Hamburger

From ArticleWorld

Hamburger is a broad term. It has two base definitions. The first is the ground meat from normally the chuck portion of a cow. The second is a hot sandwich that is described here. This is a fast food specialty that is commonly served with an French fries or onion rings.

Requirements for a hamburger

The most common necessities for a hamburger are a set of hamburger buns (a top and a bottom piece), a hamburger patty, and the items that can also be added. These items can be lettuce, sliced tomatoes, sliced pickles, catsup, mayonnaise, mustard, cheese, and barbeque sauce. There are others that can be added, but these are the most common.

History

It is believed that the hamburger can draw its origins from Hamburg, Germany. It was common practice there to put a piece of roast meat into a roll. This is similar to a hamburger, although the meat is a roast and not ground.

Ground meat can be originated to the Mongols and their methods of carrying ground lamb or mutton meat in flat patties. As they rode on their horses, the saddles would help tenderize the patties and they would eventually be eaten raw.

The Mongols invaded Moscow and in turn brought with them the ground meat patties which would later be learned by the people in Moscow as steak tartare, in reference to the Mongols (another name they went by was Tatars).

In time the German port of Hamburg would have ships that would port in Moscow and in turn to New York City. The name of the new concoction was later to be called Hamburg steak, which in turn evolved into hamburger.

This solves how the concept of the hamburger was created, yet the modern hamburger is left to much speculation as to how it was created. There are multiple cities in the United States that lay claim to inventing the modern hamburger, as there are also locations in the United Kingdom that also lay similar claims. This is something that will most likely not be properly resolved.

Modern Hamburgers

Modern hamburgers are typically served at fast food locations and have been broken down to two generic types: the hamburger and the cheese hamburger, also known as the cheeseburger.

These have been the staple for most fast food places and will likely stay this way for the years to come.