Ernest Hemingway's Hamburger Recipe
Ernest Hemingway knew how to make an incredible hamburger. When Hemingway's papers were archived, this recipe got attention from The Paris Review; several others have attempted to make their own versions.
This is adapted from the version posted on - irony of ironies - The Art of Manliness website. The link to that can be found here:
https://www.artofmanliness.com/living/food-drink/ernest-hemingways-favorite-hamburger/
The recipe posted here will differ from the Art of Manliness version in two ways: (1) longer cook time (mine wasn't done anywhere near enough after the first flip) and (2) I went a bit more faithfully with Spice Islands' instructions on a Mei Yen substitute, and added MSG.
This burger is incredible. It's an umami bomb. This will change the way you think about hamburgers, especially if you're an American and not used to things like eggs and red wine in your meat.
Easy 4 burgers
30 minutes (most of this time is watching the meat 10 minutes
Main Dish American Beef
Submitted by Nicola Elle
Ingredients
- Meat:
- 1 lb. lean ground beef (I decided to go with 85/15 Angus Beef).
- Mei Yen Powder substitute:
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/8 tsp MSG (oh, get over it, Americans, it's safe!)
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- First set of additives:
- 1 tsp sage
- 1/2 tsp Spice Islands Beau Monde seasoning
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 2 little green onions, finely chopped.
- Second set of additives:
- 1 egg, beaten in a cup with a fork (I just used Egg Beaters egg substitute for this)
- 1/3 cup dry red or white wine (I went with a red cooking wine)
- 1 tsp(heaping) India relish (India is between sweet and Dill; I just went with a Dill Relish).
- 2 TBSP Capers
- Cooking medium:
- 1 TBSP cooking oil (I used a generic vegetable oil)
Nutritional Information
I'm not sure I want to know how many calories I ate tonight...
Directions
1. Mix the Mei Yen Substitute ingredients together, mixing the salt, sugar, and MSG into the soy sauce.
2. Break up the meat with a fork.
3. Add the first set of additives - the Sage, the Beau Monde Seasoning, the garlic, and the onions, as well as the Mei Yen Substitute, to the meat. Mix ingredients together with a fork or your fingers.
Let the meat sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.
4. Add the second set of additives - the egg, wine, and relish - to the meat. Again, mix the ingredients together.
Let the meat sit at room temperature for another 10 minutes while it marinates.
5. Pour oil into frying pan, and set heat to medium-high to high. The oil should be hot, but not smoking.
6. Make four fat, juicy patties with your hands. The patties should be about an inch thick, and should be soft, but not runny.
7. Carefully drop the patties into the frying pan.
8. Keep the burner on medium-high to high for 1 minute. After that minute, turn the burner down to medium-low. Cook at medium-low for 4 minutes.
9. Take the pan temporarily off of the burner. Turn the heat back up to medium-high to high on the burner (be careful!)
10. Turn the patties over, and put the pan back on the burner. Keep the burner on the high setting for 1 minute. After that minute, turn the burner down to medium-low. Cool at medium-low for 4 minutes.
11. Remove from burner, plate the burgers, and serve.
Notes
The odd bit in this recipe is with the Mei Yen seasoning. Mei Yen seasoning was offered by Spice Islands brand when Hemingway was cooking; however, it has since been discontinued. Several forms of substitution exist out there. The version here is an amalgam of both The Art of Manliness' substitute and Spice Islands' own version; Spice Islands uses a ratio of 9/9/2 for the salt/sugar/MSG; I simplified it to an 8/8/2.