Salisbury steak and hamburger: more of a difference than the absence of bread
Although they look similar, Salisbury steak is a distinct dish with its own history; it contains a binder, a characteristic sauce, and was created by a doctor who distrusted vegetables.
A hamburger is much more than its bun; a Salisbury steak is even more than the absence of one. The hamburger has a controversial origin with several claims; the Salisbury steak owes its name to a single creator: Dr. James Henry Salisbury.
During the American Civil War, Salisbury was an early advocate of food as medicine, especially for stomach problems. Contrary to popular opinion, he believed that vegetables were detrimental to intestinal health and championed red meat as a remedy. He rejected the abundant biscuits in soldiers' rations, becoming a pioneer against excessive carbohydrate consumption. As a physician in the Union Army, he changed the troops' diet, thus creating the Salisbury steak.
Salisbury's creation differed from the modern hamburger in several ways. It required grilling the patties, seasoning them with onions and spices like salt and pepper, and then coating them in brown gravy. Ideally, they were served with black coffee. In a pre-internet era, Salisbury had only the slow pace of book publishing to spread his ideas.
The Salisbury steak has evolved since its origins. Both dishes share a base of ground beef but diverge from there. The Salisbury steak requires a binder like breadcrumbs to prevent it from falling apart, while the hamburger does not. The steak has an elongated shape; the hamburger, its characteristic round shape. And no Salisbury steak is complete without its signature sauce. Hamburgers allow for more versatile ingredients, from imaginative to simple ones like lettuce, tomato, and onion. But let's not even mention to Dr. Salisbury all the vegetables that accompany the modern hamburger.
