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Up to this point, the hamburger was seen as dirty food for wage earners served by shady short–order cooks in makeshift sidewalk kitchens. The most fascinating part of hamburger history that barely gets discussed begins in 1921 with the birth of White Castle. Five generations of Lassens have been serving burgers on toast since 1900, and their business is still in operation today. The strongest claim to the birth of the hamburger comes from Louis’ Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut. Unfortunately, all of these pioneers of the American hamburger lacked a brick–and–mortar existence and were transient cooks at their respective state fairs. Some say Fletcher Davis in Texas was the first to marry a beef patty to bun, others point to the Menches brothers from Ohio, and another claim comes from Wisconsin and Charlie Nagreen. The claims to the birth of the American hamburger are vast, mostly unproven, and they all seem to have occurred around 1900. A Hamburg steak was not a hamburger the absence of the bun points to this. Then the details get foggy.įirst, let’s be clear on what we’re talking about: A hamburger should be defined as ground beef, formed into a patty, cooked and placed on a bun. In the 1830s the dish made it onto the menu at Delmonico’s, in New York City, America’s first real restaurant. The Hamburg steak (served on a plate, not a bun) made its way to the New world and was considered comfort food for recent arrivals from Europe. As far as I’m concerned, the real history of the hamburger begins in America. This became popular in the city of Hamburg, and thus it was called the Hamburg steak. And much has been said of the Germans, who, in the 18th century, cooked minced meat in patty form for apparently the first time. I’ll dispense with the hamburger’s early history, starting in the 13th century with the Mongols and their affinity for shoving raw mutton steaks under their saddles to tenderize the meat as they rode.
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