Hamburger

A hamburger, often called a burger, is a popular food. It is made with a cooked piece of ground meat, usually beef. This meat is placed inside a sliced bun, sesame seed bun, or bread roll. The meat, called a patty, is often grilled or fried and then put between the two halves of the bun.

People like to add many tasty things to their hamburgers. These can include lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, or even chilis.

Hamburgers can also have different sauces on top. Popular choices are ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, or relish. When cheese is added on top of the meat, it becomes a cheeseburger. Some people think of a hamburger as a type of sandwich because it has fillings inside bread.

These tasty dishes are eaten everywhere—from homes to fast-food restaurants. Big companies like McDonald's with their famous Big Mac and Burger King with the Whopper have made hamburgers well-known around the world as part of American culture. Hamburgers are often enjoyed with a side of french fries.

Etymology and terminology

The word hamburger comes from Hamburg, a city in Germany. How the food is connected to the place is not clear.

Over time, the word "burger" became a common name for many sandwich-like foods with different fillings. These can include meats such as buffalo in the buffalo burger, venison, kangaroo, chicken, turkey, elk, lamb, or fish like salmon in the salmon burger, as well as meatless options like the veggie burger. Sometimes, the word burger is used just for the meat patty alone. Because hamburger usually means beef, people often add the type of meat or meat substitute to the name, like beef burger, turkey burger, bison burger, or portobello burger.

History

Main articles: History of the hamburger and History of the hamburger in the United States

Hamburgers have been around for more than a hundred years, but no one really knows where they started. An old cookbook from 1758 had a recipe called “Hamburgh sausage,” which suggested serving it with toasted bread. In 1869, a snack called “Rundstück warm” (meaning “bread roll warm”) was popular in Hamburg and was sometimes eaten by people traveling to America. Some stories say that passengers on ships from Hamburg to New York started eating beef between two pieces of bread, and that’s how the hamburger got its name. We still don’t know for sure how hamburgers got their name.

There are many stories about who invented the hamburger. Some say it was Charlie Nagreen, who sold meat between slices of bread at a fair in 1885. Others point to Louis Lassen, who made a patty from ground beef and put it between two slices of toast around 1900. White Castle says it was Otto Krause in Hamburg, Germany, in 1891. There are also claims from Oscar Weber Bilby, Frank and Charles Menches, and Fletcher Davis, each saying they made the first hamburger. Because there isn’t much written history, it’s hard to know who really invented it first.

Early major vendors

See also: History of White Castle and History of McDonald's

• 1921: White Castle in Wichita, Kansas helped make hamburgers popular again by showing customers how clean and careful they were with their food. They made small square hamburgers called sliders and even sold frozen hamburgers later on.
• 1923: Kewpee Hamburgers in Flint, Michigan became the second hamburger chain, with hundreds of places before closing many during World War II.
• 1926: White Tower Hamburgers
• 1927: Little Tavern
• 1932: Krystal
• 1936: Big Boy. In 1937, a man named Bob Wian made a special double-decker hamburger that became famous. Big Boy grew into a big chain of restaurants.
• 1940: The first McDonald's restaurant opened in San Bernardino, California by the McDonald brothers. They introduced fast service methods that changed the food industry forever. In 1961, a man named Ray Kroc bought the business and helped it grow into the huge company it is today.

Variations

See also: List of hamburgers

Other meats

Burgers can be made with meats besides beef. Some examples are:

• Turkey burger
• Chicken burger:
  • Ground chicken meat
  • Chicken breast (marinated or not)
  • Fried chicken
• Buffalo burger
• Venison burger
• Lamb burger
• Veal burger
• Fish burger

Veggie burgers

Main article: Veggie burger

Burgers can also be made without meat. These veggie burgers use plant-based ingredients. They can be made from things like tofu, TVP, seitan, beans, grains, or many different vegetables.

