The Great American Hamburger Hunt
by Annette Germinario, reporter

    (Part 1 in a series on the great American hamburger)

    Complete this sentence: “As American as …”

    Did you say “a hamburger?” Come on, when was the last time apple pie came to mind when you were hungry?

    Our busy nation cooks less at home and, therefore, purchases more meals outside the home than at any other time in our history. And the hamburger is the food that has increasingly dominated American desires and menus to the tune of hundreds of millions consumed each year.

    From students to soccer moms, we depend on those 2-for-1 Sonic Tuesdays and regular Burger King 99-cent specials when in a hurry or pinched for money.

    We still relish those double-fisted Chili’s burgers or the local “mom and pop” burger joints, such as Charley’s. New restaurants abound, including Fort Worth’s latest, Fudrucker’s?

    The precursor of hamburger as a ground meat dates back to ancient Egyptians. But the likely route began with the raw chopped beef, a favorite in Baltic Russia. Tartar and Mongolian warriors, obviously of the multi-tasking ilk, placed filets under their horse saddles while in battle or marauding parties.

    Later, if they survived, they enjoyed the tenderized delicacy courtesy of saddle, horse’s back and friction. They just had to chop and serve. (Martha Stewart alert!). For them it was camp food, to us: Steak Tartar.

    Ships out of Hamburg, Germany, took a liking to the local dish when they visited Russian ports and upon their return brought the recipe back to the kitchens of Hamburg. Die Haus frau scrambled to find a suitable means for the tenderizing process. Hundreds of years later, German immigrants entered New York’s Ellis Island bringing with them the recipe for Hamburg Style Steak, marking the beginnings of an unparalleled enterprise and an unmatched food choice.

    Hamburger scholars continue to debate the origin of the hamburger in America. Here is a brief

    American Hamburger Time Line:
    1834

    The term hamburger appears on a menu for Delmonico’s restaurant in New York.
    1884

    The Boston Evening Journal used the term hamburger steak in print.
    1885

    Carlie Nagreeit, at age 15, sold hamburgers from his ox-drawn food stand at the Outgamie County Fair.
    1890

    Hamburg steak meant a piece of tenderized and pounded beef. Louis Lassen, owner of a Connecticut luncheonette, served the first “burger.”
    1902

    Mrs. Rorer’s New Cook Book described what resembles our present day burgers: Twice through a meat grinder and mixed with onion and pepper.
    1904

    Hamburgers are sold at St. Louis Exposition.
    1912

    Hamburger buns first available. First ground meat patties served on buns
    1921

    First hamburger stand in Wichita, Kan.: White Castle
    1955

    First McDonald’s restaurant opens in Des Plaines, Ill.

    In his book, Hamburger Heaven: The Illustrated History of the Hamburger, Jeffrey Tennyson praises the hamburger.

    “Lauded for its convenience and versatility as either snack or entrée and labeled as both a cultural icon and a cliché, the hamburger—this omnipresent beef-between-bun creation—is a meaty, multifaceted phenomenon,” he writes.

    Does this suffice to say that the hamburger has surpassed America’s predilection for the pie? Finish this sentence: “I’ll have a slice of …”

    But that’s another food success story.