To form a burger patty that cooks up flat make a shallow indentation in the center The finished patty will flatten as it cooks Getting Even After the dreaded bulge, the second most gruesome fate of a pub burger is poor cooking, which in the worst cases results in an exterior that’s charred beyond recognition with a stillcold center It’s exciting to see flames leaping up around the patties, but it’s not doing you any favors in the flavor department Those flames are from fat dripping out of the patties, hitting the hot coals below, and vaporizing, leaving a sooty, acrid deposit on the surface of your burgers Pressing down on the patties as they cook exacerbates the problem The easiest way to deal with it is to cook in stages, using a two-level fire—that’s a fire where all of the coals are banked under one side of the grill (or in the case of a gas grill, one set of burners is turned to high, the others are shut off) ... two-level fire—that’s a fire where all of the coals are banked under one side of the grill (or in the case of a gas grill, one set of burners is turned to high, the others are shut off) ... and vaporizing, leaving a sooty, acrid deposit on the surface of your burgers Pressing down on the patties as they cook exacerbates the problem The easiest way to deal with it is to cook in stages, using a...After the dreaded bulge, the second most gruesome fate of a pub burger is poor cooking, which in the worst cases results in an exterior that’s charred beyond recognition with a stillcold center