51 Lip-Smacking Burger Facts That Will Make You Hungry!

A burger (hamburger) is generally a sandwich, which contains one or more patties usually made of meat or beef placed inside a bun.

Cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, bacon, chilies, and pickles are also served with these burgers along with condiments like ketchup and mustard too. The patty inside can be pan-fried, grilled, or smoked and if topped with cheese, then this is known as a cheeseburger.

Even though Hamburg was the inspiration behind burgers, the concept of buns was adopted later. People started to eat hamburgers only in the 19th century or early 20th century.

Before that, beef from Hamburg cows was ground and minced and then diced with garlic, onions, salt, and pepper and then it was combined to form patties without a bun. These were known as Hamburg steaks.

Burgers are cheap and easy to eat since they are served in a bun, and since the meat is all minced, you don't need to chew much too.

Thus, they are one of the most beloved fast foods worldwide. McDonald’s, the world's largest burger chain, claims to roughly serve about 2.36 billion burgers each year worldwide which works out to be 75 burgers per second!

Singularly in America, about 13 million burgers are eaten by people every single day making them, unquestionably, the largest hamburger consumers in the entire world.

History And Origins Of The Burger

There was a time when not only where burgers were not the staple fast food of the people, but burgers didn't exist at all. Let's look into how burgers came into being and how they came to be a favorite food among people.

One of the secrets behind the enormous success of a burger is that it contains many familiar elements from different culinary cultures. This is the reason why burgers have spread worldwide.

The story of who invented the burger for the first time is covered in mystery because there have been several claims over it. However, the most well-known is the story of Lionel Stern Berger.

In the '20s, Stern Berger is known to have created the first cheeseburger. He was only 16 years old then.

Another person who is known to be behind the creation of the burger is Louis Lassen, who was a Danish immigrant.

Lassen was the owner of Louis's Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut and he was credited to be the creator of the burger by the Library of Congress.

Another theory of the history of the burger was that it was invented in a small town in Texas. It was by a cook who placed a steak from Hamburg between two bread slices.

The term 'hamburger' was first abbreviated to 'burger' in 1939, according to the Oxford English dictionary.

One of the times when the hamburger gained recognition in the national front in America was at the 1900's St. Louis World's Fair. After the fair, the New York Tribune called the hamburger 'the innovation of a food vendor on the pike'.

Since the burger had German roots, during World War One, the American soldiers used to call burgers 'liberty sausage' instead.

After the war, however, burgers had become wildly unpopular until White Castle burger chain in America started marketing and selling large numbers of small 2.5 in (6.3 cm) square hamburgers known as 'sliders'.

The White Castle burger chain was the oldest burger chain in America. The White Castle burger chain was started in the '2os by Walter A. Anderson and Edgar Waldo 'Billy' Ingram. Burgers were sold for just five cents per piece and these burgers were called the 'hamburger sandwiches'.

This chain was further refined by McDonald's in the '40s. McDonald's sells 75 or more burgers every second and hence, they hold the world record of selling over 300 billion burgers to date.

As the years have passed by, the burger has become a symbol of American cuisine, even though they are famous worldwide too.

In fact, hamburgers are viewed to be America's favorite food. You can discover them not only in hole-in-the-wall diners or at the walk-through windows of fast food chains but even on the menus of Michelin star restaurants.

Since the hamburger history is so rich and since the dish is so popular, there is a Hamburger Hall of Fame present in Seymour, Wisconsin to celebrate it.

Main Ingredients In Burgers

Now you know the origin of burgers. It is also suggested that burgers are the most delicious fast food available worldwide. But what are the ingredients contained in them that make them so yummy? Let's take a glimpse into the ingredients of a burger here.

A burger is a sandwich that contains one or many beef or any other meat consisting of cooked patties inside a bun or bread.

Beef is the meat most commonly used in your burgers. In fact, 71% of the beef used in these American eateries is on burgers and sandwiches only.

Kobe beef burgers are in great demand and have overpriced tags too. Kobe refers to beef that comes only from a specific breed of cattle raised in Kobe, Japan.

These hamburgers can be cooked in a number of ways, such as barbequing or maybe pan-frying and some times even by direct exposure to the flame or flame-broiling.

Some other ingredients you'll find inside a burger include cheese, lettuce, tomato, bacon, onion, and pickles.

Condiments including mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup, relish and chilies are often used to garnish the burgers.

A hamburger containing cheese is called a cheeseburger. Among all the cheese used in this fast food, a general consensus agrees that cheddar cheese is the best among them all. This is followed by American cheese, blue cheese and then finally Swiss cheese.

