There are few things more American than a hamburger and most of us that grow up outside America, have mental images  of American kids sitting in long, slinky cars watching movies, eating hamburgers and drinking frothy pink milkshakes. In our youth, we jealously watched and wished we could be there and as hard as we tried, the burgers never looked American. Strangely, it was an American in Monte Carlo that taught me how to make a burger one Fourth of July and I will be, forever, grateful. Truth be told, it was the Tartars who first

shredded beef and later the Mongols (of Genghis Kahn fame) who carried it in their saddle bags. Because they lived on their horses, eating the raw softened meat on horseback was very convenient since they would not have to stop to eat when in battle – as a matter of fact, they did pretty much everything on horseback – as disgusting as it may sound. The idea of minced meat went to Russia and later Kublai Khan and his men took it  it to the port of Hamburg from whence the Hamburg steak came.

steak was born. The origin of the hamburger, as we know it was in the kitchen of  Otto Kuasw who made his own hamburgers in 1981 in Hamburg, Germany. He made a thin patty of minced beef and fried it in a light batter, serving it with a fried egg. A relatively unkown tale that leaves me a little dubious – after all, why, with that rich variety of traditional sausages to use as ‘fast food’, would they want to make  a hamburger at all?  In the United States the Fourth of July commemorates the day when the Declaration of Independence was signed and relief and joy spread throughout the country for the first time since the war had started in Lexington, Massachusetts. It is celebrated in true American style with a lot of noise and fanfare.  Fireworks, processions, drums and even banquets are held , but the barbecue and the hamburger defines the day. There are three main contenders to the position of  first hamburger maker:

• Louis Lassen
• Charlie Nagreen
• Frank and Charles Menches
• Fletch ‘old Dave’ Davis.

Charles Nagreen created his first hamburger when his meatballs flopped one day and he turned his meatball business into a hamburger business. (1885). In exactly the same year the Menches brothers who, traveling from fair to fair, and selling their sausage patty sandwiches found that the heat spoilt the pork and they had to turn to beef. Apparently this, too, was a hamburger. Louis Lassen who creates a “burger” for a lunch in 1890 which he actually called a burger and therefore it is still called a “burger”. Since his is the most credible story, I will nominate him the father of the burger on this site. The first burger joint?  The Wimpy in 1930.

OUR OWN HAMBURGER

Ingredients

• 350 g beef fillet, minced to preferred consistency
• 350 g beef sirloin, minced to preferred consistency
• 2 egg yolks (not the whites)
• 1 x handful fresh chopped parsley
• 2 lemons, zest only
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• Sea salt, to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp clarified butter
• Olive oil as needed for frying
• Optional: for those of you that like adding onions to a burger, add 1 tbsp very finely chopped red onions

Method

• Mix everything together well to form firm patties with salt and pepper to taste.
• Heat olive oil and salted clarified butter together and fry the patties quickly in a pan on high heat.
• They can also be grilled on a hot barbecue that has been brushed with oil.
• Depending on the size of the burger, cook for 3 minutes before flipping them, then flip and cook for another 3 minutes.
• The secret is the heat.