Everyone has an opinion about burgers, but very few people can explain their opinion. Ask the average eater why last night’s cheeseburger was great and the answer is usually a…
There are two menus at almost every great burger chain in America. One hangs over the counter, printed and official, listing the sandwiches the marketing department wants you to know…
Enormous care goes into the modern burger. The beef is blended, the patty is smashed, the cheese is chosen for its melt, the bun is toasted in beef fat, and…
Every great invention gets one great improvement. The telephone got the dial, the guitar got electricity, and the hamburger, some three decades into its life, got a slice of cheese,…
Walk into any kitchen store, type “burger” into any shopping site, and a small industry rises to greet you. Patty presses with adjustable dials. Burger-shaped silicone molds. Stuffed-burger gadgets promising…
The most American sentence ever spoken may be the one that crackles through a weatherproof speaker a hundred thousand times a minute, from Bangor to Bakersfield: “Welcome, can I take…
In Tokyo, a burger arrives between two pressed discs of grilled rice. In Sydney, it is not considered complete without a slice of pickled beetroot and, in the classic milk-bar…
There is a moment familiar to nearly every American diner of the last few years. The menu arrives, the eyes drift to the burger section, expecting comfort, and instead find…
Somewhere along the way, the burger got sentenced without a trial. It became the mascot of everything wrong with the American diet, the food that health columnists reach for when…
Every nation puts its soul into its art, and America, being America, put a sandwich there. The burger is the only food that stars in Oscar-winning dialogue, anchors two of…