Today, our BFF, the hamburger, turns 105 years old. It was on July 28th, 1900 that Louis Lassen—proprietor of Louis' Lunch—first put a hamburg steak between two pieces of bread. Truth be told, it's unlikely that this was the very first burger, but the Library of Congress records this as the official birth of our favorite sandwich. Both Hamburger & Fries and What's Cooking America give much more thorough histories of the burger.
For your own knowledge, the earliest days of the burger began with Ghengis Kahn. What's Cooking America recounts the beginnings of the hamburger:
Genghis Khan (1167-1227), crowned the "emperor of all emperors," and his army of fierce Mongol horsemen, known as the "Golden Horde," conquered two thirds of the then known world. The Mongols were a fast-moving, cavalry-based army that rode small sturdy ponies. They stayed in their saddles for long period of time, sometimes days without ever dismounting. They had little opportunity to stop and build a fire for their meal. The entire village would follow behind the army on great wheeled carts they called "yurts," leading huge herds of sheep, goats, oxen, and horses. As the army needed food that could be carried on their mounts and eaten easily with one hand while they rode, ground meat was the perfect choice. They would use scrapings of lamb or mutton which were formed into flat patties. They softened the meat by placing them under the saddles of their horses while riding into battle. When it was time to eat, the meat would be eaten raw, having been tenderized by the saddle and the back of the horse.
Of course, the next big step was in Hamburg, Germany, hence the name, but we'll not go there. Both options listed above can give you the whole story.
Although the day is almost over for those of us on the East Coast, might we suggest you head out to your favorite burger joint and grab a burger. If not tonight, then this weekend. And when you're there, be sure to geek out, take some photos and post them on flickr so we can live through you vicariously.
The picture at the top is of Louis Lassen manning the grill at Louis' Lunch.
That's the story of the creation of steak tartare, not hamburger.
Yes, it uses ground beef, but that's like saying the origin of, say, meatballs is the equivalent of the origin of hamburgers.
Sheesh. And here I thought you were hamburger afficionados, but if you can conflate steak tartare and The Glory That Is The Hamburger it appears you may be just wanton dilletantes. I expect more from you guys.
Look, the genesis of the hamburger is a bit murky. I think that the Mongol mumbo jumbo is part of the accepted origin story, though many sources I've read do tend to point out that it's just a theory. Perhaps we should have been more clear.
Anyway, it's really not a long way from raw ground beef to cooked patties, and it's not like Matty was saying that what King Shit and the Golden Boys were eating were hamburgers, he merely said that the Mogol stuff was part of the beginning of hamburgers.
Eh. Whatevs. I guess we're wanton dilletantes. You're welcome to peruse other hamburger sites.
If I sound a little testy here, it stems from the fact I was up till 5 a.m., working on back-end site crap. I think you can understand that waking up to accusations of wanton dilletantism is probably not the most pleasant way to start the day after that.
but the Library of Congress records [Louis Lunch] as the official birth of our favorite sandwich.
That isn't exactly true. Louis Lunch is listed as a "Connecticut Legacy" by the LOC. New Haven's congressperson cited LL as the birthplace of the hamburger on the floor of the House so the claim could be read into the Congressional Record, but she isn't paid to do research, especially when the results might conflict with her constituents' pleasantly-held myths.
The story I've heard is that Louis Lunch never made any claims about the invention of the hamburger until the early 1960s, when a major construction project (city parking lot, urban renewal project or Yale med school expansion, I think) threatened their original location. The owners didn't want to get kicked out so they started telling the story of how they birthed the burger and managed to pull enough Yalie heartstrings that they got landmarked. The project ended up going through but the store was moved down the street, possibly at some public expense.
At least that's what I've heard around town in NH. I don't trust anybody who won't let me put ketchup on my burger, anyway.
I hear ya Mr. Filth. Truth be told, I don't think we'll ever know for sure when the first hamburger was passed across a counter, but it is always nice to have a date to rally around. This way, even when I'm 75 and my cholesterol is through the roof, I'll have an excuse to have a bacon cheeseburger. "But baby, it's the hamburger's birthday! I have to eat one!"
Mr. Knight I seriously resent your comment. We take a lot of pride in what we publish on our site. The Mongol story about placing raw meat patties under their saddles is widely accepted by food historians as the possible beginnings of the burger we know today. It's listed in the Oxford Dictionary of Food, the fine publication we mentioned and several other food research books. As Adam K. knows, I spent a good few days researching the origins and concept of the burger for an article that was published in an authoritative food magazine.
What it seems YOU don't understand is that we didn't choose to "conflate" anything. "Steak" or "beef" tartare is directly related to the hamburger. When Khan and his golden army started invading Russia, their tenderized meat patties caught on. This "Tartar" (the Russian name for Mongols) steak was adapted by the Russians and later brought to Hamburg when Russian and German ports started trading. The Germans eventually started offering their Tartar steak raw or cooked and it seems once they immigrated to America and introduced the dish here, Americans favored the latter.
When "Hamburg steak" started becoming mainstream, fine restaurants in the U.S. would include it on their menus and serve it shaped like a true steak. That explains your recipe Dr. Biggles. Later, it was placed between bread to form a sandwich. It is often said the first hamburger sandwich was served at the St. Louis World's Fair but that again is pretty murky.
