Ode to the humble hamburger

For millions of people around the world, the hamburger is their go-to fast food meal, and the same can be said of South Africans.

And to commemorate this worldwide favourite, Saturday, 28 May has been set aside to celebrate International Hamburger Day.

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The humble hamburger has been a crowd pleaser for centuries, with every nation adding their own twist to make the meal unique.

Even the characters living under the sea in Bikini Bottom enjoyed each and every burger patty SpongeBob flipped!

Here are some fun facts about the hamburger:

• According to the Guinness World Record, the biggest hamburger weighed 1.164kg and was made in Germany on 9 July 2017. It consisted of three meat patties, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, onions, hamburger sauce and a bun

• During World War 2, hamburgers were known as Liberty Sandwiches in an attempt to avoid using German names

• McDonald’s has more than 30 000 outlets in more than 120 countries on six continents and sells 75 hamburgers every second

• On average, Americans eat three burgers a week, which means a national total of nearly 50 billion burgers per year. If they were arranged in a straight line, it would circle the earth 32 times!

• An 814kg cheeseburger is the world’s largest commercially sold burger and can be ordered from Mallie’s Sports Grill & Bar in Detroit. It consists of a 900kg patty, topped with 135kg of cheese and countless tomatoes, onions, pickles and lettuce, and a bun weighing 100kg. The finished burger is a metre high and around 1.5m wide. Should you order one, you will need to give them three days’ notice, and it will set you back a cool R110 000!

• American Sonya Thomas holds the world record for eating a Big Daddy Cheeseburger weighing four kilograms in just 27 minutes. She also holds a record for gobbling down seven 340g burgers in 10 minutes

Here’s a quick recipe for you to make your own scrumptious burger at home:

Ingredients
180g seeded and chopped jalapeno peppers
20g washed & chopped coriander leaves
50g finely chopped red onion
225g medium fat cream cheese
900g lean beef
8 fresh burger buns, split
Lettuce and tomato slices to dress

Method
In a bowl, stir together the jalapenos, red onion, coriander and cream cheese.
Divide the ground beef into 16 portions and pat out each one to a 6mm thickness.
Spoon some of the cream cheese mixture onto the centre of 8 of the patties.
Top with the remaining patties, pressing the edges together to seal.
Pre-heat a grill pan on medium heat.
When hot, lightly oil the pan and cook for 7 minutes on each side or until done to your liking, taking care not to press down on the burgers as they cook as this will make the cheese ooze out.
Serve on freshly toasted buns with fresh lettuce and slices of tomato and a side of fries.

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