An American Hamburger Goes to London

British hamburgers, like British food in general, have a lamentable reputation. But it is one that is increasingly becoming undeserved. The BSE crisis served as a wake-up call to the meat industry, British beef is highly regulated these days and a keen interest in provenance and husbandry has taken hold. There is, I would argue, a renaissance happening in British beef and indeed the British hamburger as well. London is burger-mad these days with seemingly endless options, and new local chains are popping up all over the place. And now you can also find some of New York City's most celebrated hamburgers being sold in London. What are the challenges of recreating a hamburger in an entirely different country, with its own regulations and conventions? I hopped the pond to find out, paying visits to Shake Shack, Balthazar and Michael White’s Chop Shop in London.

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