In 1937 the sales trainer Elmer Wheeler published Tested Sentences That Sell. The title of its first chapter was “Don’t Sell the Steak—Sell the Sizzle!” Time magazine quoted the slogan, from a speaker for Wheeler’s firm, in August of that year. In 1938 The New Yorker quoted his explanation: “The sizzle has sold more steaks than the cow ever has, although the cow is, of course, mighty important.”
Americans also use the image as criticism. A person who is “all sizzle and no steak” seems able but gets little done. In July 2013 House Speaker John Boehner used the phrase about a speech by President Barack Obama.