# Hamburgers cooked in 90 year oldgrease **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 21, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902 "2011-07-21T20:19:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902/1 "2011-07-21T20:19:03Z")
Sorry, I have done a search here and found nothing, nor at Snoopes. I would be happy with a link to an old thread. Is this for real? [Taste of Home: Find Recipes, Appetizers, Desserts, Holiday Recipes & Healthy Cooking Tips](http://community.tasteofhome.com/community_forums/f/29/t/694873.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![randomface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@randomface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randomface)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902/2 "2011-07-21T20:22:34Z")
I think I saw something about this on Man vs. Food. I might go for the burger part of it, but when they showed it on tv, they basically dunk the bun in too. Nothing worse than a greasy soggy bun. At least as far as buns go. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902/3 "2011-07-21T20:29:01Z")
How many links will I have to click through to find out about it? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902/4 "2011-07-21T20:31:54Z")
They “strain and process” the grease daily. If there’s anything in there that’s 90 years old, it’s probably only a few molecules. Sort of like, “This is George Washington’s famous hatchet from the 18th century! Over the years, we’ve had to replace the head twice, and the handle three times, but this is _the very hatchet_!” ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902/5 "2011-07-21T20:34:58Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > They “strain and process” the grease daily. **If there’s anything in there that’s 90 years old, it’s probably only a few molecules.** > > Sort of like, “This is George Washington’s famous hatchet from the 18th century! Over the years, we’ve had to replace the head twice, and the handle three times, but this is _the very hatchet_!” It’s homeopathic grease! It’s supremely greasy! ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902/6 "2011-07-21T20:41:44Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > They “strain and process” the grease daily. If there’s anything in there that’s 90 years old, it’s probably only a few molecules. Which is exactly what the proprietor said on the MvF episode. Something like “There are a few 90-year-old grease molecules floating around in there”. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902/7 "2011-07-21T20:54:48Z")
> [@thelabdude](#): > > Sorry, I have done a search here and found nothing, nor at Snoopes. I would be happy with a link to an old thread. > > Is this for real? [Taste of Home: Find Recipes, Appetizers, Desserts, Holiday Recipes & Healthy Cooking Tips](http://community.tasteofhome.com/community_forums/f/29/t/694873.aspx) Here is what they say on their [web site](http://www.dyersonbeale.com/) (not proof the story is necessarily true but proof the burger stand makes the claim themselves) They also have this [video](http://www.dyersonbeale.com/Video.php)on the site. I don’t know if that is the MvF episode people are referring to or not. The part that doesn’t make sense to me is that each burger carries with it a little bit of the grease (actually a big bit of it, looking at the burgers) so the original molecules from 1912 must certainly have all made their way to the stomachs of hungry customers over the years. > [@](#): > > Back in 1912, the late Elmer “Doc” Dyer opened his own cafe and began to develop a secret cooking process… > > Legend has it that the “secret” was Doc Dyer’s ageless cooking grease… > > The Dyer’s legacy continues to this day. Over the years, this famous cooking grease has been transported to our various Memphis locations under the watchful protection of armed police escorts, finally settling here on Historic Beale Street, Home of the Blues and World Famous Dyer’s! ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902/8 "2011-07-21T21:51:07Z")
Come to think of it, I’m not entirely sure it was Man vs Food. It might have been one of those interminable “Best Burger Places in the US” type shows. ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902/9 "2011-07-22T01:40:05Z")
Thanks for the replies. I liked that thing about George’s hatchet. Every time you pull a burger out, you remove some of the grease. Every splatter removes some. It oxidizes. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902/10 "2011-07-22T03:06:06Z")
I wonder about restaurant sourdough sometimes; about how old the starter might be. Places in San Francisco, for instance. Couldn’t be anything earlier than 1907 or late 1906, because of the earthquake, but I wonder how far back some of it goes. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902/11 "2011-07-22T03:52:39Z")
