this is what happens when I get homesick

[deird1]

Taking a short break from my very fascinating life to educate you all about a great Aussie food: the Hamburger With The Lot.


First up (and just aimed at Americans) - it's not a "sandwich". This is a language issue I've always found weird – Americans seem to classify every single instance of sliced food between bread as a sandwich, and hence end up calling all sorts of things sandwiches even when they're clearly subs or hamburgers.

A short guide

This is a sandwich:

(note the sliced bread)


This is a roll:

(bread roll, cold fillings)


This is a sub:

(really long roll, such as one would find at Subway)


This is a hamburger:

(hot meat patty - probably beef, but could be chicken, in a roll)


So. On to specifics.

To have a proper Aussie hamburger, one should go to a fish and chip shop, where they will have a fine selection of fillings available to you. So, you could look at the filling options and ask for a hamburger "with cheese and tomato", or "with bacon", or simply decide that everything on the menu looks incredibly appetising, so you'll get one "with the lot".

Generally, a hamburger with the lot will include:
- the bread roll
- the meat patty
- lettuce
- tomato
- onion
- cheese
- bacon*
- a fried egg
- beetroot
- tomato sauce

It may also come with pineapple.

The egg is essential. So is the beetroot (although I am a philistine, and tend to decline that bit). They are what makes it a truly Aussie burger. They also make it delicious.

A demonstration:


It should barely fit between your jaws. Otherwise it's just not trying hard enough.

---

* Please note: there is a significant difference between Aussie bacon and American bacon.

Comments

[lyr]

Beetroot! That is one of the very last things that would cross my mind to put on a burger, and it fascinates me that you Aussies do that as a regular thing.

We have the egg here sometimes, though it's not standard. We also have definite regional variations. Here in Texas, hamburgers come standard with onion, cheese, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, pickles, meat, bread, and mustard. Often, though, they also come with jalepeno peppers and bacon.

[deird1]

Beetroot is standard enough here that Maccas got in on the act - with the very popular "McOz" burger.

[megpie71]

So too have Hungry Jacks (our variant of "Burger King") - they do an Aussie burger which is basically a whopper with beetroot and maybe egg. Definitely the beetroot, but the egg is a recent addition, as a way of using up the leftovers from their breakfast menu, I think.

[vass]

probably beef, but could be chicken

Could be a fish fillet. Which is pronounced to rhyme with skillet, not fil-LAY.

[brin_bellway]

Which is pronounced to rhyme with skillet, not fil-LAY.

I tried. They wouldn't let me. Eventually I gave up.

[velvetwhip]

Beetroot? Really?


Gabrielle

[deird1]

Really. :)

[thirdblindmouse]

Heathen! Subs are a subtype of sandwich. And a burger is a type of meat patty. I never had them with buns as a child. /tragically deprived

Basically every type of sandwich (or sub or roll or *sullen glare* "hamburger") ever served in a commercial establishment barely fits between my jaws. Maybe if that is not your usual experience this is an experience to be strived for?? o_O

[eleanorjane]

...now I want a hamburger!

That photo. OMG. Om nom nom nom.

[fenchurch]

I had quite the time of it when we were in Australia, because I'm allergic to beetroot and it was EVERYWHERE. (As a side note, when onetwomany visited the US for WriterCon and went on a roadtrip with me up to Seattle afterward, she commented that avocado was America's beetroot... we put it on everything!)

I'd never thought of putting egg on a hamburger until I ran across it at Aussie Eats (an Australian restaurant that used to be in Idaho Falls, Idaho... of all places). It had pretty much everything you listed there and was called The Genuine Australian Burger. I never had one (see beetroot allergy above), I'm afraid... I much preferred their meat pies.

[brin_bellway]

*stares at picture*

...and here I was feeling proud of my ability to cope with and even enjoy the presence of four simultaneous distinct flavours (chicken + spinach + cheese + pasta) in my dinner tonight. Now you're telling me there are people who happily eat eleven things at once?

[megpie71]

Don't worry. At least half the fillings fall out the far side of the bun, so with most mouthfuls, you're mainly getting about four, maybe five flavours. As a brief guide, you can expect to lose most of the lettuce, possibly about half the tomato, and maybe a bit of the egg. This is why you don't throw away the wrapper - it acts as a catching plate for all the bits which fall out.

[brin_bellway]

That actually sounds even worse. If I'm going to have mixed foods, I want them thoroughly mixed. None of this new-flavour-profile-with-every-bite crap. (You should have seen how tiny I made the chicken pieces in my florentine, to increase the chance of having a little bit in each bite. I do that with the components of fried rice, too.)

[megpie71]

Special note: the onions in most Aussie fish-'n'-chip shop burgers are fried, rather than raw. This is at least part of why I prefer a proper burger from such an establishment rather than the pale imitation created by Maccas and HJs. Other establishments which create these burgers are roadhouses (the cafes attached to rural petrol stations), down-market cafes, lunch bars, and so on. Coffee shops and up-market cafes may say they're doing a burger with the lot, but what you get is the yuppified version, with three varieties of bitter lettuce, a handmade tomato salsa instead of "dead 'orse"[1], no cheese, no egg, and a meat patty which is about two steps away from tofu (these places appear to save their money on the burgers by using the cheapest patties they can find). Plus there may be capers involved, depending on the pretentiousness of the place.

Basically, if you order a burger from the sort of place which does "food" or "tucker" rather than "cuisine" here, you'll most likely get a proper burger with the lot.

[1] tomato sauce