There probably is no more iconic American food than a good old-fashioned hamburger. Its about as American as you can get. It’s a food that can easily be made at home, but once the fast food industry took off with the idea, our eating habits changed forever. But I have to be up front with you, I am not a fan of fast food anything, but I am obviously in the minority. There is a staggering 6.48 million burgers sold in the USA every day, most of them poor imitations of a really good homemade burger.
But the difference between a hamburger made at home, cooked on a grill outside, and served on good bread with lots of condiments, and what comes out of the window at almost any fast-food place is huge. Fast food is made with the cheapest ingredients and cooked in advance. I’d rather go hungry than go fast food.
If you really want a great burger, go to Rouses, buy prime or certified Black angus ground beef, season it with black pepper, red pepper flakes (if you like a little heat) and a dribble of Dales Steak sauce and you’re on your way to a great burger. Of course, my preference is to cook my burgers on the glowing embers of a hard wood fire (hardwood charcoal will do) and serve it while a little pink and juicy in the center.
The hamburger has been around for a long time, with a reference to a hamburger sausage all the way back in 1758, but there can be little doubt that the American hamburger got its grand introduction at the Sant Louis World’s Fair in 1904. But exactly where it was first made is a mystery, there simply is not enough historical information. There are dozens of stories but according to White Castle (it’s been around since 1921), Otto Kuase was the inventor of the hamburger. In 1891, cooking a beef patty in butter. It’s a long way from the monser burgers that are so popular today.
Even in its very beginning hamburger patties were pre-formed and seasoned and cooked to order on a grill top, put between two pieces of bread with an assortment of condiments. Today, there are a massive number of condiments and add-ons that are popular. Almost any kind of cheese you can think of is used, bacon, tomatoes, lettuce, pickles are most common, and a reasonably stout bun, or bread, so the whole thing does not just fall apart.