In the past, people made special plant-based foods for burgers. Today, many companies make veggie burgers using peas, soy, mushrooms, yeast, beans, and nuts.

By country

Australia and New Zealand

Fast food places sell American-style hamburgers in Australia and New Zealand. Traditional hamburgers are usually bought from fish and chip shops or milk bars rather than chain restaurants. These traditional hamburgers are becoming less common as older-style fast food places decrease in number. The hamburger meat is almost always ground beef, or "mince", as it is more commonly referred to in Australia and New Zealand. They often include tomato, lettuce, grilled onion, and meat, at least. This is known in Australia as a "plain hamburger", and may also include cheese, pineapple, a fried egg, beetroot, and bacon. If all these optional ingredients are included, it is known in Australia as a "burger with the lot".

In Australia and New Zealand, the word sandwich is generally reserved for two slices of bread with fillings in between them. This is unlike in American English where a sandwich is fillings between two pieces of any kind of bread, not only slices of bread. As such, in Australia and New Zealand, burgers are not generally considered to be sandwiches. The term burger is applied to any cut bun with a hot filling, even when the filling does not contain beef, such as a chicken burger, salmon burger, pulled pork burger, veggie burger, etc.

The only variance between the two countries' hamburgers is that New Zealand's equivalent to "The Lot" often contains a steak (beef). The condiments regularly used are barbecue sauce and tomato sauce. The traditional Australasian hamburger never includes mayonnaise. The McDonald's "McOz" Burger is partway between American and Australian style burgers, having beetroot and tomato in an otherwise typical American burger; however, it is no longer a part of the menu. Likewise, McDonald's in New Zealand created a Kiwiburger, similar to a Quarter Pounder, but including salad, beetroot, and a fried egg. The Hungry Jack's (Burger King) "Aussie Burger" has tomato, lettuce, onion, cheese, bacon, beetroot, egg, ketchup, and a meat patty, while adding pineapple is an upcharge. It is essentially a "Burger with the lot" but uses the standard Hungery Jack's circular breakfast egg rather than the fully fried egg used by local fish shops.

Belgium and Netherlands

Throughout Belgium and in some eateries in the Netherlands, a Bicky Burger is sold that combines pork, chicken, and horse meat. The hamburger, usually fried, is served between a bun, sprinkled with sesame seeds. It often comes with a specific Bickysaus (Bicky dressing) made with mayonnaise, mustard, cabbage, and onion.

China

In China, due to the branding of their sandwiches by McDonald's and KFC restaurants in China, the word "burger" (汉堡) refers to all sandwiches that consist of two pieces of bun and a meat patty in between.

A popular Chinese street food, known as roujiamo, consists of meat (most commonly pork) sandwiched between two buns. Roujiamo has been called the "Chinese hamburger". Since the sandwich dates back to the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and fits the aforementioned Chinese word for burger, Chinese media have claimed that the hamburger was invented in China.

Denmark

In Denmark, the hamburger was introduced in 1949, though it was called the bøfsandwich. There are many variations. While the original bøfsandwich was simply a generic meat patty containing a mix of beef and horse meat, with slightly different garnish (mustard, ketchup, and soft onions), it has continued to evolve. Today, a bøfsandwich usually contains a beef patty; pickled cucumber; raw, pickled, fried, or soft onions; pickled red beets; mustard; ketchup; remoulade; and is often overflowing with brown gravy, which is sometimes even poured on top of the assembled bøfsandwich. The original bøfsandwich is still on the menu at the same restaurant from which it originated in 1949, now run by the original owner's grandson.

Following the popularity of the bøfsandwich, many variations sprung up, using different types of meat instead of the beef patty. One variation, the flæskestegssandwich, grew especially popular. This variation replaces the minced beef patty with slices of pork loin or belly and typically uses sweet-and-sour pickled red cabbage, mayonnaise, mustard, and pork rinds as garnish.

