Where to Start with George Motz
George Motz turned a personal obsession into a career. He has spent decades crisscrossing the United States in search of the country’s best burgers, documenting regional styles and the people who keep them alive. His Emmy Award-winning documentary Hamburger America put him on the map, and the New York Times dubbed him “the foremost authority on hamburgers.” His cookbooks translate that fieldwork into recipes that any home cook can follow, covering everything from simple smash burgers to obscure regional techniques most people have never heard of.
Start here
The Great American Burger Book (Expanded and Updated Edition)
George Motz · 336 pages · 2023 · Easy
Themes: smash burgers, regional burgers, grinding techniques, burger history, grilling
The definitive burger cookbook, written by the man the New York Times called “the foremost authority on hamburgers.” George Motz spent decades traveling the United States documenting regional burger traditions for his film Hamburger America, and this expanded edition distills that obsessive research into a 336-page guide that covers every technique from smashing to deep-frying.
Why Start Here
Most burger cookbooks give you a handful of recipes and call it a day. Motz goes deeper. Each chapter is built around a specific regional style, from the thin, crispy Oklahoma onion burger to the butter-griddled Wisconsin burger to the loose-meat tavern burgers of Iowa. You learn not just the recipe but the history: why the technique developed, what makes it work, and how to replicate it at home with equipment you already own.
The expanded edition adds 25 new recipes, including an international section covering burger styles from Brazil, Denmark, Malaysia, and Turkey. Motz covers traditional grilling, smashing, steaming, poaching, and even deep-frying. The smash burger section alone is worth the price of the book. He walks you through meat selection (the 80/20 ratio and why it matters), grinding your own blend at home using chuck, short rib, and brisket, and the exact moment to press the patty for maximum crust without losing moisture.
What to Expect
A substantial 336-page hardcover with color photography throughout. The book is organized by regional burger style, so you can read it cover to cover as a burger history tour or skip straight to the techniques that interest you most. The ingredients are straightforward grocery-store staples. You will want a cast-iron skillet or flat griddle, a sturdy spatula, and ideally a meat grinder attachment for your stand mixer, though Motz provides workarounds for every setup.