HamburgerHamburger (also called a
beef burger,
hamburger sandwich,
burger or
hamburg) is a sandwich consisting of one or more cooked patties of ground meat (usually
beef) usually placed inside a sliced hamburger bun. Hamburgers are often served with
lettuce,
bacon,
tomato,
onion, pickles, cheese and condiments such as mustard,
mayonnaise, ketchup and relish and green chile.
The term "burger" can also be applied to the meat patty on its own, especially in the UK where the term "patty" is rarely used. The term may be prefixed with the type of meat used as in "turkey burger".
A high-quality hamburger patty is made entirely of ground (minced) beef and seasonings; this may be described as an "all-beef hamburger" or "all-beef patties" to distinguish them from inexpensive hamburgers made with added flour, textured vegetable protein, ammonia treated defatted beef trimmings which the company Beef Products Inc, calls "lean finely textured beef", advanced meat recovery or other fillers to decrease their cost. In the 1930s ground liver was sometimes added to the patties. Some cooks prepare their patties with binders, such as
eggs or
breadcrumbs. Seasonings may be included with the hamburger patty including
salt and
pepper, and others such as
parsley,
onions,
soy sauce,
Thousand Island dressing, onion soup mix, or
Worcestershire sauce. Many name brand seasoned salt products are also used.