Today, the bøfsandwich, flæskestegssandwich, and their many variations co-exist with the more typical hamburger, with the opening of the first Burger King restaurant in 1977 popularizing the United States dish in Denmark. Many local, high-end burger restaurants dot the major cities, including Popl, an offshoot of Noma.

East Asia

Rice burgers mentioned above are also available in several East Asian countries such as Taiwan and South Korea. Lotteria is a prominent hamburger franchise in Japan owned by the South Korean Lotte group, with outlets also in China, South Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan. In addition to selling beef hamburgers, they have hamburgers made from squid, pork, tofu, and shrimp. Variations available in South Korea include Bulgogi burgers and Kimchi burgers.

In the Philippines, a wide range of major U.S. fast-food franchises are well represented, together with local imitators, often amended to the local palate. The chain McDonald's (locally nicknamed "McDo") has a range of burger and chicken dishes often accompanied by plain steamed rice, or French fries. The Philippines boasts its own burger chain called Jollibee, which offers burger meals and chicken, including a signature burger called "Champ". Jollibee now has several outlets in the United States, the SWANA region, and East Asia.

France

In 2012, according to a study by the NDP cabinet, the French consume 14 hamburgers in restaurants per year per person, placing them fourth in the world and second in Europe, just behind the British. A popular burger chain in France is Quick.

According to a study by Gira Conseil on the consumption of hamburgers in France in 2013, 75% of traditional French restaurants offer at least one hamburger on their menu, and for a third of these restaurants, it has become the leader in the range of dishes, ahead of rib steaks, grills, or fish.

India

In India, where there are cultural beliefs against eating beef (which stem from Hindu religious practice) and pork (which stems from Islamic religious practice), the term burger refers to a variety of sandwiches usually made from chicken or vegetable patties. Accordingly, most fast food chains and restaurants in India do not serve beef. McDonald's in India offers the "Maharaja Mac" instead of the Big Mac, substituting the beef patties with chicken.

The vada pav, consisting of a deep-fried potato patty dipped in gram flour batter, is sometimes called the Bombay burger.

Japan

In Japan, hamburgers can be served in a bun, called hanbāgā, or without a bun, which is known as hanbāgu or "hamburg", short for "hamburg steak".

Hamburg steaks (served without buns) are similar to what are known as Salisbury steaks in the US. They are made from minced beef, pork, or a blend of the two mixed with minced onions, eggs, breadcrumbs, and spices. They are served with brown sauce (or demi-glace in restaurants) with vegetable or salad sides, or occasionally in Japanese curries. Hamburgers may be served in casual, Western-style suburban restaurant chains known in Japan as "family restaurants".

Hamburgers with buns are predominantly the domain of fast food chains. Japan has homegrown hamburger chain restaurants such as MOS Burger, First Kitchen, and Freshness Burger. Local varieties of burgers served in Japan include teriyaki burgers, katsu burgers (containing tonkatsu) and burgers containing shrimp korokke. Some of the more unusual examples include the rice burger, where the bun is made of rice, and the luxury 1,000-yen (US$10) "Takumi Burger" (meaning "artisan taste"), featuring avocados, freshly grated wasabi, and other rare seasonal ingredients. In terms of the actual patty, there are burgers made with Kobe beef, butchered from cows that are fed with beer and massaged daily. McDonald's Japan also recently in 2021 launched a McPork burger made with US pork. McDonald's has been gradually losing market share in Japan to these local hamburger chains due partly to the preference of Japanese diners for fresh ingredients and more refined, "upscale" hamburger offerings.

Malaysia

Fast-food burger restaurants in Malaysia typically sell eggs and fried chicken in addition to U.S.-style burgers. A popular local brand is Ramly Burger, which combines a standard hamburger with an omelette.

Mexico

In Mexico, burgers (called hamburguesas) are served with ham and slices of American cheese fried on top of the meat patty. The toppings include avocado, jalapeño slices, shredded lettuce, onion, and tomato. The bun has mayonnaise, ketchup, and mustard. Bacon may also be added, which can be fried or grilled along with the meat patty. A slice of pineapple may be added to a hamburger for a "Hawaiian hamburger".

