shut your eyes and characterization ahamburger . Whether the reading in your resource is bursting with lettuce and tomatoes and oozing ketchup or not , it ’s a sure bet that the image in your mind ’s eye includes a roll . Without a roll it ’s not a hamburger , though — it ’s just a burger patty , or what used to be known as ahamburger steak(orhamburg steak ) .
If you ’ve ever found yourself wondering who invented the first burger , you ’re not alone . Below , reveal more fascinating inside information about the history of hamburger , from their soften beef cattle - with - suet recipe ancestry toWhite Castle’slegendary “ slipper , ” and more .
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From Hamburg Sausage to Hamburg Steak
Exactly how a dish aerial identify for a German city evolve into one ofAmerica ’s favorite foodsis a brain-teaser enfold in a enigma on a sesame come bun .
The early reference to the ancestor of the hamburgerappears inan English cookbook from 1763 . InArt of Cookery , Made Plain and Easy , Hannah Glasse explains how to make aHamburgh sausage . The formula calls for mixing minced bitch with suet , spices , vino , and rummy and stuffing it into a gut , which is then smoked and dried . Except for those final steps of commute it into a sausage , the minced meat and fat with spices could be considered ahamburg steak , which is defined as a knockout of salted and fume mince bitch .
The first glimpse ofhamburg steakoccurred around the 1870s , when this dish began popping up in restaurants . In San Francisco , a menu from the Clipper Restaurant dated 1871 to 1884 lists Hamburg beefsteak for 10 cent , the same price as stewed mutton , wish-wash , or salmon . A tenderloin steak was 20 centime .
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Hamburg Steak vs. Hamburger: What’s the Difference?
Quite simply , a hamburger is a sandwich served on a bun instead of sandwich bread , while hamburg steak is a meal itself ( although it was often served with bread on the side.)But who turned a hamburg steak into “ the hamburger ” by place it on a bun ? Zigzagging across the country again , we find many contenders . According to the Library of Congress , Louis ’ Lunch Wagonin New Haven , Connecticut , service the first hamburger in 1895 . But their hamburger sandwiches were served between slices of bread . Close , but not the real plenty .
There are more tantalizing lead . In 1891,TheBoston Globeranan adfor a blunderer store , which was offering up a cookbook with a recipe for “ burger on toast . ” Then in August 1893,an adin theReno Gazette - Journalappeared for hamburger steak sandwich at a local saloon , even boasting that they could “ fill again an empty stomach and lace even Satan himself . ”
grant toan oft - repeat news report , Fletcher Davis , a fry cook from the tiny town of Athens , Texas , popularized the hamburger sandwich at the 1904 St. Louis World ’s Fair . In Josh Ozersky’sThe Hamburger : A History , however , the author claims that Frank X. Tolbert , the late columnist for theDallas Morning News , concoct the story .
Who Invented the Modern Hamburger?
It is very likely that hamburgers naturally evolved from restaurants serve hamburger steak with breadstuff on the side back in the recent 1800s . In all likelihood , many a hamburger was borne on a bun unseen , to waste its perfume in some forgotten lunchroom .
But in 1916 , fry cook Walter Anderson of Wichita , Kansas , developed a dense bun with a crisp crust that was adequate to of holding up to the juicy burger . By 1921 , theOriginal Sliderwas digest .
So , sorry , Mickey D , Wendy , and all the anonymous lunch wagon proprietors and family picknicker . At least for now , Anderson — the founder ofWhite Castle , the first fast - food ground beef Sir Ernst Boris Chain in the U.S.—holds the title of discoverer of the forward-looking - Clarence Shepard Day Jr. hamburger .
A rendering of this story hightail it in 2014 ; it has been update for 2024 .
