Do you know
Why there is no ham in hamburgerAdd to favourite
Hamburgers may well be regarded as the favorite food of America. You can detect them in various places, for instance in hole-in-the-wall diners, as well as at the drive-through windows of fast food chains, not to mention the menus of Michelin-starred restaurants. Worldwide, McDonald’s sells around 75 hamburgers every second!
So, have you ever asked yourself who made the very first hamburger and also why it is called a hamburger – if there’s no actual ham in it?
Origin of the hamburger
In the early 18th century a few Germans remarked during their journeys to Asia, that the residents would shove their beef between their saddles as they rode, in order to tenderize it for later consumption. Thus, the Germans fell in love with the idea of soft seasoned meat, and they took this ingenious idea back home with them to Hamburg. As time passed by, eventually it became known as Hamburg Meat.
After a few years, when the German immigrants traveled to the United States, they gave away this recipe for Hamburg Meat. The first account of Hamburg Meat in the United States, took place in 1884, when the Boston Evening Journal brought up “Hamburg Steak”. The first proper “Hamburger” was prepared by Charlie Nagreen. He sold his “Hamburger”, later known as “Hamburger Charlie”, at the Outgamie County Fair in Seymour, Wisconsin in 1885. The first record of serving ground-beef patties on buns – resembling the hamburger that we well-know today – happened in 1904 at the St. Louis World Fair. Many years later, in 1921, a cook from Wichita, Kansas, Walt Anderson, also launched the first Hamburger restaurant chain.
And, no, a hamburger doesn’t contain any ham. Hamburger Meat is typically made of 80% lean meat and fat, and spices.
- The Big Mac appeared in 1968 and sold with $0.49.
- The hugest hamburger ever cooked up weighed 8,266 lbs. It was made at the Burger Fest in Seymour, Wisconsin, in 2001.
Published by Claudia Barbu