by Enzo » Fri Aug 10, 2018 5:12 am
Yes, salt and pepper, and herbs and spices are certainly ingredients in the sense of list of ingredients on a package. But in terms of a recipe, I think of those as seasonings rather than ingredients per se. So you can salt and pepper your patty to your heart's content.
A "cheeseburger" does not mean ground cheese, though we all like to get good grille marks on our cheese... (Inside joke with the wife) If you put a slab of cheese in or on your hamburger, it becomes a cheeseburger. You can adorn your sandwich with a slice of onion and some lettuce, or even grilled onions. They don't alter the basic structure of the thing. Not exactly sure where it lies, but there is a line we cross in adding things internally to the patty that makes it no longer a hamburger, as tasty as the result may be.
Of course as many standards as I may invent, there will always be a bar menu or newspaper recipe that violates it. I have to live with that.
The wife and I like this little family restaurant in Owosso called BJ's. Got to love a place called BJs. One of the things they often have as daily special is salmon patties, with peas in cream sauce. We both usually order that. If someone called it a salmon burger, I would know what they meant, but we would never call a salmon patty a burger.
To me the bun is just a handle so you can pick it up without gripping the greasy meat. But I am not a fan of excess bun. I often tear off excess bits of bun when they extend past the meat. One sandwich I really like is a patty melt. Pretty standard fare, it is a hamburger patty on grilled bread rather than a bun. Usually with grilled onions on the patty. A slice of swiss is common in there. And the bread is traditionally rye, though I usually ask for wheat. Not a fan of caraway seeds myself. It is listed under hamburgers on the menu, but I never call it a burger. But I guess it does meet my standards for one mostly. I think a hamburger must be on a bun to be official.
Applebees has a "quesadilla burger" - a burger patty in between a couple tortillas. The ultimate minimalist "bun".
E Pluribus Condom