[1] One of our favorite burgers, from Built Burger.

[2] Another fave: a bacon cheeseburger with onion rings (photo © Smokey Bones).

National Hamburger Month is May, but that’s not all. National/International Hamburger Day is May 28th, National Burger Day is the Thursday before Labor Day and National Cheeseburger Day is September 18th. How about some hamburger history?

Americans love burgers, consuming nearly 50 billion burgers each year. If you do the math, there are approximately 325,000,000 people in the U.S., which means that the average American consumes 154 burgers a year, or 3 burgers per week.

How did this all begin?
 
 
THE FIRST BURGERS

According to a 2022 post in Quora, the famous Roman cookbook De re De Re Coquinaria ((On the Subject of Cooking), known as the first extant cookbook and published in the 4th or 5th century C.E., there was a burger-type patty in ancient Rome.

The recipe is called Isicia Omentata, and consists of minced meat, pepper, wine, and pine nuts, served with Romans’ favorite condiment, a fermented fish sauce called garum. “All ingredients should be mixed together and shaped into a patty,” says the recipe [source].

When we first wrote this article in 2011, the earliest known hamburger aficionados were the Russian Tartars, nomadic groups who joined Genghis Khan’s army in the early 13th century.

They shredded the tougher cuts of beef and ate them without cooking, an early version of the dish we call Steak Tartare (although it should be Steak Tatare—they were Tatars, not Tartars). They introduced the dish to Germany before the 14th century.

We can thank German immigrants for bringing over what became the quintessential American food: the hamburger, or burger for short. (They brought the the frankfurter, too.)

The Germans added spices, and the dish, served both cooked and raw, became popular among people of limited means.

In Hamburg, it became known as “Hamburg steak.” When it arrived in the U.S. during the 1880s wave of German immigration, it became a “hamburger steak” and finally, a “hamburger.”

The original recipe—chopped beef mixed with onions and pepper—appeared on American menus as far back as 1836.

However, the term “hamburger steak” first appeared in print in a Washington State newspaper in 1889.

The hamburger also traveled to England, where Dr. J. H. Salisbury, a hearty beef eater, championed the shredding of all foods to improve digestibility (see Salisbury steak).

As with the frankfurter—a sausage in a roll—it took good old American ingenuity to wrap the bread around a beef patty.

The date of the burger-in-a-roll (the difference between rolls and buns) is not known for certain, although by the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, the hamburger was already a sandwich.

Louis’ Lunch in New Haven claims to have served up the original burger in the U.S. in 1900, putting a beef patty, tomato, onion, and cheese between two slices of toasted white bread—no ketchup or mustard. They still serve it the same way.

Several other American towns lay claim to this watershed in American cuisine. One of them is Seymour, Wisconsin, which claims that in 1885, one Charlie Nagreen was having trouble selling his meatballs at the Seymour Fair—it was hard for people to eat them as they walked around. So Nagreen flattened the ball of meat and placed the patty between two pieces of bread.

That same year, the Menches brothers, who sold sausage patty sandwiches, ran out of pork at the Erie County Fair in Hamburg, New York. Their butcher suggested that they use beef, and they christened the product the Hamburg sandwich.
 
 

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If you want to make a special dessert in a hurry, grab some tart shells and—if you don’t want to make pudding from scratch—a box of JELL-O Cook & Serve Pudding & Pie Filling.

Use the regular, not instant, pudding mix: It has better flavor and texture. However, if you want a sugar-free pudding, Instant is the only option.

Our favorite tart shells are from Clearbrook Farms and Daphne Tarts, both NIBBLE Top Picks Of The Week.

Tart shells are available at supermarkets, specialty food stores, and baking supplies stores. If you can’t find them, create a “bottom crust” in individual serving dishes, using cookie crumbs (chocolate, graham cracker, etc.) or a piece of loaf cake (banana cake, chocolate cake, pound cake, etc.).

For panache, create the dessert in a wine glass.
 
 
MIX & MATCH

You can mix and match the “crust” with the different flavors of JELL-O Pudding & Pie Filling: Banana Cream, Butterscotch, Chocolate, Chocolate Fudge, Coconut, Lemon, and Vanilla. The sugar-free variety comes in Cheesecake, Pistachio, and White Chocolate, as well (but not Coconut).

Take a look at this list of garnishes for your tarts.

And consider this a family project: Let the kids or a non-cooking spouse/partner try their hands at making dessert (under your supervision, of course).
 
 

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Would you believe that the creamy, sweet comfort food started out as a very different dish: a bland, white stew made with chicken or fish, plus sugar?

As far back as the 12th century, it was enjoyed by the wealthy at regular meals, and fed to them when they were under the weather.

In the 17th century, the original dish—which most likely would have few takers today—evolved into the dessert pudding we know and love.

Check out the history of vanilla pudding, along with a vanilla pudding recipe and a bunch of suggested garnishes.

The recipe can be varied to make butterscotch pudding and chocolate pudding, too.

For a special treat, fill tart shells with the pudding; garnish and enjoy a special dessert.

Happy National Vanilla Pudding Day!

After years of blogging on the topic as a food allergy advocate, Sloane has turned her challenges into a helpful book: Allergic Girl: Adventures in Living Well with Food Allergies.

As an LMSW (Licensed Master Social Worker), Sloane advises others on how to move beyond the fear of food allergies and live a full and enjoyable life while dining out, dating, attending work functions and traveling.

Anyone who has food allergies—or a loved one with food allergies—will find this book very valuable.

Have a gluten allergy? Check out our reviews of delicious gluten-free foods.

Switch a green salad for a bean salad, beet salad or hundreds of other options. (photo © Sarsmis | iStock Photo).

Leafy greens make up only one of seven categories in Chef Joyce Goldstein’s book, Mediterranean Fresh: A Compendium of One-Plate Salad Meals and Mix-and-Match Dressings.

In the Mediterranean, “salad” includes everything from tabbouleh to white beans and prawns in a lemon dressing, to small plates of mezze, antipasti, and tapas.

Other salad categories are based on beans, fruits, grains, and proteins, such as meat, poultry, seafood (and although not part of Mediterranean cuisine or this book, tofu).

Vegetables need not be green: Think of these two recipes in the book:

 
Alternative dressings change the nature of the dish. Substitute walnut vinaigrette with the beet salad and it goes from Greek to French. Substitute tahini dressing and it becomes Middle Eastern.

Here’s Chef Goldstein’s recipe for a mint vinaigrette. Toss it with matchstick-sliced zucchini and carrots; use it with asparagus, bean salad, beet salad, carrot salad, citrus salad, grain salad (bulghur or quinoa, for example), seafood salad, and spinach salad.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE lemon juice and chopped mint in a small saucepan. Bring up to a boil and remove from heat. Let steep for about 10 minutes. Strain into a mixing bowl. You will have about 1/4 cup.

2. ADD the remaining ingredients and whisk them together. Toss with salad ingredients and serve.

More about Chef Joyce Goldstein.