Heavy-Duty Smash Burger Press, Stainless Steel Round Bacon Press with Wooden Handle, 7 Inches in Diameter

Stop your search. Buy this. I know, you think you want cast iron for making Smash Burgers. I did, too. But, you don't want cast iron. You want this. I promise.Don't get me wrong, I love cast iron cookware. I don't even mind the cleanup/seasoning process with cast iron cooking. But, this is a much easier, and better, option.First, this is perfectly flat on the bottom. This gives you total control over how flat you want your burgers. I actually overdid it on my first attempt and got the patties so thin that they broke apart. Lesson learned: Might need to ease up a bit. Most of the cast iron presses I found either have a ridged bottom (re: bacon press) or they have a lip around the edge to limit how thin you can make the burger. You don't want either of those.It is also round. You want that for a burger press so nothing spills out of the narrower side of a rectangular press. I got the smaller 7" round model and it is plenty big for standard smash burgers. In fact, depending on what kind of griddle you are using, you may not want it any bigger. Your call.Also, this press is hefty. So, no need to worry about the weight if you want to use it as a bacon press (I have not done this, yet.) The stainless steel is stupid easy to clean up when you are done, if you need to. I have forgotten to put parchment paper over the burgers before and the steel doesn't stick to the raw burgers and only needs a bit of a rinse once it's done. No laboring over cleaning, seasoning and storing the cast-iron version. Just throw this in an available drawer of your outdoor kitchen and it's ready to use next time and won't get all rusted out.Yes, it's more expensive than other models out there (including cast iron). But, if you get it right the first time, it'll be the last one you ever buy. Plus, you will use it quite a bit during your outdoor cooking months once you realize that you can make better burgers at home than you ever got from your favorite burger place. I'm not kidding, they are terrific. So, it pays for itself pretty quickly.I've said my peace. Go forth and make excellent cheeseburgers for you and your friends.

I was a little skeptical to buy this piece of gear, without many reviews or referrals -- and at a relatively steep price. But I can pretty confidently say after researching a lot of different ways to "smash" your burgers on a griddle, that this is probably the best single tool you can buy if you want a mixture of flexibility and ease-of-use.This thing is -built- and it weighs like 4 pounds; pretty sure this is gonna last for decades to come. Compared to a couple of other options that are commonly used for smashburgers:- Steak Weights (like Winco or Vollrath): those items are the most similar to this, but this is just easier because it's circular -- much like your burger patties are going to be. So you don't have to worry about "smoothing out the edges" of a smashed patty like you do with the rectangular steak presses/weights.- Other "burger/bacon presses" -- most of these either have a "lip" of some kind that prevents you from fully pressing a burger patty to your desired thickness (or thinness). There are a lot of bacon presses as well that don't have the lip, but instead have some kind of wavy "ridges" instead of a flat bottom.I've been using this for a couple weeks now, and am pretty confident that I finally found the right tool to use. Combine with a nice ~5 or 6-inch wide spatula, and you'll be cranking out griddle burgers with ease in no time.

I was impressed with the sturdiness of the press and the handle. Because of my experience with cast iron, I decided to season it, although I don’t know if this is really necessary. To season it, I put it directly on a burner over medium heat. I was going to heat it up to 400* or so, and then apply some cooking oil to the surface that contacts the meat, and wipe off the residual. However, when my laser thermometer reached 300*, it gave signs of being very hot, so I removed it from the flame. It was obvious that the front surface was considerably hotter than the back surface, probably due to the poor heat conductivity of stainless steel. I was impressed that wood handle remained cool enough to hold. When I applied cooking oil to the front surface, it practically evaporated into smoke, and I quickly wiped off whatever was left. It retained enough heat for two more applications of oil before it cooled sufficiently to stop. The surface appears to be seasoned, and the first time I tried it, it worked perfectly with no sticking. When I use it, I preheat it by applying a very small amount of oil to the front surface and putting it on a back burner on low heat for a few minutes while the first side of the bacon is cooking.As I said, I don't know if any of this is necessary, but since some of the reviews mention sticking, I went to some effort to prevent it, which seems to work. I love this press and intend to use it every time I cook bacon.

Basic item.........sturdy handles........works like it should

I’ve had this for almost 2 months now and have used it several times. It works great for holding bacon down in the pan, breakfast sausage patty or pretty much anything. I don’t get the wooden handle dirty very often so I don’t wash it as often— can’t speak towards the longevity there but it’s really easy to wash the stainless steel part; just takes a little elbow grease, scrubbing. If you don’t have any hand strength you won’t like using it there’s quite a bit of weight to it.

it is a good weight. keeps hamburger patties flat. you can use this to flatten out thawed hamburger patties as thin as you want them and allows for them to cook faster and reduces splattering. also works well on steaks also.

This is our second press from this brand. The first one’s screws in the handle stripped out very quickly. Figured we would get a second one since the press is great. The second one lasted about 10 uses and the weld broke. Super disappointed, especially for the price.

Heavy and great for smash hamburger.

If you're a smash burger fan, this tool will really help you to recreate them at home. It's super sturdy and heavy duty so don't smash with too much gusto!

Handle fell off after a couple of uses.

The handle came off, had to fit another wood piece myself to make it sturdy