Plant based burger challenge

Last week a pack of Future Burgers on the supermarket shelf caught my eye for the first time. Also noticed the Beyond Burger which has been making the news. As it was all new to me I thought why not have a plant based burger challenge to see what stands out.

I threw in 2 others brands of burgers for good measure. The Quorn and Linda McCartney’s both veggie burgers that has a long history.

For clarity, there are now 3 types of burgers ( my classification) out there.

1. Genuine meat burgers, from the ordinary to gourmet burgers
2. Veggie burgers – plant based (old world) but little or no attempt to emulate meat in taste. Available for years.
3. Plant based burgers (new world) – that aims to emulates meat in nearly every respect or try to.

There is one other meat alternative which is the cultured meat from cultivated animals cells – new with an American start-up given approval in Singapore in 2020. They launched chicken nuggets but no plans for burgers yet.

Why a challenge? I am not a vegan and though conscious of the need to treat the environment right there was no particular need to try a plant based burger. I guess I was curious.

Also I had written about the new world plant based burger here in March 2021 but had not tried one.

I did try old world veggies burgers in the past but the experience was always poor. These are meat alternatives and not designed to emulate meat. That unfortunately became a deterrent or disincentive to try something that fell in the meat substitute category.

The fry-ups

To level the playing field I did the fry-up at the same time, all 4 burger patties in the pan with butter. No onions , no garnishes, no sauce, no buns as I wanted to taste and compare just the patties. One exception though. I would follow the instructions from each brand in terms of time on the pan.

Here are the scores (scale to 10). I decided not to average a final score as it does not mean much. So it was more along the lines on how was the taste and texture as a food product and did the smell make my mouth water.

The Beyond Burger was the outright winner by a clear margin.

Second fry-up, this time with a real beef burger

I decided to go for a second fry-up but with Beyond Burger and a real beef burger. The first fry-up seemed hanging with Beyond Burger scoring high in many respects. Was it close to the real stuff?

As McDonalds and other fast food burgers came with garnishes, I thought it would not be fair. So back to the supermarket to pick a mid price gourmet burger patty.

Well this ended up with a surprise. Maybe more than surprise. It did not make sense at first. Again Beyond Burger won. Why did a meat substitute out taste a mid priced gourmet burger?

I realised that Beyond Burger was conceived in a lab with scientists. Tweaking a molecule would be par for the course for this lot. Why stop at emulating beef? Make it better than the real thing!

The 3rd Test with a Mac burger

It puzzled me and I decided to do a third test with real Macs.

I decided on the quarter pounder and their signature smoky BBQ burger. Had the impression that signature burger being more expensive might actually taste better.

Also decided to add 2 more columns as tasting led to some revelations. The additional columns would give a better perspective.

The Mac patties were separated from the buns and tasted them as straight patties with garnishes and sauces removed. Removing the semi melted cheese however from the quarter pounder was tough.

Yet again Beyond Burger outstripped a real burger.

Observations

Here are my observations;

1. Mac quarter pounder and signature patties looked and tasted the same, except the latter was larger
2. The Macs were clearly beef in taste, texture and smell.
3. Beyond burger was well ahead in terms of taste, texture and juiciness but not close to beef
4. Look like the scientists have tweaked it to be better than a beef burger but they could not emulate beef.
5. Gourmet meat products may not be gourmet after all. There are no food standards on the use of the word.

There were some others lessons to be learnt from the plant based burger challenge. One is not to take things for granted.

Both the Mac patties and the mid priced gourmet beef patties were rather bland and dry. Without garnishes, onions, pickles and sauces I doubt it would be appealing. Mac has over the years reduced the height of the patties that the texture has gone.

The old world veggie burgers performed poorly in the taste test despite the price. I sensed that it is confined to those who don’t touch meat. Linda McCartney’s veggie burger however had an appealing texture. It clearly outperformed the newly released Future burger in the texture department.

Beyond Burger had height so texture was well appreciated as you bite into it. And remember the Macs were cooked by the Mac people and I had them delivered to time my test with Beyond Burger. It was warm to the touch when I tasted the Macs.

Cost of meat alternatives

Plant based burgers are expensive and unlikely to make the weekly shopping list for many.

Beyond Burger was retailing at AUD 48 per kg while Quorn was AUD 27. The majority of ordinary beef burger patties including quality ones were going for AUD 10 to 20 per kg. So difference was wide, very wide up to 4 times.

One other thing to note is the term “gourmet” for meat burgers. Are they really gourmet quality besides the packaging and marketing?

I remember when the Falcons decided to go organic 2 decades ago. It turned out not to be. The organic prices across the board was high. We did expect higher prices but not to that extent. It was not within our budget. Ok for the occasional week but not for a permanent change.

Whether they are plant based or veggie meat alternative, there is clear demand. British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s in 2019 recorded a 65% increase for plant based products. So people are prepared to spend much more for the plant based alternatives.

I suspect besides the growing vegan community there is also the strong association that plant based with the notion of health. That too drives demand.

The question is the health aspect. Are the claims credible given higher levels of processing involved.

Importance of checking the ingredients even for plant based products.

I guess its important to check what ingredients and additives go into processed plant based food. We all know the power of salt and food additives. One has to apply the same level of scrutiny when it comes to plant based burger just as we do for processed meat.

The various tests did tell the role of garnishes and sauces in food consumption. Until this test I have never tasted Mac burger patties plain. The patties were dry plus the poor texture as it was thin.

The buns, garnishes and sauces helped mask the actual taste, texture and dryness of the meat patties.

The ability of a lab created burger outperforming a real and most well known burger in the World in most categories was a surprise.

One other minor discovery. Real beef turns grey quickly under heat but not the Beyond Burger. It held on to its pink colour, just a shade darker. The red juice (beetroot) to emulate real blood was quite a novelty but I thought the colouring was not needed.

It is the old world veggie burgers that truly puzzled me. Paying so much does not make sense. And with so many good and tasty vegetarian and vegan food products out there.

Or are we masking them with garnishes and dollops of sauces as well at home. Maybe it time for those who have been consuming these products to venture out and try other plant based cuisines.

In all the big picture is still positive. There is progress towards plant based food and the move away from too much meat. It will redress the balance with nature. Hopefully fix the climate and even address general health.