Update on Brooks’s Vegan Superiority Burger

[marilynfl]

well...as they mentioned in the NYT article: it's a lot of fuss, but the end result are good. Also, as the article stated, while the mouth feel is dense, it's not beefy, so don't go down this path expecting that.

The recipe doesn't specify it but I used tri-colored quinoa per the article and diced my carrots to 1/4" die, also per the article. Made the quinoa the night before, since it needs to be chilled. You end up with a lot of components (quinoa, crushed roasted walnuts, smashed chickpeas, diced carrots, caramelized onions) that each have their own density and bite. The binding agent is 3 TBL of potato (or corn) starch, so I used potato to make the slurry. It's barely worked. I planned on topping them off with cheese, so decided to go vegetarian rather than vegan, whisked 2 egg whites until foamy, then added another TBL of potato starch. That worked perfectly to hold the shape of the burger.

Note: all the ingredients are cooked before blending, so grilling the burger is mostly for effect and to melt the cheese. You could use this as filling for a lot of things.

One of my guests doesn't like anything spicy, so I left out the 3 TBL of tabasco and only used 1/4 tsp of Anaheim chili powder. The one whacky instruction said to add salt and pepper "until it tastes sharp." What?? I also sprinkled on the powdered umami spice from TJ (it's based on mushrooms) to add a little oomph.

Served on toasted brioche rolls, cheddar and gruyere, roasted (not dried) tomatoes, and caramelized onions with mushrooms with just a wee smear of mayo.

This is a 4 oz burger before grilling--I was surprised at how large it was--it filled the entire brioche bun.


I had 2.5 ozs left, so I grilled the burger to shoot the photo.



PS: I also told my guests there was floss and soft picks in the bathroom because this filling sticks with you. Literally.

PPS: Made four 4 oz burgers and one 2.5 oz burger

 

[monj]

Looks interesting Marilyn. Would you make them again? Wondering if doing a fine chop on the carrots in the processor would work, since I'll already have dirtied it making breadcrumbs, and while I'm at it, chopping onions.... . #lazycook

 

[marilynfl]

To your first question, yes I would. In fact, my sister & BIL are coming for a visit and I plan to serve this before they hit all the BBQ spots, just to give their intestinal tract a break. I did find it needed that tiny touch of mayo on the bun...providing the bit of moisture that was missing from my first burger (plain with just mushrooms).

And second, I don't think a fine chop would work. You're supposed to roast the carrot pieces until soft and slightly charred to bring out the sweetness and soften them. Also, it provides a different texture in your mouth. I fear a fine chop would cause them to steam rather than roast and they would blacken before the roasted sweetness happens (since they would be thinner). But please let me know if you try it and it works. That would save me another step.

 

[marilynfl]

One pain in the tush was smashing the chickpeas. First I tried that meat smasher that MCM told me about. Nope...the chickpeas just slipped between the plastic blades. Then I tried a large sharp salad fork, pressing down. Nope...they just popped out from that. Finally got out my grandmother's potato masher and that worked the best.