Hamburgers

HAMBURGERS... WHO COOKED THAT UP?

J.J. wonders...

Hamburgers. They are everywhere. But did you ever stop to wonder who was the first to cook a hamburger? Hamburgers must have started somewhere, and perhaps you will say they started in Hamburg -- Hamburg, Germany, that is, and you would be only partly right. It is said that the Hamburgers (folks that lived in Hamburg) got the idea to tenderize beef from the Tartars several centuries back, and they would eat it either raw, the way theTartars did (Beef Tartare, get it?), or cook it with onions. An English doctor and food enthusiast adapted the dish as part of his beef-three-times-a-day food regimen. His name was Dr. J.H. Salisbury; hence Salisbury Steak. With the wave of German immigrants to the United States in the 1800's the word "Hamburg Steak" or "hamburger" began appearing on menus, but they always referred to ground beef patties served on a plate -- no bun, no pickles, no mustard, no lettuce, no mayo. To serve the "hamburger" as a sandwich, well, somebody had to think that up, or rather, cook that up.

As in most things American, there is a diversity of opinion between the northeast and the southwest, with still another opinion coming from the midwest. In the northeast, they say that the burger was first grilled by Louis Lassen of New Haven, Connecticut who ground up some scraps of beef and served it as a sandwich to a customer who was in a hurry in 1900. In Athens,Texas, they say a man named Fletcher Davis fried a beef patty and put it between two slices of bread as a sandwich in the late 1880's and took it to the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. However, there is some evidence to support the theory that the hamburger got its start at the World's Columbia Exposition in 1893 in Chicago. Other midwesterners claim that Charlie Nagreen of Seymour, Wisconsin invented it in 1885, introducing it at the Outagamie County Fair.

Most historians seem to agree that the popularization of the Hamburger as we know it today, was when Fletch Davis began selling the ground beef patty sandwich at the amusement area, known as The Pike at the St. Louis World's Fair Louisiana Purchase Exhibition in 1904. Fairgoers took their taste home with them and began experimenting with the Hamburg Steak tucked between two slices of bread. No one knows who thought up the hamburger bun, but by the time the White Castle people opened their doors in 1921 most of the country knew about hamburgers. In 1929 Elzie Crisler Segar was further popularizing hamburgers by giving his cartoon creation, Popeye, a sidekick called J. Wellington Wimpy who was rarely pictured without a burger in his hand.

If you are a serious hamburger cook yourself, you might enjoy the Epicurious pages devoted to grilling hamburgers at home. You can go directly there by clicking

on this icon with the star.

You can also find a recipe online for super-chef James Beard's Plain Hamburgers. However, if you can't wait for the click of your mouse, you can follow the following directions for

Classic Recipe for One Hamburger

Grind twice 1/2 lb. of chuck, round or rump steak
that has a fair amount of fat (8%),
but no gristle or bone
Roll meat into a ball and then flatten it into a patty about 1 1/2 inches thick.
Place meat on a grill or a heavy skillet and cook with moderate heat,
first one side, then the other, about 5 minutes each side for rare.
Don't turn more than once. Don't press the juices out of the meat.
Don't season until done; then salt and pepper generously.
Heat a bun gently in a conventional oven or at the back of the grill.
Don't let it get hard in a toaster or microwave oven.
As desired, spread mayonnaise, mustard and/or ketchup
on both sides of the bread.
On the bottom half of the bun, place a washed and dried lettuce leaf,
a thin slice of raw, sweet, white onion,
a slice of ripe tomato and a few slices of hamburger pickles.
Place the meat on top and cover with the top half of the bun.
Gently squeeze the hamburger sandwich so that some of the
beef juices infuse the bread.
Serve with potato chips or French fries and a soft drink or a milkshake.

The animated steaming hamburger is courtesy of the
"Wimpy" is courtesy of

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