Food in American History, Part 6—Beef (Part 1) Reconstruction and Growth Into the 20Th Century (1865-1910)
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nd390103.qxd 2/11/2004 12:03 PM Page 18 Pleasures of the Table Food in American History, Part 6—Beef (Part 1) Reconstruction and Growth Into the 20th Century (1865-1910) Louis E. Grivetti, PhD Jan L. Corlett, PhD Bertram M. Gordon, PhD Cassius T. Lockett, PhD Beef dishes prepared from chopped, ground, hacked, or This sixth installment of Food in American History series minced beef have been used since antiquity and are diffi- considers 1865 through 1910, covering America’s cult to trace. The earliest use of the word hamburger dates reconstruction and growth after the Civil War, with beef as to the end of the Middle Ages in reference to citizens from that German city, whereas the earliest mention of the central food theme. Part 1 follows the rise of the Hamburg beef appears in England—not Germany—where hamburger as an icon in American culture. a colony of Hamburger merchants lived in London during the 18th century and their name became attached to the type of beef they prepared. The earliest known use of the eef is the core, the essence, of American food histo- term Hamburg steak dates to approximately 1800.5 ry, yet it was not native to the Americas (Tables 1 Salted beefsteak may have existed in Hamburg, Ger- Band 2). Explorers and immigrants brought cattle to many, but it was not hamburger in the culinary sense used the New World. Subsequently, oxen pulled covered wag- today. Uncritical sources have proposed that hamburg ons westward, cows produced milk for pioneer families, steak was served aboard the Hamburg-Amerika shipping and cowboys and cowgirls punched herds along the line, which brought German immigrants to America in Chisholm Trail. The story of beef is American history, the 1850s. This dish, so the story goes, was popular and the story of beef is one of human challenge, perse- aboard the ship, because salted smoked beef could keep verance, and hard work. There is a widely held percep- tion that steak and potatoes define American food pat- terns. From steaks to hamburgers, from classic beef stew to upscale flavored beef jerky, Americans have chewed The term Hamburg steak on beef and beef products for nearly 400 years. originally meant salted beef. The Hamburger and How It Came to Be well on long sea voyages. Furthermore, the hard salted One beef item, the hamburger, is commonly associated beef was minced and extended, using breadcrumbs and with American culture. Imagine, if you will, the ham- onions, and then shaped into patties and cooked, and burger in all its various forms, grind textures, added recipes for such beef patties were duplicated in America ingredients, offered on a wheat bun, and served with once the immigrants arrived.6 numerous sauces and condiments. Although hamburger Others have written that the first hamburger—specifi- “came of age” in America, tracing its origins is an exer- cally hamburger steak—was served in 1834 at Delmonico’s cise in geography and history. From the port of Hamburg, Restaurant, New York City, for $.10. However, this oft- Germany, to thousands of stops along the American inter- quoted origin is not based on the original Delmonico state highway system, the hamburger has a long history. menu but rather a facsimile,7 and it can be demonstrated Although several authors have examined superficially the through careful scholarship that the published facsimile history of this food,1-4 the real story appeared at a well- could not be correct, because the printer of the purported attended symposium on food and culture held in 1980 at original menu was not in business in 1834! The first certi- Mills College, Oakland, Calif. fiable use of the word hamburger in America appeared in 18 Nutrition Today, Volume 39 • Number 1 • January/February nd390103.qxd 2/11/2004 12:03 PM Page 19 Beef in American History Pleasures of the Table Table 1. Event Chronology: 1865-1910 1866 First cattle drive along Chisholm Trail from Texas to Abilene, Kan; first development of commercial infant formula by Henri Nestlé; first US patent for a tin can with a key opener 1867 First commercial sale of frankfurters in a roll or bun, Coney Island, NY; first development of canned dev- iled ham by William Underwood; first patent for baby food issued to Justus von Liebig; first patent on barbed wire filed by Lucian Smith; commercial margarine developed in France; sugar beets introduced to Utah Territory by Brigham Young; Alaska purchased from Russia for $7,200,000; baked Alaska created by Chef Charles Ranhofer, Delmonico’s Restaurant, New York City. 1868 Charles Fleischmann develops commercial yeast, Cincinnati, Ohio; first Tabasco sauce formulated by Edmund McIlhenny, Avery Island, La; Claus Spreckels of San Francisco revolutionizes sugar-refining method; first regularly scheduled railroad dining car developed by George Pullman; refrigerated railroad car patented by William Davis. 1869 Bottled beer introduced to America by Francis Manning-Needham; completion of transcontinental rail- road, Promontory Point, Utah Territory; completion of the Suez Canal (Egypt); first railroad shipment of fresh meat sent from Chicago arrives in Boston. 