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The cooked smashburger patties are placed on a brioche bun and topped with American cheese and caramelized onions.

Chuck Blount eats one of the homemade smashburgers made at Chuck's Food Shack.

Chuck Blount butters a cast-iron griddle in preparation for smashburgers.

Chuck Blount seasons both sides of the smashburger patties with a mixture of salt, pepper and garlic powder.

When you talk about what makes the best burger, expect a lot of heated debate. But there is no debating the fact that the classic smashburger, one of the earliest forms from which today’s burgers evolved, is having a moment.

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It’s the star at the eponymous national fast-food chain Smashburger, and it makes appearances on a variety of San Antonio menus, from Playland pizza downtown to Bar Loretta and Francis Bogside in Southtown.

Smashburgers start life as 3- to 4-ounce balls of ground meat, then get smashed flat onto a hot griddle. The resulting patty is thin and often imperfectly shaped, with edges all brown and crispy. Smashburgers are the opposite of the usual burgers seen today, stuffed with giant patties that often require a knife and fork to eat them.

According to historian and burger authority George Motz, smashburgers go back more than 150 years. They were sold as street food or at carnivals for no more than a nickel. He calls them America’s first “true burger.”

Smashburgers deliver thin, crispy patties.

The burgers predate cheese as the topping of choice and were instead topped with grilled onions.

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“There is a super nostalgic element to them that really takes you back, and they really don’t need all of the toppings and other elements that exist in the burger world,” said San Antonio chef Jeff White, co-owner of J’Dubs Burgers & Grub, currently closed. “These are the burgers your grandma or mom used to make. Add a little onion, some pickles, tomato or mayonnaise, and you are good to go. But they are honestly so good, you don’t even need to do anything.”

To get a good sear on the patties and keep them juicy despite being well-done, you need to use a high-fat ground beef. Look for an 80/20 meat-to-fat ratio. There needs to be enough to fat render out to give a good, fried sear to the patty for those nice, crispy edges, while still keeping enough fat inside the patty to keep it moist.

“The fat in that (80/20) ratio will keep it all together when you press it,” White said. “And as it cooks down, it will add a pool of flavor. ... I’ll even add a little garlic butter for more fat to make sure nothing gets too dry and is loaded with flavor."

The smashburger patties are topped with American cheese and put on toasted brioche buns. The burger on the left is also topped with caramelized onions.

The patties should be cooked on a flat surface that can collect the rendered fat, not directly on grill grates. Retailers sell outdoor flat-top grills from about $200 to more than $1,000. If you have the space, and the budget, go for it.

But you can also use your current grill topped with a thick, heavy-gauge, all-aluminum sheet pan (not your average nonstick baking sheet) or a cast-iron skillet or griddle.

You can buy a fancy meat press, which retails for around $25, to smash down those patties. But all you really need is something heavy. It can be as simple as a brick, a flat metal lid or even a can of vegetables since you cover the meat with parchment paper before smashing it.

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Once flattened, the burgers cook lightning fast, requiring just a few minutes on each side before they are finished with crispy, ragged edges. These are meant to be stacked.

Ingredients for homemade smashburgers include 80/20 ground chuck; a toasted brioche bun; a seasoning mix of salt, pepper and garlic powder; butter and American cheese.

Smashburger fan and San Antonio chef James Canter, owner of Guerrilla Gourmet, says the biggest difference between these and modern burgers is the texture.

“You really can’t beat those crispy edges,” he said. “They have a lighter feel to them, and they aren’t meant to be topped with all the other random things people will put on bigger burgers. The meat, cheese and the bun is usually enough.”

Such a different patty calls for a different kind of bun. Smashburgers are small to begin with and shrink even more as that fat renders out, so get some fresh potato or brioche buns from a local bakery. These are smaller, and the softness of the bread is a nice contrast with the crispy patties.

Recipe: Chuck’s Grilled Smashburgers with Cheese and Caramelized Onions

cblount@express-news.net | Twitter: @chuck_blount | Instagram: @bbqdiver

Chuck Blount is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years of experience at the San Antonio Express-News, and a tenure split between writing and editing about food, drinks, poker and sports, where he was part of the team that covered four of the five Spurs' NBA championships. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa.