The Louis' Lunch Hamburger on Toast (New Haven)
A square patty of ground chuck and sirloin with an onion slice pressed into it, cooked over a hot fire and served the New Haven way: between two slices of white toast with tomato, onion and a sharp cheese sauce, and no ketchup.
Louis' Lunch began in 1895 as a lunch wagon run by Louis Lassen, an immigrant born in Schleswig who had sold butter and eggs from a cart in New Haven (Wikipedia:). By the family's story, in 1900 a hurried customer asked for something to eat on the go, and Lassen put his own blend of ground steak trimmings between two slices of toast. The restaurant's site quotes the Library of Congress calling Louis' Lunch "the birthplace of the hamburger sandwich"; Wikipedia dates that recognition to 2000, after Representative Rosa DeLauro backed the claim.
The claim is DISPUTED, and this hub never states it as fact. Wikipedia lists rivals: Charlie Nagreen at the Seymour, Wisconsin, fair in 1885; Frank and Charles Menches at the Erie County Fair in Hamburg, New York, in 1885 (or Akron, Ohio, in 1892); Fletcher Davis of Athens, Texas, in the 1880s; and Oscar Weber Bilby of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1891. Critic Josh Ozersky argued that a burger on toast isn't a hamburger at all. Louis' still cooks in cast-iron vertical gas broilers from 1898, toasts the bread in a 1929 gas toaster, offers only cheese spread, tomato and onion, and famously refuses ketchup.
🇺🇸 This one is American
A square patty of ground chuck and sirloin with an onion slice pressed into it, cooked over a hot fire and served the New Haven way: between two slices of white toast with tomato, onion and a sharp cheese sauce, and no ketchup.
🇩🇪 The original
Germany's Frikadellen are pan-fried patties of beef and pork with a soaked roll, onion and parsley, eaten with mustard and potato salad, with no bun. The burger's name points to Hamburg, though how it got there is disputed. See the German Frikadellen (Hamburg-Style Meat Patties) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Chuck plus sirloin
Chuck brings fat and beefy flavor, sirloin keeps the patty from turning greasy, and together they stand in for the restaurant's private five-cut blend.
Onion in the meat
Pressing the wedge into the patty and grilling that side down roasts the onion right into the burger, the way the vertical broilers at Louis' cook it.
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat a grill to high for direct grilling, about 15 minutes (or set an oven rack 4 inches below the broiler and heat it 5 minutes).
- Step 2
Mix the chuck and sirloin lightly with a wooden spoon, without warming it in your hands. With wet hands, pat 4 square patties about 1/2 inch thick. Season both sides with salt and pepper and press an onion wedge into one side of each until flush.
- Step 3
Make the sauce: rub the inside of a small saucepan with the cut garlic, leave the garlic in, add the beer and bring to a boil over high heat. Toss the cheese with the cornstarch, sprinkle it into the boiling beer and stir until it thickens, then lower the heat, stir in the mustard, season, and simmer gently 3 to 5 minutes, stirring. Fish out the garlic and keep the sauce warm over the lowest heat.
- Step 4
Oil the grill grate. Grill the patties onion side down 4 to 5 minutes, flip and grill 4 to 5 minutes more, until the center reads 160°F (insert the thermometer through the side).
- Step 5
While the burgers finish, toast the bread on the grill 1 to 2 minutes per side.
- Step 6
Put each patty on a slice of toast, add a slice of tomato, onion if you like, and a spoonful of cheese sauce, top with a second slice of toast and serve at once. No ketchup.
The Louis' Lunch Hamburger on Toast (New Haven)
Serves 4 · 4 sandwiches plus about 2/3 cup cheese sauce · 40 min total
Patties
- 10 oz ground chuck
- 10 oz ground sirloin
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 1/4 medium onion, cut into 4 thin wedges
Cheese sauce
- 1/4 clove garlic
- 1/2 cup beer
- 1 cup (4 oz) coarsely grated orange cheddar or Colby
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp prepared mustard
To serve
- 8 slices white sandwich bread
- 4 thin slices ripe tomato
- 4 thin slices onion (optional, for those who want it raw)
Method
- Heat a grill to high for direct grilling, about 15 minutes (or set an oven rack 4 inches below the broiler and heat it 5 minutes).
- Mix the chuck and sirloin lightly with a wooden spoon, without warming it in your hands. With wet hands, pat 4 square patties about 1/2 inch thick. Season both sides with salt and pepper and press an onion wedge into one side of each until flush.
- Make the sauce: rub the inside of a small saucepan with the cut garlic, leave the garlic in, add the beer and bring to a boil over high heat. Toss the cheese with the cornstarch, sprinkle it into the boiling beer and stir until it thickens, then lower the heat, stir in the mustard, season, and simmer gently 3 to 5 minutes, stirring. Fish out the garlic and keep the sauce warm over the lowest heat.
- Oil the grill grate. Grill the patties onion side down 4 to 5 minutes, flip and grill 4 to 5 minutes more, until the center reads 160°F (insert the thermometer through the side).
- While the burgers finish, toast the bread on the grill 1 to 2 minutes per side.
- Put each patty on a slice of toast, add a slice of tomato, onion if you like, and a spoonful of cheese sauce, top with a second slice of toast and serve at once. No ketchup.
Adapted from Steven Raichlen, "The Grandaddy of All Hamburgers", Barbecue Bible (from his book "BBQ USA"). Raichlen makes 8 with 1 1/4 lb ground chuck and 1 1/4 lb ground sirloin; we halve it to 4. His square 1/2-inch patties with an onion wedge pressed in, the hot direct grill and the beer and cheese sauce are his. He serves lettuce, which Louis' does not; we follow the restaurant's own list of cheese, tomato and onion. Raichlen grills 3 to 4 minutes a side for medium-rare and says to cook commercial ground beef to 160°F; our 4 to 5 minutes a side reach that. barbecuebible.com. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
Tips
- Raichlen notes that Louis' uses a melted processed cheese; a store-bought cheese spread or sauce works if you don't want to make one.
- Louis' Lunch cooks its burgers vertically so both sides cook at once. Under a home broiler, flip once and use the same times.
- Square patties fit square toast, and the toast holds the juices better than you expect.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Louis' Lunch served the first hamburger in 1900. Disputed: the Library of Congress (as the restaurant quotes it) and the Lassen family say yes; Wikipedia lists rivals from 1885 on and quotes ABC News that it is impossible to be certain.
- Louis' opened in 1895. Documented as the restaurant's date for its lunch wagon; the hamburger story is 1900.
- A burger on toast isn't a hamburger. Disputed: Josh Ozersky's view, quoted by Wikipedia, against the Library of Congress recognition.
- No ketchup. Documented as the restaurant's rule (Wikipedia; the restaurant's site lists only cheese, tomato and onion).
- The broilers date to 1898. Documented (the restaurant's site; Wikipedia names the Bridge and Beach Company).
- Customers who ask for ketchup are thrown out. Folklore: repeated in Wikipedia's sources and on a sign, but told for laughs.
Every other burger
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