the ratios of the mince and the five steps that decide the result
Built as a memo rather than a table: the thing worth hanging it up for reads across the room, with the full reference in smaller type below it.
Three sizes in one archive — from a sheet on the fridge to a poster on the wall.
Safe temperature from USDA FSIS: 71 °C (160 °F) in the thickest part of any minced meat, measured, never judged by colour. Fat ceiling from 9 CFR 319.15. Checked 30 July 2026.
At least four towns claim it: Seymour, Wisconsin (1885), Hamburg, New York (1885), Athens, Texas (late 1880s) and New Haven, Connecticut (1900). Not one of them holds a document from those years.
The earliest thing anyone can put on the table is an advertisement in the Shiner Gazette, Texas, 12 April 1894: "Hamburger steak sandwiches everyday in the week." A first mention, not an invention.
Which is why no year is printed here. The ratio is older than any of the four claims.
Why the numbers can be trusted. Every countable number here is computed from data rather than typed in, and the sheet must pass 6 independent checks before it is allowed to build — how many items there are, the order they come in, and the claim in the highlighted box itself. If one fails, there is no file.
grams of natural sugar per 100 g of fresh fruit — and how much water sits beside it
four ingredients in the proportions written into an EU regulation
four equal weights — a recipe whose name is its ratio
grams per 100 g · animal and plant · and the state each one was weighed in