Hamburger (or burger for short) is a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground meat, (usually beef, but occasionally pork, turkey, chicken, lamb, beef or a combination of meats) placed between two wheat buns. Hamburgers are often served with lettuce, bacon, tomato, onion, pickles, or cheese and seasonings such as mustard, mayonnaise, tomato ketchup or relish, salt, pepper; these seasonings or excess material are accompaniments for the consumer. The hamburger has attained widespread popularity and is increased greatly in number worldwide in chains such as McDonald's or Burger King.
History
The term hamburger originally derives from the German city of Hamburg Germany's second largest city, from where many people e-migrated to America. In High German, "Burg" means "castle" or king's house; earlier also city/town, and is a widespread component of city names. "Burger" describes someone coming from that castle or town, (compare London), because of this Hamburger can be a descriptive noun in German, referred to something from Hamburg. Similarly, wiener(a thin-skinned sausage, originally from Germany, made of finely minced smoked pork or beef and grilled, fried, or boiled) names for other meat-based foods, are also used in German as descriptive nouns for people or things from the cities of Frankfurt and Wien (Vienna), respectively.The term "ham" could derive from the word "hamme", a denomination for a moraine hillside although this remains unclear. The likeness to the English word "ham" is by pure chance (not to mention the fact that hamburgers do not contain ham).
The term "burger" became the synonym for many types of round sandwiches, although this word actually described a type of food rather than their creator who allegedly originated in Hamburg
Invention
There are several accounts of the invention of the hamburger. All take place in the United States near the end of the 19th century but There is good evidence that the first hamburger served on a bun was made by Oscar Bilby of Tulsa in 1891.
"In April of 1995, the Dallas Morning News reported Oklahoma writer says Tulsa beats out Texas as the birthplace of delicacy. Michael Wallis, author of "Route 66, The Mother Road", was quoted by the newspaper to say he had discovered Tulsa's place in culinary history. The discovery was made while researching the state’s tastiest hamburgers. What better place to start than the restaurant that has been voted Tulsa's best burger more often than any other restaurant since 1933.Weber’s Root Beer Stand. Mr. Wallis’ research revealed that Oscar Weber Bilby was the first person to serve a real hamburger. On July 4, 1891, ground beef was served on his wife’s homemade buns. The Fourth of July party took place on his farm, just west of present day Tulsa. Until then, ground beef had been served in Athens, Texas on simple slices of bread, known presently and then as a "patty melt". According to the Tulsa-based author, the bun is essential. Therefore, in 1995, Governor Frank Keating cited Athens, Texas' feat of ground beef between two slices of bread to be a minor accomplishment. The Governor's April 1995 Proclamation also cites the first true hamburger on the bun, as meticulous research shows, was created and consumed in Tulsa in 1891. The Governor's Proclamation cites April 13, 1995 as Tulsa as "The Real Birthplace of the Hamburger.""
The hamburger bun was invented in 1916 by a fry cook named Walter Anderson, who co-founded White Castle in 1921.
Early Majors Vendors(sellers)
• 1921 — White Castle, Wichita, Kansas. Due to widely prevalent anti-German sentiment in the U.S. during World War I, an alternative name for hamburgers was salisbury steak. Following the war, hamburgers became unpopular until the White Castle restaurant chain marketed and sold large numbers of small 2.5-inch square hamburgers, known as slyders. They started to punch five holes in each patty, which help them cook evenly and eliminates the need to flip the burger. White Castle was the first to sell their hamburgers in grocery stores and vending machines.
• 1940 — McDonald's restaurant, San Bernardino, California, opened by Dick and Mac McDonald. Their introduction of the "Speedee Service System" in 1948 established the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant. The McDonald brothers began franchising in 1953. In 1961, Ray Kroc (the supplier of their multi-mixer milkshake machines) purchased the company from the brothers for $2.7 million and a 1.9% royalty.
Hamburgers TodayHamburgers are usually a feature of fast food restaurants. The hamburgers served in major fast food establishments are usually mass-produced in factories and frozen for delivery to the site. These hamburgers are thin and of uniform thickness, differing from the traditional American hamburger prepared in homes and conventional restaurants, which is thicker and prepared by hand from ground beef. Generally most American hamburgers are round, but some fast-food chains, such as Wendy's, sell square-cut hamburgers. Hamburgers in fast food restaurants are usually fried, but some firms, such as Burger King use a gas flame grilling process. At conventional American restaurants, hamburgers may be ordered "rare", but normally are served well-done for food safety reasons. Fast food restaurants do not offer this option.
Hamburgers are often served as a fast dinner, snacks, 24hrs fast food, picnic and party food, cooked outdoors on barbecue grills. It is served with its side food or accompaniments such as french fry or hash brown potato. Raw hamburger may contain harmful bacteria that can produce food-borne illness such as Escherichia coli O157:H7, due to the occasional initial improper preparation of the meat, so caution is needed when handling it. Hamburger patties can be cooked rare, medium rare, medium, medium well, or well done. These terms refer to how thoroughly the meat is cooked, ranging from having a little bit of pink coloring to being dark brown, cooked almost to a crisp. However because of the potential for food-borne illness, it is recommended that hamburgers should be cooked to an internal temperature of 170°F (80°C). If cooked to this temperature, they are considered well-done
Ingredients and Variations
A high-quality hamburger patty is made entirely of ground (minced) beef and seasonings; this may be described as an "all-beef hamburger" or "all-beef patties" to distinguish them from inexpensive hamburgers made with added flour, texturized vegetable protein or other fillers to decrease their cost. In the 1930s ground liver was sometimes added to the patties. Some cooks prepare their patties with binders, such as eggs or bread crumbs. Seasonings are also commonly included with the hamburger patty, most commonly salt and pepper, and others such as parsley, onions, soy sauce, Thousand Island dressing, onion soup mix, or Worcesters sauce. Many name brand seasoned salt products are also used.
There is an increasing popularity of new types of burgers that use alternatives to ground beef as the primary ingredient. For example, a turkey burger uses ground turkey meat, a chicken burger uses ground chicken meat. A buffalo burger uses ground meat from a bison and some mix cow and buffalo meat, thus creating a "Beefalo burger" and an ostrich burger is made from ground seasoned ostrich meat. A deer burger uses ground venison (the meat of a deer used as food) from deer. Burgers can also be made by mixing seafood or lamb with beef.
A veggie burger, garden burger, or tofu burger uses a meat analogue, a meat substitute such as tofu, TVP, seitan (wheat gluten(protein)) , beans, grains or an assortment of vegetables, ground up and mashed into patties.
