Memorial weekend is here and with it the unofficial start to summer. Since this weekend also kicks off the summer grilling season, it’s appropriate that today (May 28) is National Hamburger Day. In fact, did you know the month of May is National Hamburger Month? So, what do you know about hamburgers? (Other than what condiments you like on yours.)
History of the Hamburger
While there is no definitive answer as to who invented the hamburger, there are various suggestions, starting with Genghis Khan.
In the 1100s, Genghis Khan and his Mongolian cavalry took over much of the known world. Of course, this required lots of travel and fighting. With no time to stop and prepare proper meals, they needed something they could carry and eat one-handed while in the saddle. Their solution? Tuck flat patties made from scraps of meat under their saddles. When they got hungry, they would pull it out and eat the raw, tenderized patty. (Sounds soooo appetizing, doesn’t it?)
In the mid-1200s, Genghis Khan’s grandson took this unique cuisine with him when his army invaded Russia. The Russians took to this new food, calling it “Steak Tartare.”
DYK “Tartare” was the Russian name for the Mongols?
Jumping forward to the 1600s . . . ships from Hamburg, Germany, traveled to Russian ports. One of the things they brought home was tartare steak. They modified and improved the recipe, creating Hamburg steak, described by the Oxford English Dictionary as a “hard slab of salted, minced beef, often slightly smoked, and mixed with onions and breadcrumbs.” By the beginning of the 1800s, New Yorkers embraced the German immigrants’ Hamburg Steak.
Between 1885-1904, various people are credited with creating today’s hamburger. But until 1891, all these burgers were served on slices of bread, like other sandwiches. The first hamburger on a bun happened in 1891 and the first cheeseburger happened thirty years later in 1921.
DYK part of the reason hamburgers became popular is thanks to the comic strip Popeye? In 1931, a new character named J. Wellington Wimpy (“Wimpy,”) joined Popeye. Wimpy loved hamburgers and often tried to con others into buying them for him.
How To Make A Hamburger
There are as many variations of the hamburger as there are people. But if you think a hamburger is only a beef patty on a bun with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, ketchup, mayo, and/or mustard, think again.
Examples of “hamburgers” from around the world.
- Morocco: Lamb patties topped with homemade mint-yogurt sauce.
- Mexico: Identical to a classic American hamburger with the addition of jalapenos and avocado slices, and fried ham and cheese on top.
- Australia and New Zealand: Start with tomatoes, lettuce, red onion, and pickles, but add pineapple, sliced beets, a fried egg, or bacon.
- East Asia (China, Vietnam, and Japan): Replace bread buns with compressed rice patties and beef patties with shrimp fritters, grilled pork, or strips of beef.
- India: Due to the large number of Hindus and Muslims, chicken and vegetable patties replace beef and pork patties. Another difference is the addition of a deep-fried potato patty with mint chutney and green chilies.
- Denmark: Like onions? Try Denmark’s hamburger. It’s served with ketchup, French mustard, and THREE types of onions (raw, grilled, and crispy roasted). Other variations include the addition of pickles, remoulade and cabbage, or beets and gravy.
- China: One Chinese province is famous for its donkey burgers. Made with donkey meat, it’s traditionally served on a layered flatbread with cilantro and/or green peppers.
- Canada: A classic American hamburger except it’s topped with hot brown gravy.
The Hamburger
Whether the name “Hamburger” comes from Hamburg, Germany, or Hamburg, New York, isn’t clear. What is clear is the hamburger as we know it today started out as “garbage” meat, the unwanted and left-over pieces that remained after butchering a cow. At the time, people ate this byproduct because they didn’t have the money for more expensive cuts of meat. Today people choose to eat hamburgers because they’re delicious.