[Sca-cooks] Who invented the hamburger?

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

I'd say hamburgers were invented at least in the 13th c... from the so-called anonymous Andalusian cookbook:

A Type of Ahrash Called Isfiriya
This is the recipe used by Sayyid Abu al-Hasan and others in Morocco, and they called it isfiriya. Take red lamb, pound it vigorously and season it with some murri naqi', vinegar, oil, pounded garlic, pepper, saffron, cumin, coriander, lavender, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, chopped fat, and meat with all the gristle removed and pounded and divided, and enough egg to envelop the whole. Make small round qursas (flatbreads) out of them about the size of a palm or smaller, and fry them in a pan with a lot of oil until they are browned. Then make for them a sauce of vinegar, oil, and garlic, and leave some of it without any sauce: it is very good.

This is the third recipe in the 13th century anonymous Andalusian cookbook. It is the second one for Ahrash, and there is another Ahrash recipe, #78. This one is identified as coming from Morocco, although the others are not identified with a particular region.

They are also quite good with Sinab, mustard sauce
http://daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Andalusian/andalusian2.htm#Heading81

[I say "so-called" because according to Nawal Nasrallah, in personal e-mail exchanged between us in the summer of 2008, the actual title of the book is Anwâ‘ al-Saydala fî Alwân al-At‘ima, which I translate as Phamacopeoia of the Preparation of All Kinds of Food.]

Urtatim