So I would appreciate you doing some research yourself in the future if you would like to discredit us rather than lobbing off some half-witted insult. As you can see, when it comes to food history there are a lot of gaps which make it easy to get things wrong, but, there are also some well-researched stories out there that those of us who work in this field choose to acknowledge.
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Today, our BFF, the hamburger, turns 105 years old. It was on July 28th, 1900 that Louis Lassen—proprietor of Louis' Lunch—first put a hamburg steak between two pieces of bread. Truth be told, it's unlikely that this was the very first burger, but the Library of Congress records this as the official birth of our favorite sandwich. Both Hamburger & Fries and What's Cooking America give much more thorough histories of the burger. 
7 Comments:
That's the story of the creation of steak tartare, not hamburger.
Yes, it uses ground beef, but that's like saying the origin of, say, meatballs is the equivalent of the origin of hamburgers.
Sheesh. And here I thought you were hamburger afficionados, but if you can conflate steak tartare and The Glory That Is The Hamburger it appears you may be just wanton dilletantes. I expect more from you guys.
Hamburger G Knight at 7:31AM on 07/29/05
Look, the genesis of the hamburger is a bit murky. I think that the Mongol mumbo jumbo is part of the accepted origin story, though many sources I've read do tend to point out that it's just a theory. Perhaps we should have been more clear.
Anyway, it's really not a long way from raw ground beef to cooked patties, and it's not like Matty was saying that what King Shit and the Golden Boys were eating were hamburgers, he merely said that the Mogol stuff was part of the beginning of hamburgers.
Eh. Whatevs. I guess we're wanton dilletantes. You're welcome to peruse other hamburger sites.
Adam Kuban at 8:34AM on 07/29/05
If I sound a little testy here, it stems from the fact I was up till 5 a.m., working on back-end site crap. I think you can understand that waking up to accusations of wanton dilletantism is probably not the most pleasant way to start the day after that.
Adam Kuban at 8:51AM on 07/29/05
but the Library of Congress records [Louis Lunch] as the official birth of our favorite sandwich.
That isn't exactly true. Louis Lunch is listed as a "Connecticut Legacy" by the LOC. New Haven's congressperson cited LL as the birthplace of the hamburger on the floor of the House so the claim could be read into the Congressional Record, but she isn't paid to do research, especially when the results might conflict with her constituents' pleasantly-held myths.
The story I've heard is that Louis Lunch never made any claims about the invention of the hamburger until the early 1960s, when a major construction project (city parking lot, urban renewal project or Yale med school expansion, I think) threatened their original location. The owners didn't want to get kicked out so they started telling the story of how they birthed the burger and managed to pull enough Yalie heartstrings that they got landmarked. The project ended up going through but the store was moved down the street, possibly at some public expense.
At least that's what I've heard around town in NH. I don't trust anybody who won't let me put ketchup on my burger, anyway.
Hamburger Mr. Filth at 6:01PM on 07/29/05
I hear ya Mr. Filth. Truth be told, I don't think we'll ever know for sure when the first hamburger was passed across a counter, but it is always nice to have a date to rally around. This way, even when I'm 75 and my cholesterol is through the roof, I'll have an excuse to have a bacon cheeseburger. "But baby, it's the hamburger's birthday! I have to eat one!"
capndesign at 9:46PM on 07/29/05
Hmm, I have a cookbook from 1909 that has a Hamburg Steak recipe. No buns, but they axe you to fashion it to a Steak Shape. Neat.
Hamburger Dr. Biggles at 11:37PM on 07/30/05
Mr. Knight I seriously resent your comment. We take a lot of pride in what we publish on our site. The Mongol story about placing raw meat patties under their saddles is widely accepted by food historians as the possible beginnings of the burger we know today. It's listed in the Oxford Dictionary of Food, the fine publication we mentioned and several other food research books. As Adam K. knows, I spent a good few days researching the origins and concept of the burger for an article that was published in an authoritative food magazine.
What it seems YOU don't understand is that we didn't choose to "conflate" anything. "Steak" or "beef" tartare is directly related to the hamburger. When Khan and his golden army started invading Russia, their tenderized meat patties caught on. This "Tartar" (the Russian name for Mongols) steak was adapted by the Russians and later brought to Hamburg when Russian and German ports started trading. The Germans eventually started offering their Tartar steak raw or cooked and it seems once they immigrated to America and introduced the dish here, Americans favored the latter.
When "Hamburg steak" started becoming mainstream, fine restaurants in the U.S. would include it on their menus and serve it shaped like a true steak. That explains your recipe Dr. Biggles. Later, it was placed between bread to form a sandwich. It is often said the first hamburger sandwich was served at the St. Louis World's Fair but that again is pretty murky.
So I would appreciate you doing some research yourself in the future if you would like to discredit us rather than lobbing off some half-witted insult. As you can see, when it comes to food history there are a lot of gaps which make it easy to get things wrong, but, there are also some well-researched stories out there that those of us who work in this field choose to acknowledge.
Good luck finding a better a site...
Honey P. at 11:47AM on 07/31/05