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The origin and creator of the hamburger is still shrouded in mystery which is a shame because the entire world is waiting to pay them homage.
Hannah Glasse’s cookbook The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy featured a recipe that she called the ‘Hamburgh Sausage’ which was served on toasted bread. This might be a stretch but it was associated with the ‘Rundstuck warm’ which was a warm bread roll eaten by emigrants on their way to America which is said to have contained steak. Around that time Hamburg steak is also said to have been served between two pieces of bread on the Hamburg America Line (shipping line). Either of these could be the original but one thing is for certain, once it got to America it took on a life of its own (America alone consumes more than 50 billion burgers a year).
While this is not widely practised, a high-quality hamburger patty is made completely from mince and spices/seasoning. Egg and flour is used to bind and then press them into the famous shape that we are used to. The hamburger has, however, evolved drastically since then…
If you think your pallet is too well developed for the average, sloppy hamburger the Le Burger Brasserie in Paris has the burger for you… A $777 Kobe beef and Maine lobster burger with Brie, caramelised onion and prosciutto.
Alternatively, if you find yourself in Vegas you could visit the Heart Attack Grill (right?!) and order their Quadruple Bypass Burger (…). It weighs just under a kilogram but gets its name from being excessively unhealthy. This restaurant also allows anybody weighing over 160kg to eat free… Only in ‘Murica.
So we don’t leave you on that disturbing note, the first hamburger made from meat grown in a lab was served in 2013. This means The Hamburger will continue to be a part of our lives long after the way we get our meat changes. This innovation was a result of research by Mark Post and funding by Google’s Sergey Brin.
