While today’s food trail has been a largely desi affair, for our takeaway we will revisit an old classic which is hugely popular in India as well, competing to be on people’s plates along with dosas and samosas.But the burger isn’t simply a sandwich of meat (or a vegetable substitute) and bread, it’s to quote Marshal Eriksen: “God, speaking to us through food.”
But where did it originate? Much like the argument whether Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz discovered calculus, the hamburger has an equally-hotly contested origin story.
Most experts agree that while the modern hamburger either originated in Hamburg, Germany or as an evolved hamburger steak in America, the first recorded instance of a recipe similar to the hamburger patty can be traced back to a first-century AD Roman cookbook by Apicius which has a recipe for a “minced meat patty blended with crushed nuts and heavily spiced and cooked”.
The modern hamburger most probably came from the Hamburg steak – a patty of ground meat – similar to the Salisbury steak which was brought to America by German migrants.
By the 1880s, hamburger steaks were served across America. The places which served these steaks also served toast and one thing led to another. The meat found its place between two pieces of bread, and we had another delightful sandwich.
Here are some excellent recipes for a chicken, lamb and veg burger.