Honestly there’s nothing like it. I’ve never had a European hamburger with the same taste and texture as a classic American burger–which I say totally independent of/not about quality. Euro burgers use a totally different grind that changes the density and flavor of the patty, and then of course the toppings and bun tend to be a bit different. Sort of like NYC pizza being relatively simple, but apparently impossible to 100% recreate in any other city, there’s nothing immediately notable about an American burger that you couldn’t do somewhere else, but it does still come out differently. I hope you get your chance to try one!
Texan here. I’ve had some damn good hamburgers in my life, and I’ve been to numerous states. But the one of the best burgers I’ve ever had was in Luleå, Sweden at a place called Bastard Burgers. Specifically, you have to ask for them to add 3 pieces of Västerbottensoft crispy bites to the burger. It brought tears to my eyes just knowing I can’t get anything like that in Texas.
bastard used to be great when it was just one restaurant. went there a lot in uni. then they got popular, and while i haven’t been to the original place in like five years all their new locations are just… expensive and average.
It’s way better than it used to be - 10 years ago I would have agreed with you wholeheartedly but finally places like Five Guys are making their mark on the big European cities and people have a better understanding of what a hamburger should taste like.
It’s still like 75/25 bad to good but it used to be 95/5 or worse.
I’ve eaten pizza all across the United States and can confirm that there is absolutely nothing special about New York pizza. If the minerals in the water actually change anything, it’s imperceptible when covered with cheese. Most of my visits were with NY natives so I was not eating at tourist traps.
I can say that American food kind of sucks in every Asian country I’ve been to^1 but I have never been to Europe, though, so I didn’t know how the phenomena compare.
^1 Most of my international trips have been for work so I may not have gone to the “good” American restaurants
[Edit] how do I superscript on Lemmy? ^1 is supposed to be a footnote
Honestly there’s nothing like it. I’ve never had a European hamburger with the same taste and texture as a classic American burger–which I say totally independent of/not about quality. Euro burgers use a totally different grind that changes the density and flavor of the patty, and then of course the toppings and bun tend to be a bit different. Sort of like NYC pizza being relatively simple, but apparently impossible to 100% recreate in any other city, there’s nothing immediately notable about an American burger that you couldn’t do somewhere else, but it does still come out differently. I hope you get your chance to try one!
Texan here. I’ve had some damn good hamburgers in my life, and I’ve been to numerous states. But the one of the best burgers I’ve ever had was in Luleå, Sweden at a place called Bastard Burgers. Specifically, you have to ask for them to add 3 pieces of Västerbottensoft crispy bites to the burger. It brought tears to my eyes just knowing I can’t get anything like that in Texas.
bastard used to be great when it was just one restaurant. went there a lot in uni. then they got popular, and while i haven’t been to the original place in like five years all their new locations are just… expensive and average.
It’s way better than it used to be - 10 years ago I would have agreed with you wholeheartedly but finally places like Five Guys are making their mark on the big European cities and people have a better understanding of what a hamburger should taste like.
It’s still like 75/25 bad to good but it used to be 95/5 or worse.
I’ve eaten pizza all across the United States and can confirm that there is absolutely nothing special about New York pizza. If the minerals in the water actually change anything, it’s imperceptible when covered with cheese. Most of my visits were with NY natives so I was not eating at tourist traps.
I can say that American food kind of sucks in every Asian country I’ve been to^1 but I have never been to Europe, though, so I didn’t know how the phenomena compare.
^1 Most of my international trips have been for work so I may not have gone to the “good” American restaurants
[Edit] how do I superscript on Lemmy? ^1 is supposed to be a footnote
It’s the ingredients, the beef just tastes different. Even Canadian beef and American beef taste different.