Some common toppings which are preferred worldwide in hamburgers are bacon, jalapenos, cheese, lettuce and onions.

Have you ever thought why the burgers look so much more appetizing and fresh in commercials than in real life? That is because these are undercooked to give off a fresh vibe.

Along with burgers, most people enjoy a side dish of golden brown potatoes, chips or onion rings.

Did you know that burger bread contains some unhealthy ingredients too? Burger bread contains ammonium sulfate which is used in fertilizers, and also ammonium chloride which can be used in explosives!

Nutritional Facts Of Burgers

Not only are burgers appetizing, but they have many nutritional properties too. These are:

The first one is their iron content. All the cells, tissues and organs in the human body get oxygen through iron. Hamburgers contain red meats which are the best source of protein that can be found in animal based food, making them easier to be used by your body.

Burgers also contains a lot of vitamin-12. These vitamins are necessary for you body because they produce new red blood cells. In the absence of these vitamins, the cells form abnormal shapes which will make oxygen delivery difficult throughout the body.

Adults need 2.4 mcg of b12 intake everyday while pregnant women need at least 2.6 mcg. Newly turned mothers need an increased intake of 2.8 mcg vitamin 12 in their diet.

Your burger is usually packed with proteins but leaner varieties should be selected to avoid eating of too many calories and to much fat.

A burger patty usually consists of 271 calories, 0.9 oz (25.75 g) of protein and 0.6 oz (17.82 g) of total fat. But it doesn't provide any carbohydrates, dietary fibers or sugars.

They have a lot of fat content which can be a problem. Burgers consist of 91 mg cholesterol (30% of which is the recommended daily intake). 34% of it is saturated fat.

A burger is a good source of niacin, vitamin B6 and pathogenic acid. Some other vitamins found in your hamburgers are folate, vitamin E, vitamin K and thiamine.

A burger also has about 8 units of vitamin D. The only vitamins you will not find in your burger is vitamin A and C.

Your hamburger is a rich source of minerals, namely zinc and selenium mostly. About 6.25 mg (0.006 g) of zinc (42% of your daily intake) and 21.5 mg (0.02 g) of selenium (31% of your daily diet value) is present in your hamburger.

The hamburger is a good source of phosphorus and potassium too.

Some other minerals in your burger would be sodium, copper and magnesium.

However, if not cooked properly, it can cause many food borne diseases like food poisoning.

It also contains a lot of saturated fat and cholesterol which can cause cardiovascular problems in your body.

Also the huge amount of calories in burgers can make you gain weight and become obese and hence, you should eat it them in moderate quantities.    

Your hamburger will also contain choline which is necessary for nerve transmission and absorption of fats in a proper manner.                                  

Types Of Burgers And Their Popularity

Hamburgers come in many different varieties. What are these different types and how are they different? Read on to find out:

Veggie burger: Found in US, Canada and Mexico, these burgers use a meat substitute like tofu or some other vegetable protein beans and a wide collection of vegetables which are minced and made into patties.

One of the most expensive burgers is found in a restaurant in Las Vegas called 'Fleur in Mandalay Bay'. The patty of these hamburgers is made from the well-renowned Kobe beef and topped with foie gras as well as truffles. These are served with some special sauces along with French fries on the side.

These hamburgers are sold at a price of only $5,000, making them one of the most expensive burgers in the world.

Another expensive burger is the 'glam burger' which is made of edible gold leaf, lobster and caviar. Also it has ingredients like the black truffle, Kobe beef, venison and a duck egg.

The glam burger was created in the 'Honky Tonk' restaurant in London and this hamburger will cost you at least $1,000, which is a lot for a burger but with the ingredients mentioned, it may be worth a try!

The largest hamburger ever made was in 2017 in the Pilsting, Germany which weighed almost 2,566 lb (1,163 kg) making it the largest hamburger ever.

This humungous burger was topped with onions, pickles and lettuce making it too big for having a side dish next to it.

In the '60s, a 'Big Mac' from Mc Donald's used to be sold for 49 cents. The burger which is Mc Donald's signature dish, is made of two beef patties, sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onion all included on a three piece sesame seed bun.

'Krystal' restaurant chain used to hold a contest called Krystal Square Off in which Joey Chestnut holds the world record for consuming a whooping 103 burgers in one sitting in 2007.

'Whopper' is a famous burger launched by the fast food chain Burger King which consists of grilled beef, tomatoes, lettuce, mayo, ketchup, pickles, onions and a sesame seed bun.

The campaign made for the whopper was such that if you unfriended 10 friends on your Facebook, you earned a free whopper burger. Thus a number of friendships were lost in the quest to get a free whopper burger!