Skip to main content

burger

A quintessential American food, burger evolved from the German Deutsches beefsteak, according to the New York Times food critic Mimi Sheraton. Its other name (hamburger) is a result of the fact that many German immigrants originally came from the port of Hamburg.

Burger is a succulent dish consisting of, ideally, medium-rare seared beef patties tucked in fresh, lightly toasted buns, accompanied by onion slices and ketchup or Dijon mustard. Of course, there is a variety of other condiments and vegetables such as salad greens and tomatoes, but they tend to turn the meat cold, according to Mrs. Sheraton.

If cheese is added, it should be mozzarella, Gruyere or Cheddar, slightly melting and mildly pungent. It is yet unclear who first thought to encase the beef patties with buns. Giovanni Ballarini, a food historian, says that the immigrants were given grilled meat between sliced of bread, so there would be no plates involved, and no water was wasted for washing the dishes.

Hannah Glasse first mentioned a Hamburg "sausage" in her 1747 cookbook The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy, defining it as a chopped mixture of beef and spices that should be served with toast. Or maybe it was Charlie Nagreen, a meatball seller from Wisconsin, who, in 1885, decided to put meatballs between bread so the consumers could eat them while walking at a country fair where he worked.

Today, toppings and accompaniments vary from region to region, but for an original version one should visit Louis' Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, serving the burgers since 1900, and claiming to be the oldest burger joint in the United States.

Whatever the theories about the origin of burgers may be, and there are a lot of them, it is a convenient, simple and hearty meal that most meat lovers will gladly indulge in.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

kakori kebab

Kakori kebab is a traditional meat dish originating from the Indian town of Kakori in Uttar Pradesh. These kebabs are famous for their tender texture and fragrant aromas. They're prepared with a combination of mutton, ghee, eggs, cinnamon, and (often) chickpeas. The meat is marinated in a mixture of onions, mace, nutmeg, cumin, cardamom, cloves, green chili peppers, coriander, salt, black pepper, and ginger and garlic paste in order to become extremely tender. After being shaped into small elongated kebabs and skewered, the meat is cooked in a tandoor until done, and it's then usually served hot with chutneys on the side. Kakori kebab is typically garnished with chaat masala, onion rings, and lemon wedges. The dish is especially popular on special occasions and festivals. "> Kakori kebab is a traditional meat dish originating from the Indian town of Kakori in Uttar Pradesh. These kebabs are famous for their tender texture and fragrant aromas. They're pre...

Pad Thai

Pad Thai is Thailand's national dish, a flavorful stir-fry (pad in Thai) dish consisting of rice noodles, tofu, dried shrimp, bean sprouts, and eggs. If it's made with meat, chicken and pork are some of the most popular choices. The flavors are an intricate combination of sweet, sour, and salty, with a well-balanced contrast of textures. Pad Thai is probably one of the most popular Thai dishes abroad. Its origins can be traced to a period of nationalism in the country, after the 1932 revolution that ended the absolute monarchy. There was a public contest to find a new national noodle dish, and the winner was a Pad Thai consisting of noodles, radish, sprouts, peanuts, and eggs. Tender rice noodles are additionally flavored with sugar, tamarind, lime juice, vinegar, and fish sauce, and the dish is traditionally served with ground red chilis, white vinegar, sugar, fresh lime wedges, and fish sauce on the side, so each consumer can garnish the meal to their preference.

Ghost Pepper

Ghost pepper or bhut jolokia is a hot chili pepper that's cultivated in the Northeast Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, and Manipur. Due to the fact that it's one of the spiciest chili peppers in the world, the Indian Army even uses them to create military grade chili grenades (smoke bombs). These peppers have a Scoville heat unit ranging from 855,000 to 1,041,427 SHU. The flavors are best described as fruity, sweet, and earthy. These hybrids of Capsicum chinense and Capsicum frutescens were proclaimed the world's hottest chili peppers in 2007 by Guinness World Records, but in 2013 the ghost pepper was superseded by Carolina Reaper, which can be twice as hot. Interestingly, locals sometimes smear ghost peppers on walls and fences to keep wild elephants at bay.