Veggie Burger – Better than a Hamburger?

Ever since I had the veggie burger at Superiority Burger in New York City, I’ve been convinced that a veggie burger can taste better than a traditional hamburger. The thing I realized is that a veggie burger shouldn’t try and imitate the taste of ground beef instead it should be a celebration of vegetables and have its own flavor profile.

In my quest for the ultimate veggie burger, I came across Melissa Clark’s NYTimes recipe and thought it would be a good starting point for recipe development. While I haven’t yet achieved my goal of creating the ultimate veggie burger, I wanted to take you behind the scenes on our testing and development.

One of the worst things about veggie burgers is the mushy texture they tend to have after cooking them. I hope to eliminate this problem by baking the vegetables to eliminate any excess moisture before adding them to the veggie burger mixture. I also think grilling some of the ingredients could give a nice flavor profile to the burgers. I’m in the process of testing a combination of mushrooms, tofu, beans, and vegetables.

After the vegetables are roasted, I’ve been using a mixture of nuts, eggs, panko breadcrumbs, green onions, tempeh, low fat feta, and garlic to adjust the flavor profile of the veggie burgers. However, they seem to be missing that umami characteristic. I think some soy sauce or miso could help in adding a depth of flavor.

While I haven’t created the ultimate veggie burger yet, I know that I’m on the way to creating something delicious. If you have any suggestions for ingredients or techniques, please send me an email!

Stay tuned for updates on the ultimate veggie burger. To be continued…