Some restaurants' burgers also have barbecue sauce, and others replace the ground patty with sirloin, Al pastor meat, barbacoa, or fried chicken breast. Many burger chains from the United States can be found in Mexico, including Carl's Jr., Sonic, McDonald's, and Burger King.

Mongolia

In Mongolia, a recent surge in popularity of fast food due to the sudden influx of foreign influence has led to increasing prominence of the hamburger. Specialized fast food restaurants serving to Mongolian tastes have sprung up and seen great success.

Pakistan

In Pakistan, apart from in American fast food chains, burgers can be found in stalls near shopping areas. The best known is the "shami burger". This is made from "shami kebab", made by mixing lentils and minced lamb. Onions, scrambled eggs, and ketchup are the most popular toppings.

Turkey

In Turkey, in addition to the internationally familiar offerings, numerous localized variants of the hamburger may be found, such as the Islak Burger (lit. 'Wet-Burger'), which is a beef slider doused in seasoned tomato sauce and steamed inside a special glass chamber, and has its origins in the Turkish fast food retailer Kizilkayalar. Other variations include lamb burgers and offal-burgers, which are offered by local fast food businesses and global chains alike, such as McDonald's and Burger King. Almost all major fast food chains deliver.

United Kingdom and Ireland

Hamburgers in the UK and Ireland are very similar to those in the US, and the same big two chains dominate there as in the U.S. — McDonald's and Burger King. The menus offered to both countries are virtually identical, although portion sizes tend to be smaller in the UK. In Ireland, the burger-serving food outlet Supermac's is widespread throughout the country. In Ireland, Abrakebabra, which began as a kebab restaurant, and Eddie Rocket's are also major chains.

A native rival to the big two U.S. chains was the fast-food chain popular in Britain, Wimpy, originally known as Wimpy Bar (opened 1954 at the Lyon's Corner House in Coventry Street London), which served its hamburgers on a plate with British-style chips, accompanied by cutlery and delivered to the customer's table. In the late 1970s, to compete with McDonald's, Wimpy began to open American-style counter-service restaurants, and the brand disappeared from many UK high streets when those restaurants were re-branded as Burger Kings between 1989 and 1990 by the then-owner of both brands, Grand Metropolitan. A management buyout in 1990 split the brands again, and now Wimpy table-service restaurants can still be found in many town centers, while new counter-service Wimpys are now often found at highway service stations.

Hamburgers are also available from mobile kiosks, commonly known as "burger vans", particularly at outdoor events such as soccer games. These burgers are usually served without any form of salad, only fried onions and a choice of tomato ketchup, mustard, or brown sauce.

Hamburgers and veggie burgers served with chips, and salad are standard pub grub menu items. Many pubs specialize in "gourmet" burgers. These are usually high-quality minced steak patties topped with things such as blue cheese, brie, avocado, or anchovy mayonnaise.. Some British pubs serve burger patties made from more exotic meats, including venison burgers (sometimes nicknamed Bambi Burgers), bison burgers, ostrich burgers, and in some Australian-themed pubs even kangaroo burgers can be purchased. These burgers are served similarly to the traditional hamburger but are sometimes served with a different sauce, including redcurrant sauce, mint sauce, or plum sauce.

In the early 21st century, "premium" hamburger chains and independent restaurants have arisen, selling burgers produced from meat stated to be of high quality and often organic, usually served to eat on the premises rather than to take to-go. Chains include Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Ultimate Burger, Hamburger Union, and Byron Hamburgers in London. Independent restaurants such as Meatmarket and Dirty Burger developed a style of rich, juicy burger in 2012 which is known as a dirty burger or third-wave burger.

In the UK, as in North America and Japan, the term "burger" can refer simply to the patty, be it beef, some other kind of meat, or vegetarian.