1870 Cattle drives common on the Chisholm Trail; invention of the rotary egg beater; Phylloxera disease reaches California vine-growing areas; folding paper bag invented by Margaret Knight, Springfield, Mass; wheeled can opener patented by William W. Lyman. 1871 Iced tea served at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York; avocados planted commercially by R. B. Ord in California; Great Chicago fire; commercial tangerine cultivation pioneered in Florida by George L. Dancy; Dodge City, Kan, built on the Santa Fe Trail to serve buffalo hunters. 1872 American vine roots used to revive European wine industry, devastated by Phylloxera; Louis Pasteur dis- covers food fermentation caused by microorganisms; commercial doughnut cutter invented by John F. Blondell; flat-bottomed paper bag patented by Luther Childs Crowell; vacuum food processing patents issued to Amanda Theodosia Jones. 1873 Barbed wire demonstrated by Henry Rose at De Kalb, Ill, county fair; Angus bulls introduced to America at Victoria, Kan; first introduction of Infant Milk Food by Nestlé to the United States; thermos bottle invented by James Dewar in Scotland; George Baldwin Selden experiments with internal combustion engine and develops a lightweight road vehicle. 1874 First cattle drive from Montana to Utah Territory; ice-cream soda invented at the Semi-centennial Celebration of Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute by Robert N. Green; margarine introduced to the United States; first grain elevator constructed by Frank Peavey at Sioux City, Iowa. 1875 Rootbeer developed by Charles Elmer Hires in Philadelphia, Pa; apples grown for the first time in Yakima Valley, Wash; navel oranges produced for first time in Riverside, Calif, by Jonathan and Eliza Tibbets; combines first used on American wheat farms; orange crate developed by E. Bean; Bing cherry developed by Chinese-American orchardman in Oregon; first American agricultural experiment station established at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn; bison slaughter used as a technique to extermi- nate the Comanche who rely on the animal as their primary food source; President Grant vetoes bill to protect bison from extinction. 1876 American Centennial celebration; Fred Harvey opens restaurant at the Santa Fe railroad depot, Topeka, Kan; Heinz tomato ketchup introduced at the Philadelphia Centennial Fair; William Thompson develops seedless grapes at Marysville, Calif; development of Phylloxera-resistant root-stock by Charles A. Whitmore; Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone. 1877 Centrifugal cream separator invented by Carl Gustaf Patrik de Laval in Sweden; granula (later named granola) developed at Battle Creek, Mich, by John Harvey Kellogg. (continues) Nutrition Today, Volume 39 • Number 1 • January/February 19 nd390103.qxd 2/11/2004 12:03 PM Page 20 Pleasures of the Table Beef in American History Table 1. Event Chronology: 1865-1910 (Continued) 1878 Roasted coffee first packed in sealed cans; first commercial bottle stopper patented by Charles G. Hutchinson; first salmon cannery developed in Alaska; first commercial milking machine developed by A. Durant and L. O. Colvin; word enzyme coined by Wilhelm Kuhne in Germany; first ice-cooled cold storage facility opened in Chicago. 1879 First milk bottle developed in Brooklyn, NY; buffalo exterminated in Texas, range land opened to beef cattle ranching; discovery of saccharin by Ira Remsen and Constantine Fahlberg; trading in wheat futures begins on the Chicago Board of Trade. 1880 Introduction of commercial white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, and apple butter by F. and J. Heinz, Pittsburgh, Pa; introduction of Philadelphia cream cheese; cattle drives along the Chisholm Trail reach peak; English muffins introduced in New York by Samuel Bath Thomas; largest flour mill in the world constructed by Pillsbury at Minneapolis, Minn. 1881 First production of commercial fruit-flavored gumdrops in England; vaccine to prevent anthrax in sheep and hogs developed by Louis Pasteur; first US pure food laws passed by New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Illinois; loganberry developed by James Harvey Logan at Santa Cruz, Calif; margarine first produced in United States in New York; refrigerated rail car perfected by Gustavus F. Swift in Chicago. 1882 Electric streetlights first appear in New York City. 1883 First sausage-wiener retail shop opened by Oscar Mayer in Chicago; walnut orchards pioneered by Harriet W. R. Strong in southern California; first malted milk developed by William Horlick at Racine, Wisc. 1884 Chinese account for half of California’s agricultural labor force. 1885 Commercial salt developed by Joy Morton; Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad ends need for long cat- tle drives; hamburger sandwich attributed to Charles Nagreen at Seymour, Wisc; Daniel Elmer Salmon studies illness-producing food, identifies the bacteria, and names it Salmonella. 1886 Hires Rootbeer introduced in bottles; Dr. Pepper developed by Robert S.