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Some Kitchen Kinks: Hamburg

Hamburg Steak.

This name is commonly given to inexpensive cuts of beef chopped, seasoned a little, shaped into small balls or into one large thin cake, and quickly broiled in the way that a tender steak would be. Owing to the quick cooking much of the natural flavor of the meat is developed and retained. The fact should be kept in mind that Hamburg steak must be made from fresh, wellground meat. It is much safer to chop the meat at home, as chopped meat spoils very quickly. Much depends, too, upon browning it sufficiently to bring out the flavors. Many cooks think that Hamburg steak is improved if the meat is mixed with milk before it is cooked.

In some parts of the country, and particularly in some of the Southern States, two kinds of beef are on sale. One is imported from other parts of the country and is of higher price. The other, known locally as "native beef," is sometimes lacking in flavor and in fat and is usually tougher. Southern native beef such as is raised in Florida is almost invariably, however, of extremely good flavor, due presumably to the feed or other conditions under which it is raised. By chopping such meat and cooking it as Hamburg steak, a dish almost as palatable as the best cuts of the more expensive beef may be obtained. In such cases, however, it is desirable because of the low percentage of fat to add suet or butter to the meat. The reason for this is that in the cooking the water of the juice when unprotected by fat evaporates too quickly and leaves the meat dry. This may be prevented by adding egg as well as fat, for the albumen of the egg hardens quickly and tends to keep in the juices. The proportion should be 1 egg to 112 pounds of meat.