How Ernest Hemingway Enjoyed His Burgers

Ernest Hemingway is one of the most recognizable names in American literature, with generations reading his work, like the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Old Man and the Sea," as a part of school curricula. An iconic and complex figure with lasting cultural impact, Hemingway was someone with a remarkable perspective on life, and he conveyed it through his simple prose. An oft-overlooked part of his legacy is that he was also a food aficionado. Through posthumously uncovered documents and old letters by the author, we now know exactly how he liked his hamburgers, too. Turns out, he had great taste.

Hemingway was adamant that the burgers were formed by hand and cooked the way many professional chefs prefer: pan-fried, not grilled. Pans allow the burger to cook in its own juices and absorb fats like butter or cooking oil, creating more flavor. Pan-frying locks in moisture and seasoning, letting the different tastes acquaint with each other. A dry, overcooked patty is a common burger cooking mistake.

Hemingway, like many beef enjoyers, preferred his burger cooked medium to medium-rare. While it might be a mistake to order burgers medium-rare at restaurants, there's an undeniable taste factor for many people in leaving a small bit of pink in the middle, even though it's not the safest way to eat them. 

It's hard to pair wine with eggs, but not when you're using them to make Hemingway's burger patties. Hemingway cites adding wine and eggs as ingredients in his ground beef mixture, along with green onion, capers, India relish, and spices.

A couple of these ingredients may throw people through a loop if they're trying to recreate Hemingway's burger. India relish is a fragrant, spicy relish with fruits, vegetables, and spices with the main ingredients being bell peppers, sweet onion, and wine vinegar. The condiment is not as commonly found in today's grocery stores, but it is possible to make it at home. While people are familiar with capers, which add a salty, briny flavor to a variety of dishes, they are not a common ingredient in burgers. "Mei Yen," one of the spices in Hemingway's recipe, has been discontinued by Spice Islands, but it's a mix of 2 parts MSG to 9 parts salt and 9 parts sugar.

Hemingway's old-world hamburger might be foreign to Americans in 2024, but all of his choices make culinary sense. He was known to be an avid traveler with an appreciation for the Spanish culture and cuisine, having lived through many historic events regarding Spain and his residence in Cuba. Traveling broadened his perspective on food, life, and literature, and who knows what new recipes we can conjure when we open our minds the same way.