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

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 had been delivered to the USA by immigrants — it’s now one of many hottest dishes within the nation, and one we regularly take into account a part of our id.

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

As an expert burger scholar and somebody whose life facilities round this humble sandwich, Motz has a number of juicy insights that you simply could be unfamiliar with — and he not too long ago 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 information 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, a number 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 completely different variation on the dish. Consequently, it’s troublesome to pinpoint precisely what the very first burger was, and what it regarded like, however in line with Motz, “the very first condiment on a hamburger was seemingly onion.” (He additionally famous that onions, pickles, and mustard had 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 the USA), which usually 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 the USA than it’s possible you’ll understand

You’re seemingly acquainted with many eating places’ distinctive spins on the hamburger. Nowadays, everybody appears to be vying to develop a very 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 completely different areas have their very own signature pasta traditions.

This range of burger traditions is strictly the place Motz’s experience lies — it’s the main focus of his e book and documentary, and his New York restaurant Hamburger America affords 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 tons of and tons of of [them], 1000’s… I imply, there’s so lots of them. See, to me, the regional burger in America is in all places.”

Should you go to Hamburger America, you’ll at all times see “George Motz’s Fried Onion Burger” on the menu, and regardless of its title, it is a rendition of the basic Oklahoma onion burger. Created within the Nineteen Twenties as a approach to make use of much less beef (a extra pricey 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 a little bit little bit of olive brine,” with a contact of sugar for some sweetness.

Smashburgers had been the unique burger approach

It could be straightforward to think about smash burgers as a contemporary methodology — in spite of everything, they’ve turn out to be more and more standard over the previous decade due to social media and chains like Shake Shack. However Motz factors out that “the smash burger approach predates preformed patties… by 50, 60 years.”

The primary burgers had been created by shaping balls of floor beef after which flattening them out, AKA smashing, as soon as they had 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 once they had been smashing little balls of beef in skillets at state festivals or no matter, and it was simply accomplished for velocity. They realized if a thick burger takes 10 minutes to cook dinner and a smash burger takes two, why am I spending that additional eight minutes?”

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