• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

What's the point in ordering a hamburger steak?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Turd Ferguson

Turd Ferguson

Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
I'm a server at a steakhouse in Kentucky. The steakhouse offers a wide variety of steaks ranging from sirloins to ribeyes to porterhouses to filets. What is the number one selling item at this steakhouse, you ask? Why the chopped steak. Or a hamburger steak.

My question is, why order a hamburger steak? Why not just order a hamburger? It's the exact same burger patty, but with a burger it comes on a bun and gets toppings.

Is it a regional thing? I've never really gone to any steakhouses out of state, so I'm not sure if such a thing is offered anywhere else.

When I go out to get a steak, I enjoy a good New York strip. Or a T Bone. When I want a burger patty, I order a damn cheeseburger. Any input anybody could give me on this would be much appreciated, because this blows my mind every time I attempt to think about it.
 
I don't think I've ever heard of hamburger steak. I can see someone wanting to order a hamburger without the bun, but I don't think I've ever seen this as a separate thing on a menu. I'm in Illinois, just for reference.
 
While I get where you're coming from, I have to point out the Hamburg is much older than the hamburger. Also, some people don 't want the added refined carbs of a bun. You also have to consider that some people who go to a restaurant for a sit down may not want what they perceive as "fast food."
 
Growing up (in upstate NY), my father used to broil ground beef, and cover it (and the fries or potatoes) with gravy ... which I imagine is not unlike the "hamburger steak" you describe. Thinking about it now, I got the ground beef flavor, with a different preparation and presentation. If I saw such a meal at a steakhouse I might be tempted to order it ... if I didn't have the budget for a filet mignon, that is.
 
Kestra said:
I don't think I've ever heard of hamburger steak.
Click to expand...

A traditional Hamburg steak is a steak pounded flat with a mallet (tenderizer.) Supposedly it is a tradition going back to Tartar horsemen who would ride with dinner under their saddles to tenderize it before cooking (Thanks Good Eats.) Most restaurants that serve it just serve a hamburger patty (ground beef) as the OP pointed out. Served with gravy, it's called a Salisbury steak. There is also a variation with cheddar cheese, green onions, and bacon bits on top, served with Au jus.
 
The point is that they taste much better than the average hamburger. The chopped sirloin from Bob's Big Boy or White Coffee Pot was one of my favorite meals when I was a kid. These days, the 'Roadkill' from Texas Roadhouse is a favorite of my adultness.
 
ManOnTheWave said:
Also, some people don 't want the added refined carbs of a bun.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I suspect it's this, combined with what Ancient Mariner and ManOnTheWave describe. With people getting more health conscious these days, it makes sense for restaurants to give an alternative to a regular hamburger as many people would simply like to cut out as many carbs as possible.

There was a time when we'd buy hamburger patties in order to make hamburgers and my parents would cut out the buns completely and just eat the patty along with salad.
 
A hamburger without the bun seems as pointless as tofurky. Just eat the bun it's not going to kill you and if it IS going to kill you because of allergies or blood sugar eat a nice steak.
 
Other considerations: Is it the cheapest item on the menu? A pattie is going to be a lot cheaper than - say - a scotch fillet. Does your restaurant attract a lower socioeconomic clientele?

I worked in such an environment, and those few additional dollars could make a difference.
 
I guess this is because there are a lot of people from outside of the U.S. here, but I'm honestly just finding it hard to believe that this is even a question!

The patty on a hamburger is generally made as cheaply as possible so that mass quantities of them can be made, such as for a cookout. (Cookout burgers are frequently 25% fat.) This is many times as much true if you're talking about a burger from a fast food joint, where patties are often so processed and combined with filler that they are barely beef. And they pretty much all come at one degree of wellness - well done. And then the toppings are sandwich stuff - bacon, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc - often chosen to make the near flavorless patty palatable. And then they're usually served with quick fries or with potato chips.

A hamburger steak from a even halfway decent restaurant, on the other hand, is chopped sirloin, cooked to the wellness you order, and actually eaten for the flavor of the meat itself. If it is served with toppings, they are generally the same sort of toppings you might put on any steak with the intention of enhancing the flavor, such gravy or grilled peppers and onions, rather than disguising it as with the hamburger. And then it is usually served with the same sort of sides you would want with any steak - baked potato, steak fries, salad, etc.