United States and Canada

See also: Cheeseburger, Chili burger, and History of the hamburger in the United States

The hamburger is considered a national dish of the United States. In the United States and Canada, burgers may be classified as either fast food hamburgers or individually prepared burgers made in homes and restaurants. The latter are often prepared with a variety of toppings, including lettuce, tomato, onion, and often sliced pickles (or pickle relish). French fries (or commonly poutine in Canada) often accompany the burger. Cheese (usually processed cheese slices but often Cheddar, Swiss, pepper jack, or blue), may be either melted directly on the meat patty or crumbled on top.

A high-quality hamburger patty is made entirely of ground (minced) beef and seasonings. These may be described as "all-beef hamburger" or "all-beef patties" to distinguish them from inexpensive hamburgers made with cost-savers like added flour, textured vegetable protein, ammonia treated defatted beef trimmings, advanced meat recovery, or other fillers. In the 1930s, ground liver was sometimes added. Some cooks prepare their patties with binders like eggs or breadcrumbs. Seasonings may include salt and pepper, parsley, onions, soy sauce, Thousand Island dressing, onion soup mix, or Worcestershire sauce. Many name-brand seasoned salt products are also used.

Condiments might be added to a hamburger or may be offered separately on the side, including ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, relish, salad dressings and barbecue sauce. Other toppings can include bacon, avocado or guacamole, sliced sautéed mushrooms, cheese sauce, chili (usually without beans), fried egg, scrambled egg, feta cheese, blue cheese, salsa, pineapple, jalapeños and other kinds of chili peppers, anchovies, slices of ham or bologna, pastrami or teriyaki-seasoned beef, tartar sauce, french fries, onion rings or potato chips.

A patty melt consists of a patty, sautéed onions and cheese between two slices of rye bread. The sandwich is then buttered and fried.

A slider is a tiny square hamburger patty served on an equally small bun and usually sprinkled with diced onions. According to the earliest citations, the name originated aboard U.S. Navy ships due to how greasy burgers slid across the galley grill as the ship sailed. Other versions claim the term "slider" originated from the hamburgers that were so greasy they practically slid down flight line galleys at military airfields, or from the fact that the burgers' small size allowed them to "slide" right down the throat in one or two bites.

• In Alberta, Canada, a "kubie burger" is a hamburger made with a pressed Ukrainian sausage (kubasa).
• A butter burger, found commonly throughout Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest, is a normal burger with a pad of butter as a topping or a heavily buttered bun. It is the signature menu item of the restaurant chain Culver's.
• The Fat Boy is an iconic hamburger with chili meat sauce originating in the Greek burger restaurants of Winnipeg, Manitoba
• In Minnesota, a "Juicy Lucy" (also spelled "Jucy Lucy"), is a hamburger with cheese inside the meat patty rather than on top. A piece of cheese is surrounded by raw meat and cooked until it melts, resulting in a molten core within the patty. This hot cheese tends to gush out at the first bite, so servers might instruct customers to let the sandwich cool for a few minutes before consumption.
• A low-carb burger is a hamburger served without a bun and replaced with large slices of lettuce, with mayonnaise or mustard being the sauces primarily used.
• A ramen burger, invented by Keizo Shimamoto, is a hamburger patty sandwiched between two discs of compressed ramen noodles in lieu of a traditional bun.
• Luther Burger is a bacon cheeseburger with two glazed doughnuts instead of buns.
• Steamed cheeseburger is a cheeseburger in which the burger is steamed instead of grilled. It was invented in Connecticut.

Fast food

Hamburgers are often a feature of fast food restaurants. In the United States, the hamburger patties served by major fast food chains are usually mass-produced in factories and then frozen for delivery to the site. These hamburgers are relatively thin, differing from the traditional American hamburger prepared in homes and conventional restaurants, which is thicker and prepared by hand from ground beef. Most American hamburgers are round, but some fast-food chains, such as Wendy's, Krystal, and White Castle sell square-cut hamburgers. Hamburgers in fast food restaurants are usually grilled on a flat top, but some establishments, such as Burger King, use a gas flame grilling process. At conventional American restaurants, hamburgers may be ordered "rare" but normally are served medium-well or well-done for food safety reasons. Fast food restaurants do not usually offer this option.

