Caveat: I haven’t eaten beef in probably 17 years now, so I can’t exactly compare the taste. I consider myself a flexitarian focusing on poultry with a growing emphasis on soy.
I gave TVP a shot a couple weeks back and liked it as taco filling or marinara meatsauce substitute.
When I saw the Beyond Meat: The Beyond Burger patties at the store I decided to pick them up. Meat section, already defrosted (this actually matters, as they can sell them frozen and don’t suggest you refreeze).
Impression 1:
freshly out of the package it smells slightly like Friskies canned wet catfood.
Impression 2:
while uncooked the color, shape, and sheen to them make them look like they were 3D modeled by a kid in high school as a final project. Not as good looking as Ignis’ Final Fantasy 15 food, but not exactly cartoony.
Cooking took longer than I expected, which may have caused the outside crusty-ness. They got stuck to the pan a bit, so moved them around. I didn’t use my favorite pan (I would have grilled but out of propane) and I may have over sprayed with canola oil. Once it was the 165* suggested on the box I threw them on the plate.
Impression 3:
the inside texture (yes it is supposed to be pink) is VERY burger. The flavor is kinda like dull wet bread.
Does NOT taste like Friskies canned wet cat food. This is a plus!
Impression 4:
it does absorb flavor well! I doused a part in worsteshire (I’m not even going to look up the right spelling, you know what I mean) sauce and it was great! BBQ sauce good too.
Other veggie burgers I have had crumble or fall apart or taste like beans and cardboard. This doesn’t.
When comparing these against what I’m most familiar with (Turkey burgers) I can say the flavor and texture isn’t the same. Those are also bland, but in a different way… they probably have smoke flavoring added which would help the Beyond Burger. Maybe using a fire grill would have added that though.
Turkey burgers (home made and store bought) are often too dry. Maybe I’ve made they poorly for the last 2 decades though.
Impression 5:
This wasn’t dry. It had a good mouthfeel like it was made of different bits of the animal (flesh and fat).
Final result:
If it weren’t $3 a patty I’d endorse it.
For now I’ll stick to turkey and chicken burgers unless I have a crazy burger craving and need that meat-tooth satisfying chew.
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