Hamburger steak

Prof. A. S. Mitchell of Wisconsin testifies before the Pure Food Commission that butchers embalm scraps of meat for use in Hamburger steaks.

Dr. [H. C.] Stiefel then illustrated his sensational statement by exhibiting samples of food stuffs turned in for analysis, together with the quantities of preservative, flavoring and coloring matter extracted from them. The exhibit is far from reassuring, and goes a long way, he said, toward explaining why Americans are becoming a race of dyspeptics. […] The same man may sit at supper or breakfast with a Hamburger steak containing sulphite of soda, or sausages treated with borax.

Fair guests and their escorts near by listened expectantly for the “order” from the distinguished looking man of affairs. It would be a $2 order at least. With becoming hauteur and dignity, and a slowness which suggested a tip of size to garcon, there came these startling words: “Waiter, bring me a Hamburger steak and a glass of beer.”