The history of the hamburger is admittedly a bit nebulous, but for fun we can trace it as far back as the thirteenth-century Mongol Empire. Apparently, the Mongols used to place bits of raw mutton under their saddles as they rode, thus tenderizing the meat for their dinner. Soon after, the Russians adopted a minced version of this dish, added spices, and called it Tartar, presumably after the Mongolian people of Central Asia, who were known as Tartars. At this point the basis of the dish shifted from raw mutton to raw beef. It took three hundred years, but the dish eventually made its way across the Baltic Sea to Germany, where the chopped beef was served cooked.
Germans immigrating to the United States in the mid-nineteenth century left out of the Port of Hamburg and sometimes would have to wait months for passage. There they developed a fondness for a local dish, a steak prepared according to the fashion of Hamburg (known outside of the city as the Hamburg Steak), which was chopped beef formed into a patty, cooked, and served on a plate with potatoes and gravy. Upon arriving in New York City, German immigrants found that their Hamburg Steak had already made its way to America via Germans who had immigrated before them. It was hugely popular at high-end restaurants like Delmonico’s, as well as from food carts found all over lower Manhattan. News of the Hamburg Steak spread and soon it was available all across America.
It took another twenty to thirty years for the Hamburg steak to be served between two slices of bread, the purest ancestor of the modern-day burger. The many claims to the “invention” of the traditional hamburger hail from different parts of America; all are pretty shaky but they point to around the same time period (1885–1900). Some of these claims are linked to transient state fair vendors who reportedly were looking for a way for fairgoers to eat their meatballs and Hamburg steaks on the go. Fletch Davis, the Menches Brothers, Charlie Nagreen, and others also laid claim to the invention, but unfortunately there is little evidence to substantiate them. Of course, whoever had the flash of brilliance to first slip a Hamburg steak between two pieces of bread is a national hero. And a genius.
Regardless of what history can or cannot prove, Louis’ Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, has been selling their “hamburger sandwich” since 1900 and has one of the strongest claims to the invention. Today, more than 115 years later, Louis’ Lunch still serves the same burger between two slices of white toast.
For its first two decades, the hamburger suffered from an image problem. Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle, an exposé of the wrongs of the meatpacking industry, caused the general public to be wary of ground beef. The burger was seen as an unsanitary, cheap meal sold to factory workers from dilapidated food carts. But in 1921 one man, Billy Ingram, changed the hamburger world forever when he opened the first White Castle.
White Castle saved the American hamburger from its uncertain future and potential demise. Billy Ingram saw potential in the burger business and partnered with successful Wichita, Kansas, burger-stand owner Walt Anderson. The two cleaned up the burger’s image by building small white brick castles with white enamel steel interior walls, staffed by young men in clean uniforms and crisp white paper caps. And the name alone said it all; “White” conveyed a sense of cleanliness, and “Castle” stood for strength.
Written by George Motz in "The Great American Burger Book - How to Make Authentic Regional Hamburgers at Home", Abrams Books, New York, USA, 2016. Digitized, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.