Few foods carry their travels in their name quite like the burger. It is named after a German port city, it became famous on American lunch wagons and fairgrounds, and today it is at home on every continent. The Big American Burger packs that whole story into one bun: a hearty beef patty, smoky strips of beef and a sweet, tangy barbecue sauce in the style of the American South.

At a glance

Name: Big American Burger, a barbecue-style burger
Origin: USA, with roots in the Hamburg steak and Hamburg’s warm meat roll
Flavour: savoury, smoky, slightly sweet, with a gentle tang from the sauce
Key ingredients: minced beef, soft bun, smoked beef, barbecue sauce, lettuce, onion
Eat it with: chips, onion rings, coleslaw or a cold drink

From Hamburg to America: the back story

Long before anyone said “burger”, the people of Hamburg were eating minced beef, fried and served warm. A snack called Rundstück warm – literally “warm round piece”, a bread roll with hot meat – is recorded there in 1869, a quick bite for dock workers and travellers. Even earlier, an eighteenth-century English cookery book included a “Hamburgh sausage”, a hint that the city was known for its beef well before the burger existed.

As millions of Germans emigrated to America during the nineteenth century, the Hamburg steak crossed the Atlantic with them. At the time this was not a sandwich at all, but a flat patty of minced beef seasoned with onion, salt and pepper, fried and served on a plate. American newspapers were already printing the phrase in 1884.

Who invented the hamburger?

Nobody can say for certain – but plenty of American towns will happily tell you it was them. The best-known claims include:

Seymour, Wisconsin, 1885: Charlie Nagreen is said to have flattened meatballs and put them between bread so fairgoers could eat while walking.
Hamburg, New York, 1885: brothers Frank and Charles Menches reportedly sold beef sandwiches at a county fair after running out of sausage.
Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1891: the family of Oscar Weber Bilby say he served minced beef on his wife’s home-baked buns on the Fourth of July – for many, the first burger on a proper bun.
New Haven, Connecticut, around 1900: Danish immigrant Louis Lassen put a beef patty between two slices of toast at his tiny lunch spot, Louis’ Lunch. In 2000 the Library of Congress recognised it as the birthplace of the hamburger.

The hamburger reached a national audience at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. Then, in 1921, the first White Castle opened in Wichita, Kansas – one of the very first burger chains, and proof that a hamburger could be clean, quick and the same every time.

A name from Hamburg, a bun from America – the burger is a child of emigration.

Barbecue in a bun: how an American burger is built

A barbecue-style burger needs only a handful of ingredients, but each one has a job to do.

1. The patty

Everything starts with minced beef, shaped loosely and handled as little as possible so it stays juicy. On a hot griddle the outside forms a dark, savoury crust. That is the Maillard reaction at work: proteins and sugars in the meat brown and create the deep roasted flavour that makes a burger smell like a burger.

2. The smoky layer

What sets an American burger apart from a plain hamburger is an extra layer of smoke. In the United States this usually means cured, smoked meat fried until crisp and laid over the patty. A halal kitchen can reach the same effect with smoked beef, which adds salt, smoke and a little chew.

3. The barbecue sauce

The sauce ties it all together. The earliest barbecue sauces of the American South were thin mixtures of vinegar, butter and pepper. The thick, glossy, tomato-based sauce most people picture today is usually credited to Kansas City, where Henry Perry sold barbecued meat in the early twentieth century. Tomato, vinegar, sugar or molasses, and spices such as paprika, mustard and onion give it its familiar balance of sweet, sharp and smoky.

4. The bun and the fresh bits

A soft, slightly sweet bun is toasted briefly so it holds the sauce instead of soaking it straight up. Lettuce, tomato and onion bring crunch and freshness to cut through the rich meat.

What does a Big American Burger taste like?

The first bite is savoury and smoky: the crust of the patty, the salty smoked beef, then the barbecue sauce with its sweetness and gentle tang. The soft bun soaks up the juices while the salad keeps things fresh. It is not a hot burger – its depth comes from smoke, browning and sauce rather than chilli.

American, BBQ or classic: what’s the difference?

Burger menus are full of names that sound alike. Here is how to tell them apart:

Hamburger: the basic form – a patty in a bun with salad, onion and sauce.
Cheeseburger: a hamburger with melted cheese on the patty.
BBQ burger: built around barbecue sauce, often with crispy fried onions for crunch.
American burger: pairs barbecue sauce with smoky meat on top of the patty, which makes it the boldest of the four.

What goes with a burger?

In America a burger almost always comes with something crisp or fresh on the side. Chips, battered onion rings or a creamy coleslaw are the classics – the sharpness of the slaw is a good match for a smoky, sweet sauce. For something lighter, a green salad works well. To drink, anything cold: lemonade, iced tea or a milkshake.

The burger around the world

From American fairgrounds the burger spread across the globe, picking up a local accent wherever it landed. In Australia a slice of beetroot often goes on top; in Japan you will find teriyaki versions; in India it is frequently made with chicken, lamb or vegetables instead of beef, and seasoned generously. And in Germany, where the story began with Hamburg’s warm meat roll, the burger has long been an everyday meal, from street stalls to sit-down restaurants.

Big American Burger at Masalas

At Masalas in Berlin-Köpenick the Big American Burger comes with a 100 g patty, smoked beef and barbecue sauce. All our meat is halal.

You can collect it or have it delivered. If you are extra hungry, our menu also has a double version and the Giant American Burger with a bigger patty.

At Masalas, Berlin-Köpenick