The McDonald's fast-food chain sells the Big Mac, one of the world's top-selling hamburgers, with an estimated 550 million sold annually in the United States. Many other major fast-food chains, also rely heavily on hamburger sales, including Burger King (known as Hungry Jack's in Australia), A&W, Culver's, Whataburger, Carl's Jr./Hardee's chain, Wendy's, Jack in the Box, Krystal, White Castle, Cook Out, Harvey's, Hesburger, Supermac's, Shake Shack, In-N-Out Burger, Five Guys, Fatburger, Vera's, Burgerville, Back Yard Burgers, Lick's Homeburger, Roy Rogers, Smashburger, and Sonic. Fuddruckers and Red Robin are hamburger chains that specialize in the mid-tier "restaurant-style" variety of hamburgers.

Marketing

In the United States, "steak burger" is a marketing term for a hamburger claimed to be of superior quality. In Australia, the term refers to a burger bun containing a steak and is more commonly called a steak sandwich.

Use of the term "steakburger" dates to the 1920s in the United States. In the U.S. in 1934, A.H. "Gus" Belt, the founder of Steak 'n Shake, devised a higher-quality hamburger and offered it as a "steakburger" to customers at the company's first location in Normal, Illinois. This burger used a combination of ground meat from the strip portion of T-bone steak and sirloin steak in its preparation. Steakburgers are a primary menu item at Steak 'n Shake restaurants, and the company's registered trademarks included "original steakburger" and "famous for steakburgers". Steak 'n Shake's "Prime Steakburgers" are now made of choice grade brisket and chuck.

In 2004, Steak 'n Shake sued Burger King over the latter's use of the term Steak Burger in conjunction with one of its menu items, claiming that such use infringed on trademark rights. The case was settled out of court.

Cost

According to Bloomberg News, the average price of a fast-food restaurant burger in the United States increased by 16% between 2019 and 2024, reaching $8.41 in the second quarter of 2024. Specifically, the iconic Big Mac at McDonald's cost $5.29 during the same period, representing a 21% price increase over the same five-year span.

The cost of Big Mac hamburgers in different countries has been used by The Economist to easily compare purchasing power of different currencies, in what it calls the Big Mac Index.

Safety

Raw hamburgers may contain harmful bacteria that can produce food-borne illnesses such as Escherichia coli O157:H7, due to the occasional initial improper preparation of the meat, so caution is required for safety during handling and cooking. Because of the potential for food-borne illness, the USDA, recommends hamburgers be cooked to an internal temperature of 160 °F (71 °C). If cooked to this temperature, they are considered well-done.

Unusual hamburgers

Some hamburgers are very special and cost a lot of money. In May 2012, Serendipity 3 made an expensive hamburger that cost $295, and it was recognized by the Guinness World Records. Another big hamburger that cost $499 was sold at Mallie's Sports Grill & Bar in Southgate, Michigan. It weighed about 185 pounds and took 12 hours to make.

There have also been hamburgers with fancy ingredients, like one made with special beef and lobster, served at a restaurant inside the Paris Las Vegas casino. In 2013, scientists made a hamburger from cow cells grown in a lab instead of from a real cow. This was part of a research project led by Mark Post at Maastricht University and supported by Google's co-founder Sergey Brin.

Slang

A "$100 hamburger" is a term pilots use. It means a pilot might fly a short trip—less than two hours—to visit a restaurant at an airport and then fly back home. The name comes from the idea that the trip might cost about as much as a fancy meal, or a hamburger, that costs $100.

This kind of trip is common in general aviation, where people use small private planes for personal travel.