The Ernest Hemingway burger

Ernest Hemingway liked a good burger and had a specific recipe he wanted his staff to use when preparing meals. Using his instructions, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan recently recreated the Hemingway burger.

Fingers deep, I kneaded. Fighting the urge to be careless and quick, I kept the pace rhythmic, slow. Each squeeze, I hoped, would gently ease the flavors — knobby bits of garlic, finely chopped capers, smatterings of dry spices — into the marbled mound before me.

I had made burgers before, countless times on countless evenings. This one was different; I wasn’t making just any burger — I was attempting to recreate Hemingway’s hamburger. And it had to be just right.

Surprisingly, with 11 different ingredients, Hemingway’s burger is not as stripped down as his prose. For a more minimalist burger, you have to turn to Dean Martin:

Frank Sinatra’s is perhaps even easier:

One thing is for sure: none of these gentlemen would cotton to the idea of the ramen burger, homemade or no. (via open culture)

• burgers
• Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
• Dean Martin
• Ernest Hemingway
• food
• Frank Sinatra

Dean Martin’s burger recipe

From The Celebrity Cookbook (1967), Dean Martin’s recipe for hamburgers:

No ice. TV tray. Classy. (via @lettersofnote)

• burgers
• Dean Martin
• food