In honor, perhaps, of the season’s last barbecue weekend, Fork in the Road’s favorite etymologist and Oxford English Dictionary contributor Barry Popik enlightens on the origins of the term “hockey puck” in reference to a burger, especially one that is well done (read: overcooked). Apparently, the Times‘ Flo Fab was the first to use the term on the printed page back in 1976.
From “Eating on the Turnpike” by Florence Fabricant:
“The chopped steak had acceptable flavor, and while the texture was somewhat compressed, characteristic of a machine-formed patty, it was infinitely preferable to the Holiday House version that first emerged like a large, well-done hockey puck and on a second try was medium-rare, all right, but cold in the middle.”