Oh Sammich glory, and where to find 'em

[Merchant Seaman]

The Club Sammy at the Mecca Cafe, in Seattle

[Badfellow]

Question to my esteemed colleagues: when is a hamburger no longer a hamburger, but rather a sandwich?

Here’s the reason I ask… I’ve noticed a trend amongst certain places where they use a very thin (sometimes weighing only 1 ounce) beef patty. Sometimes they’re doubled or tripled up to great effect. But I heard one cook explain "the reason the patty is so thin is so we have room to pile everything else on there".

He wasn’t merely talking about bacon, cheese or even egg. I’ve seen everything but the kitchen sink piled on top of a burger patty. Onion rings, kimchi, a garden’s worth of vegetables, you name it. Not sure about you, but I was raised to respect a good burger with an all-beef patty as the centerpiece and indisputable foundation of what constitutes the genuine article. When I order a burger, I want to taste the beef. All that other stuff is fine, but it’s really just window dressing.

It’s my argument that some of the purported hamburgers of our day are unfaithful to their roots and representation.

[benitobeast69]

Question to my esteemed colleagues: when is a hamburger no longer a hamburger, but rather a sandwich?

Here’s the reason I ask… I’ve noticed a trend amongst certain places where they use a very thin (sometimes weighing only 1 ounce) beef patty. Sometimes they’re doubled or tripled up to great effect. But I heard one cook explain "the reason the patty is so thin is so we have room to pile everything else on there".

He wasn’t merely talking about bacon, cheese or even egg. I’ve seen everything but the kitchen sink piled on top of a burger patty. Onion rings, kimchi, a garden’s worth of vegetables, you name it. Not sure about you, but I was raised to respect a good burger with an all-beef patty as the centerpiece and indisputable foundation of what constitutes the genuine article. When I order a burger, I want to taste the beef. All that other stuff is fine, but it’s really just window dressing.

It’s my argument that some of the purported hamburgers of our day are unfaithful to their roots and representation.

I get it....It should be all about the burger! I do prefer a stack of smaller burgers to one big boy though.

[oettinger]

I thought a burger is round and has a beefpatty about a quarter of an inch thick. Everything else is a sandwich.

German fast food joints call chicken sandwiches chicken burgers which is confusing to AD as hell.

[Badfellow]

I get it....It should be all about the burger! I do prefer a stack of smaller burgers to one big boy though.

There’s sound theory behind a stack tasting better. With the thin, stacked patties, you’re allowing for more surface area exposed to the grill which is where the flavor magic happens.

[benitobeast69]

I thought a burger is round and has a beefpatty about a quarter of an inch thick. Everything else is a sandwich.

German fast food joints call chicken sandwiches chicken burgers which is confusing to AD as hell.

yeah they do that here in the UK as well. not even when it's shaped into a burger like with a Mcchicken Sandwich or some shit....like a whole chicken breast on a bun labeled as a chicken burger...I don't get it either.. it's definitely a chicken sandwich at that point.

[Artful Drunktective]

I get it....It should be all about the burger! I do prefer a stack of smaller burgers to one big boy though.

Absolutely! Me too.

[Artful Drunktective]

I thought a burger is round and has a beefpatty about a quarter of an inch thick. Everything else is a sandwich.

German fast food joints call chicken sandwiches chicken burgers which is confusing to AD as hell.

yeah they do that here in the UK as well. not even when it's shaped into a burger like with a Mcchicken Sandwich or some shit....like a whole chicken breast on a bun labeled as a chicken burger...I don't get it either.. it's definitely a chicken sandwich at that point.

Agreed. In the US we call it a chicken sandwich just like most establishments do. But I used to get this fish sandwich and it was called a "Mahi burger" so evidently there are even fish burgers. My guess is they call them "burgers" because it's on a burger style bun.

[benitobeast69]

I thought a burger is round and has a beefpatty about a quarter of an inch thick. Everything else is a sandwich.

German fast food joints call chicken sandwiches chicken burgers which is confusing to AD as hell.

yeah they do that here in the UK as well. not even when it's shaped into a burger like with a Mcchicken Sandwich or some shit....like a whole chicken breast on a bun labeled as a chicken burger...I don't get it either.. it's definitely a chicken sandwich at that point.

Agreed. In the US we call it a chicken sandwich just like most establishments do. But I used to get this fish sandwich and it was called a "Mahi burger" so evidently there are even fish burgers. My guess is they call them "burgers" because it's on a burger style bun.

tell us more about this Mahi burger...the name alone makes me want one. What is Hawaiian food like?? I realize I know shockingly little about it while still always being under the impression it would be bangin.

