Hamburger
- This article is about the sandwich known as a Hamburger. The term hamburger is also sometimes used as a synonym for ground beef.
Hamburger
A hamburger is typically considered to be a variant on a sandwich involving a patty of ground meat, traditionally beef. The name comes from the German city of Hamburg, something from Hamburg being "hamburger"; such ground beef patties originating or enjoying early popularity there. Originally these patties were known as "Hamburger steak" (first mentioned in an American cookbook in 1891), and when this was put between bread or in a bun it was called a "Hamburger sandwich". By the mid 20th century both terms were commonly shortened to "hamburger" or simply "burger". The term burger has now become generic, and may refer to sandwiches that have fillings other than a beef patty.
The Hamburger's history is disputed. There is a description of something that is almost certainly similar in Roman texts. In Hamburg it was common to put a piece of roast pork into a roll in those days, called Rundstück warm.
Some fast food restaurants rely heavily on the hamburger sandwich. The McDonald's chain of restaurants sells a burger called the Big Mac, which is possibly the best known hamburger, and certainly the world's biggest selling. Another major fast-food chain, Burger King, sells a burger called the Whopper. These burgers are often served with french fries.
Ingredients for a burger vary.
- In American restaurants, burgers are traditionally offered "with everything" (or "all the way," or in some regions "dressed") -- which includes lettuce, tomato, onion, and often a pickle (or pickle relish) -- or "hold the onions" -- with lettuce and tomato and maybe pickle; cheese (usually American processed cheese, but often cheddar, Swiss, or bleu, either melted on the meat patty or crumbled on top) is generally an option and technically makes it a "cheeseburger" instead of a "hamburger." Condiments are usually offered separately (= "on the side"), most commonly mustard and ketchup, although mayonnaise and other salad dressings are popular, as are salsa and other kinds of peppers. Other popular toppings include bacon and guacamole, fried egg, feta cheese, sliced mushrooms, mushroom sauce, chili (with or without beans), slices of ham, tartar sauce, or slices of jalapeno peppers. A hamburger with two patties is a "double hamburger", while a hamburger with three patties is a "triple hamburger". Doubles and triples are often combined with cheese and occasionally with bacon as well, yielding a "double bacon cheeseburger" or a "triple bacon cheeseburger", or, alternatively, a "bacon double/triple cheeseburger."
- United Kingdom hamburger patties usually incorporate extra ingredients such as egg, onion, breadcrumbs and have more of a sausage-like taste.
- Australian and New Zealand hamburgers generally include tomato, lettuce, cheese, and meat (with BBQ or tomato sauce) as minimum, and can optionally include beetroot, onion, egg, bacon, and pineapple (aka "burger with the lot").
A commercial hamburger usually contains no ham or other pork product. It is made primarily of ground beef, although it may also contain spices and other ingredients. This is also known as a beef hamburger or a "beefburger". A beef hamburger that contains no other ingredients besides the beef itself is referred to as an "all beef hamburger" or "all beef patties".
Recent years have seen the increasing popularity of new types of "burgers" in which alternatives to ground beef are used as the primary ingredient. For example, a turkey burger uses ground turkey meat, a buffalo burger uses ground meat from a bison, and a veggie burger or tofu burger uses a meat substitute (such as tofu, TVP, seitan, or an assortment of vegetables, ground up and mashed into patties).Ingredients
The name hamburger may appear misleading, as some people think that the name refers to its main ingredient— which is not "ham"— when in actuality, as noted earlier in this article, the name refers to the town of Hamburg, Germany.