And Kestra, if you're in Illinois, you must just not have been looking, or didn't know that a Chopped Sirloin Steak is the same thing - because there probably isn't a Western Sizzlin or Ryan's or Golden Corral or similar all across the country that doesn't offer a hamburger steak, and many locally owned restaurants offer them, too.

I guess some of the confusion for our European friends probably comes from the American hamburger arriving back over there well before fast food chains did. So the restaurants serving them probably took more care with the quality and preparation of the burger patties, resulting in less of a difference between a hamburger steak and a hamburger patty? And in the US, we still have a variety of diner burger that is like that, too, at a price point somewhere closer to the hamburger steak than to a fast food burger - but that variety seemed to be a dying breed until reintroduced as more expensive "thickburgers" by the fast food chain Hardees/Carl Jr's. And even those patties aren't quite up to being a hamburger steak - but at least they're flavorful.
 
teacake said:
I never heard of a "hamburger steak" until this thread.
Click to expand...

Neither have I. Maybe it is a regional thing, because I am also in Illinois (like Kestra).

And frankly, sirloin ain't that great a cut of meat either. Too chewy.

Yes, I'm a steak snob. My dad has managed a meat packing plant for the last 30 years, so I grew up eating steak pretty much every day.
 
I consider myself a steak snob, too. Along with sirloin, I do not particularly like striploin, either, although I will cook one if I am going to slice it to top a steak salad. I love a good tenderloin, but because it is so expensive, I usually go for a well marbled rib-eye steak. When we cross the line and go to Watertown N.Y. (like we are on Monday) we always stop in at the Texas Roadhouse and have one.

As for ground beef in a steak form it's always a Salisbury Steak and it's always covered in some sort of gravy. I like either a mushroom gravy or an onion gravy with red wine added.
 
bbailey861 said:
I love a good tenderloin, but because it is so expensive, I usually go for a well marbled rib-eye steak.
Click to expand...

Tenderloin is pretty much was I grew up eating. So good, but yeah, expensive as hell. That was the main benefit of my dad's job. Unfortunately, his company got bought out last year and he no longer has access to such things...so now we all have to buy our steaks from the grocery store. :(
 
RoJoHen said:
teacake said:
I never heard of a "hamburger steak" until this thread.
Click to expand...

Neither have I. Maybe it is a regional thing, because I am also in Illinois (like Kestra).
Click to expand...
I'm a native of Illinois, raised in Missouri (St. Louis area) during 50s-60s. We usually took I-55/US66 to Chicago a few times a year. We sometimes ordered hamburger steak at restaurants. It wasn't some puny patty you'd put on a sandwich. It was usually some 10oz or more thing seasoned, grilled, and served with combinations of gravy, mushrooms, and onions, with vegetable side dishes and dinner rolls.

ETA: Table service restaurants were usually local operations or local chains,not big national chains like now, which were only beginning to penetrate markets.
 
Last edited:
RoJoHen said:
teacake said:
I never heard of a "hamburger steak" until this thread.
Click to expand...

Neither have I. Maybe it is a regional thing, because I am also in Illinois (like Kestra).

And frankly, sirloin ain't that great a cut of meat either. Too chewy.

Yes, I'm a steak snob. My dad has managed a meat packing plant for the last 30 years, so I grew up eating steak pretty much every day.
Click to expand...

Illinois here too and I've never heard of a hamburger steak either.

Steakburgers sure, but that's probably just Steak 'n' Shakes name for a hamburger, or maybe it's made with a different cut of beef.


And why am I suddenly thinking "steak" doesn't look like a real word?
 
Kestra said:
I don't think I've ever heard of hamburger steak. I can see someone wanting to order a hamburger without the bun, but I don't think I've ever seen this as a separate thing on a menu. I'm in Illinois, just for reference.
Click to expand...
I can't eat bread anymore.
I'm getting tested for Ciliac Disease.
No Pasta either. Has to be Gluten Free now.
No Sodas either.
Pringles and Pretzels are out too...
:'(
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top