This is the smashing method, which I first read about online somewhere. Supposedly, it’s the Shake Shack’s method of cooking beef patties, but I don’t know because I’ve only been blessed by In-N-Out (in fact, all of the people I’ve ever talked to who have had both say that In-N-Out is better). All I know is, any place that’ll make you a 100 patty cheeseburger AND sounds like half of a porn movie title kicks serious ass.
Anyhow, this method ensures you get crispy crunchy goodness throughout the burger as long as you smash it so the initial crust is distributed evenly across the top of the patty.
Please see the mostly unannotated and hopefully self-explanatory photo series/instructions below. As a sidenote, I am using a ground pork/beef mix along with diced carrots, onions, and shiitake mushrooms (super baby burgers) in the photos, so coloration may be different for you.
I heard so much about In-N-Out when I was out west in 2008, but never went to one. Alas.
Your burgers look great. The patty ingredients sound like mandu filling, but with beef added. Most excellent.