[Badfellow]

Here’s my take on the definition of a hamburger… in bullet points, bitches!


*Made from 100% ground beef. Patties made from ground turkey, salmon or textured vegetable protein need not apply. If the Burger King tries creeping up behind me with an Impossible Whopper, he’s going to lose some teeth.

*That the beef patty constitutes the majority of the bulk rather than the toppings. Nothing wrong with toppings. However, the beef takes precedent. Otherwise it’s just a sandwich.

*Served on a hamburger bun. You can serve a beef patty on sliced bread and it is NOT a hamburger. Same goes for waffles, donuts, croissants, etc. Hear what I’m laying down here, Paula Dean?


It’s all covered in my 743 page tome Hamburgernomicon: The Definitive Hamburger Codex available through my hamburger motivational seminars.

[benitobeast69]

Here’s my take on the definition of a hamburger… in bullet points, bitches!


*Made from 100% ground beef. Patties made from ground turkey, salmon or textured vegetable protein need not apply. If the Burger King tries creeping up behind me with an Impossible Whopper, he’s going to lose some teeth.
seminars.

what about fellow like bovine like bison? they acceptable? what about veal?

[benitobeast69]

Here’s my take on the definition of a hamburger… in bullet points, bitches!


*Made from 100% ground beef. Patties made from ground turkey, salmon or textured vegetable protein need not apply. If the Burger King tries creeping up behind me with an Impossible Whopper, he’s going to lose some teeth.
seminars.

what about fellow like bovine like bison? they acceptable? what about veal?

i kind of agree for the most part...however their are some meat varieties that i'd give a pass to...venison for example. I feel like red meat in general would get a pass from me.

I do agree for the most part....fuck off with a salmon burger. lol

[Badfellow]

Here’s my take on the definition of a hamburger… in bullet points, bitches!


*Made from 100% ground beef. Patties made from ground turkey, salmon or textured vegetable protein need not apply. If the Burger King tries creeping up behind me with an Impossible Whopper, he’s going to lose some teeth.
seminars.

what about fellow like bovine like bison? they acceptable? what about veal?

My bad, brother. The record shall be amended to reflect "made from 100% ground bovidae", including but not limited to bison, veal, venison, elk, antelope, auroch, cape buffalo and zebu. In fact, our dear departed friend Mistah Willies was quite fond of moose burgers.

[Artful Drunktective]

tell us more about this Mahi burger...the name alone makes me want one. What is Hawaiian food like?? I realize I know shockingly little about it while still always being under the impression it would be bangin.

Mahi burger was an egg battered (not deep fried, but pan fried) fish patty with an aioli dressing on a bun. It was at a greasy burger joint and delicious for causal eating / drunk munchies.

I also had a mahi sandwich at a nicer establishment that wasn't a patty but actual thick, white, fish fillet with a lemon aioli on a buttered and toasty bread - up there with one of the best things ever.

Hawaiian cuisine is heavily inspired by Asia, usually consisting of pork and chicken in styles of katsu with tonkatsu sauce, katsu with brown gravy, char siu, adobo, teriyaki, Korean wings etc. But the favorites -many of which are found at luaus- are:

Musubi - a SPAM sushi (more like a handheld snack)
Poke - raw cubes of ahi tuna with onions among many other things, and sometimes with a spicy dynamite sauce
Meat Jun - thinly sliced beef dipped in egg batter and fried
Lomi lomi salmon - salted salmon, tomatoes, onions, and green onions, like a cold salad
Saimin - noodle soup - basically Hawaii's version of lo mein / ramen noodles with onions, SPAM, and kamaboko
Kalua pork - Whole pig that has been cooked in an underground oven for hours
Lau Lau - fatty pork and salted butterfish wrapped in leaves and steamed for hours
Loco Moco - Hamburger patty with fried eggs on top on a bed of white rice and covered in brown gravy
Haupia - coconut pudding - solid enough it can be cut into squares and picked up
and of course mac salad!!!

Hawaii has da ono kine grindz! The only thing I wasn't a huge fan of was poi - the taro root paste.

[Artful Drunktective]

So after beno asked, I looked up what a mahi mahi burger actually was. It is ground mahi and formed into patties (and it was always really eggy like it had an egg batter - de-freakin-licious). So that made me question if it's not actually the BUN that considers some things a burger, but the meat itself is ground and formed into patties? I notice chicken patties which of course are ground, are often the ones called burgers in the chicken realm. But then beno threw in the ringer by saying he had a chicken breast on a bun that was also called a burger. I think these days there is no rhyme and reason. People are just liberty takin' with the word "burger" and slappin' it on anything that resembles a patty on a bun.