[http://www.boudinbakery.com/usercontent/XImages/pdfs/BoudinHistory.pdf](http://www.boudinbakery.com/usercontent/XImages/pdfs/BoudinHistory.pdf) [http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2005\_1st/Mar05\_Boudin.html](http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2005_1st/Mar05_Boudin.html) “Today, Boudin Original San Francisco Sourdough French Bread is still baked fresh daily using the same recipe that enticed Gold Rush-era San Franciscans who flocked to the Boudin bakery each morning (by the end of 1849, the city’s population had swelled to 20,000). Every loaf is made with a portion of the original Boudin “mother dough” that has been carefully preserved over the decades – and **heroically saved by Louise Boudin during the Great Earthquake of 1906**.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902/12 "2011-07-22T03:56:18Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Come to think of it, I’m not entirely sure it was Man vs Food. It might have been one of those interminable “Best Burger Places in the US” type shows. I saw that show. It was some kind of best burger show. IIRC they’ve been using the same pan for all that time, and they strain the grease each night. Each hamburger cooked is adding to the grease, and they throw some away everyday. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902/13 "2011-07-22T04:00:56Z")
Incidentally, sourdough starter ain’t baker’s yeast: [QUOTE=Wikipedia] A sourdough starter is a stable symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast present in a mixture of flour and water. The yeasts Candida milleri or Saccharomyces exiguus usually populate sourdough cultures symbiotically with Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis. Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis was named for its discovery in San Francisco sourdough starters. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902/14 "2011-07-22T04:08:06Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > [Our History - Boudin Bakery](http://www.boudinbakery.com/usercontent/XImages/pdfs/BoudinHistory.pdf) > [http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2005\_1st/Mar05\_Boudin.html](http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2005_1st/Mar05_Boudin.html) > > “Today, Boudin Original San Francisco Sourdough French Bread is still baked fresh daily using the same recipe that enticed Gold Rush-era San Franciscans who flocked to the Boudin bakery each morning (by the end of 1849, the city’s population had swelled to 20,000). Every loaf is made with a portion of the original Boudin “mother dough” that has been carefully preserved over the decades – and **heroically saved by Louise Boudin during the Great Earthquake of 1906**.” WOW. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902/15 "2011-07-22T05:20:05Z")
You’d expect that there’d be some equilibrium level of oxidation (and other age-related changes to the grease), and it could be that the cooking technique is just such to keep that equilibrium at the optimum level. In which case the fact that the grease is “90 years old” wouldn’t be significant, but it _would_ be significant that it was prepared from grease that was already at that optimum. Or, of course, it could be irrelevant, and the old grease is just a marketing ploy. That’s possible, too. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902/16 "2011-07-22T12:45:13Z")
I bet that grease is loaded with cancer. A good high temp low oxygen environment is just what you want for some good polyaromatic hydrocarbon and heterocyclic amine formation. Mmmmmmmm benzene. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902/17 "2011-07-22T12:53:21Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > I wonder about restaurant sourdough sometimes; about how old the starter might be. Places in San Francisco, for instance. Couldn’t be anything earlier than 1907 or late 1906, because of the earthquake, but I wonder how far back some of it goes. Yeah, every time you expose your starter to air, it’s probably picking up local feral yeasts and I’d guess over the years it becomes fairly new and unique. There’s a French bakery next door to me, so I figure any starter I make is going to get whatever they use. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902/18 "2011-07-22T16:37:00Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > …Sort of like, “This is George Washington’s famous hatchet from the 18th century! Over the years, we’ve had to replace the head twice, and the handle three times, but this is _the very hatchet_!” It’s a famous paradox: [Ship of Theseus - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_theseus) ---
**Author:** ![Sandra\_Battye](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sandra_battye/32/552_2.png) [@Sandra\_Battye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandra_Battye)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburgers-cooked-in-90-year-oldgrease/589902/19 "2011-07-22T18:30:11Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Yeah, every time you expose your starter to air, it’s probably picking up local feral yeasts and I’d guess over the years it becomes fairly new and unique. There’s a French bakery next door to me, so I figure any starter I make is going to get whatever they use. I just made a starter (just flour and water) a couple of months ago. The bread tastes just like the stuff from Boudin. Of course, I live in SF. If I moved away, the local **lactobacillus** (not yeast) might take over if the starter was left uncovered and unrefrigerated for several days. I understand that a well-established starter can “defend” itself from incidental exposure to the local lactobacillus in the air.