51 The Story of the Hamburger

It would be hard to find a person in America who has never eaten a hamburger, but this popular food was not originally made in America. The original hamburger can be traced back to the Middle Ages, when Russians ate raw meat that was scraped and shredded with a dull knife and formed into patties. It was called Tartar steak. This was the first step in a long series of developments that eventually resulted in hamburger as we know it today.

German sailors picked up the raw meat delicacy in their contacts with Russians and brought to it back to their home port of Hamburg. But the people there were unused to eating raw meat, so they broiled the outside of the Russian steak; thus the hamburg steak was born.

The hamburg steak was brought to America in the nineteenth century by German immigrants. Louis Lassen, a cook in New Haven, Connecticut, modified the hamburg steak by sandwiching it between two pieces of bread. But the true American hamburger came into existence in St. Louis at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904. A harried cook at the fair quickly slapped broiled beef patties between buns and served them to a demanding crowd, which gulped them down joyously.

At first this new food creation was made from scraps of poorer cuts of meat that were not used for anything else, but before long scraps were not enough. The demand for greater quantities of hamburger could only be met by using more and better cuts. Hamburger stands sprang up all over the country, and a side industry of condiments, such as ketchup and relish, grew up and prospered along with the popular hamburger.

51 汉堡的故事

在美国，很难找到一个从没吃过汉堡的人，但这种受欢迎的食物最初并不是在美国发明的。原始的汉堡可以追溯到中世纪，当时俄国人会把生肉用钝刀刮碎、撕碎，然后做成肉饼，这被称为鞑靼牛排。这是一系列漫长发展中的第一步，最终形成了我们如今所熟知的汉堡。

德国水手在与俄国人接触时接触到了这种生肉美食，并将其带回了他们的家乡港口汉堡。但那里的人们不习惯吃生肉，所以他们把这种俄式牛排的外层烤熟了；就这样，汉堡牛排诞生了。

19世纪，德国移民将汉堡牛排带到了美国。康涅狄格州纽黑文的厨师路易斯·拉森对汉堡牛排进行了改良，把它夹在两片面包之间。但真正的美式汉堡是1904年在圣路易斯的路易斯安那购地博览会期间诞生的。博览会上一位忙碌的厨师迅速把烤好的牛肉饼夹在圆面包之间，端给一群急切的观众，观众们兴高采烈地狼吞虎咽起来。

起初，这种新食物是用其他地方用不上的劣质肉块的边角料做的，但没过多久，边角料就不够用了。要满足对更多汉堡的需求，只能使用更多更好的肉块。汉堡摊在全国各地如雨后春笋般涌现，而调味品（如番茄酱和调味酱）这一副业也随之兴起，与受欢迎的汉堡一起蓬勃发展。