3 Enjoyable Information In regards to the Historical past of the Hamburger, In keeping with an Professional

Is there any meals extra carefully related to American meals tradition than the hamburger? Although the ever present sandwich paradoxically began with chopped steaks from Hamburg, Germany — which have been delivered to america by immigrants — it’s now one of many hottest dishes within the nation, and one we frequently contemplate a part of our identification.

Historian and chef-owner of acclaimed restaurant Hamburger America in New York Metropolis, George Motz, has made it his life’s mission to grasp, doc, and share the distinctive historical past of burgers in america. (He’s even written a complete ebook on regional burgers throughout the states, Hamburger America: A State-by-State Information to 200 Nice Burger Joints, and coated them in a 2004 documentary additionally titled Hamburger America.) 

As knowledgeable burger scholar and somebody whose life facilities round this humble sandwich, Motz has quite a lot of juicy insights that you just is perhaps unfamiliar with — and he lately shared a number of of them on an episode of The Splendid Desk, the meals and tradition podcast hosted by cookbook editor and meals author Francis Lam.

Bust out these burger info the following time it’s worthwhile to impress somebody at a celebration, or simply maintain them in your coronary heart and admire a deeper understanding of America’s most iconic sandwich.

The primary condiment on a burger was in all probability onions

Though we all know that early variations of the American hamburger first arose within the late nineteenth century, quite a lot of its extra exact historical past is disputed. There are a number of claimants of the invention of the burger — together with Fletcher Davis in Athens, Texas; Charlie Nagreen in Seymour, Wisconsin; and Oscar Weber Bilby in Tulsa, Oklahoma — every with their very own story and barely totally different variation on the dish. Consequently, it’s tough to pinpoint precisely what the very first burger was, and what it regarded like, however in response to Motz, “the very first condiment on a hamburger was possible onion.” (He additionally famous that onions, pickles, and mustard have been the primary three condiments on the market for burgers.)

Contemplating that the ancestor of the hamburg is the “Hamburg steak” (the minced beef dish that Germans delivered to america), which generally contained onions, it is sensible that the allium was additionally the primary ingredient used so as to add extra nuanced taste to burgers. Nonetheless, this raises one other query: Can an onion be thought-about a condiment?

There are extra regional burgers in america than you might notice

You’re possible conversant in many eating places’ distinctive spins on the hamburger. Today, everybody appears to be vying to develop a totally new tackle the dish, from sandwiching it between glazed doughnuts to including fried bananas and peanut butter.

However after I say regional burger, I don’t imply new innovations; as an alternative, I’m speaking about long-existing burger kinds with wealthy histories tied to particular areas. Consider it like Italy, the place totally different areas have their very own signature pasta traditions.

This variety of burger traditions is precisely the place Motz’s experience lies — it’s the main focus of his ebook and documentary, and his New York restaurant Hamburger America gives a few of his favourite hamburger kinds. When Lam asks the burger scholar on The Splendid Desk, “So what are a few of these [regional] burgers?” Motz explains that, “There’s a whole lot and a whole lot of [them], 1000’s… I imply, there’s so a lot of them. See, to me, the regional burger in America is in all places.”

If you happen to go to Hamburger America, you’ll all the time see “George Motz’s Fried Onion Burger” on the menu, and regardless of its identify, this can be a rendition of the traditional Oklahoma onion burger. Created within the Nineteen Twenties as a manner to make use of much less beef (a extra expensive ingredient) per sandwich, the burger has a pile of thinly sliced, griddled onions. One other native specialty he factors out to Lam — and one which hasn’t reached fairly so far as the Oklahoma onion burger — is the olive burger from central and western Michigan. The burger scholar explains that this delicacy is known as for its particular sauce, made from “chopped inexperienced olives, mayonnaise, and somewhat little bit of olive brine,” with a contact of sugar for some sweetness.

Smashburgers have been the unique burger method

It might be straightforward to think about smash burgers as a contemporary technique — in any case, they’ve turn into more and more fashionable over the previous decade due to social media and chains like Shake Shack. However Motz factors out that “the smash burger method predates preformed patties… by 50, 60 years.”

The primary burgers have been created by shaping balls of floor beef after which flattening them out, AKA smashing, as soon as they have been on the pan. This not solely made it simpler for cooks to create equally sized burgers by evaluating the balls of floor beef, but it surely was additionally logical. Motz says, “You return to the Eighteen Eighties after they have been smashing little balls of beef in skillets at state festivals or no matter, and it was simply executed for pace. They realized if a thick burger takes 10 minutes to prepare dinner and a smash burger takes two, why am I spending that further eight minutes?”

The position that smash burgers performed within the historical past of the sandwich is a part of why Motz is so hooked up to the model. There’s one thing reverent about honoring custom, and also you’ll all the time discover a smash burger on the menu at Hamburger America.