

Flip the burgers, sprinkle them with salt and pepper, and place a slice of cheese on each to melt. While the burgers cook (about another two minutes), place a dab of the sauce, a slice of tomato, and some lettuce leaves on the bottom of each bun.

(Some people think you need to butter the buns. To me this is gilding the lily, but butter your buns before adding the garnishes if butter appeals to you.)

Carefully place a burger on each bun, and serve. If you have a little extra sauce, put it on the table in case someone wants extra.

Serves four.

Tinky Weisblat is an award-winning cookbook author and singer known as the Diva of Deliciousness. Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.