As a new wave of plant-based patties designed to mimic the flavour and texture of real meat burgers line supermarket shelves and restaurant menus, we wanted to answer a vital question: do they actually taste any good?
To find out how well the latest vegan burger offering fares from a professional point of view – and if they really do give actual meat a run for its money – we asked chef Marcus Samuelsson to put his tastebuds to task: with his mix of southern American, Ethiopian and Swedish food, Samuelsson knows what makes for a delicious burger.
Samuelsson provided the menu for the Obama Administration’s first State dinner, had a three-star restaurant review from The New York Times at the age of 24, and owns a number of restaurants including Red Rooster – in both Harlem, New York, and Shoreditch, London – and, most recently, Marcus in Montreal, Canada.
To give each of the seven vegan burgers in our test a fair start, we dressed each patty with a tofu-based mayonnaise, vegan cheese, a slice of tomato, lettuce and red-onion dressing before topping it off with a vegan brioche bun. The testing took place in Samuelsson's Shoreditch-based restaurant Red Rooster at The Curtain Hotel.
Here's our pick of the best vegan burgers you can buy right now.
7. Iceland No Bull Quarter Pounder Burgers
The main ingredient of this contender for Best Vegan Burger for 2019 is 20.6 per cent soya protein. It too includes methyl cellulose thickener and produce such as a mix of herbs and spices, gelling agent, beetroot red colour and paprika extract.
One of the thickest burgers in our test, we were pleasantly surprised by its meaty texture and flavour – squeeze the burger and you’ll see the red beet juice ooze from the patty, which is designed to make the burger feel like real meat.
Samuelsson liked how juicy this burger stays once cooked but still wasn't happy. "It’s not dry at all which is great, but on the downside it doesn’t have a ‘natural’ weight to it and fall naturally into your mouth."
Score: 4/10 | £2 for 226g | iceland.co.uk
6. Marks and Spencer Plant Kitchen Beet Burger
Marks & Spencer launched a 60-strong vegan own brand range in January (aka Veganuary), entitled the Plant Kitchen. The Beet Burger one of these: it's made from chickpeas, beetroot, green lentils, brown rice and seasoned with garlic and fresh parsley.
This patty is more traditional in its presentation yet does little to imitate the actual look of a real meat burger, but it does come bursting with flavour. "It’s a cleverly made burger," Samuelsson says.
"The colour is appetising and the packaging and burger is smartly presented. It reminds me a lot of vegetarian burgers from the 1990s, and while it’s a safe bet, I personally don’t think it has that all-important deliciousness."
Score: 4/10 | £2.50 for 255g | marksandspencer.com
5. Moving Mountains Burger
The ‘100 per cent vegan and zero per cent cow’ Moving Mountains burger is sold across the UK in restaurants such as Hard Rock café and Harvester and dressed according to their specific menu, although it's yet to be sold in supermarkets. The plant-based patty comes with ingredients such as pea, wheat and soy protein, mushroom, beetroot, coconut oil, oats, barley and onion as well as vitamin B12, to imitate the moist, rich flavour of a real meat burger.
In our test, Samuelsson liked the way the way the burger was packed in the bun and noted that it felt "messy, like a real burger". He appreciated the "great thickness" of the patty, which makes it feel like you’re "biting into a decent sized burger".
Samuelsson liked the way the burger held together when seared and thought it was well put together. But, he wasn’t that taken with the patty’s neutral flavour, and while restaurants dress the burger with their own herbs and spices, the standard condiments the burger were served with in our test didn’t do that well to impress Samuelsson.
"A burger like this needs a little acid as the flavour of it can get lost in translation," he says. "If I made it again I’d include less lettuce and a smaller piece of tomato. In its current state, it does little to be delicious." Meanwhile, in contrast, it should be noted we enjoyed the density of this burger and we’re suitably fooled into thinking it could be real meat.
Score: 5/10 | Sold in restaurants throughout the UK | movingmountainsfoods.com
4. Vivera Veggie Burger
At 77 per cent, the main ingredient of the Vivera burger is rehydrated soy and wheat protein. Add components such as red onion, sunflower oil, potato starch, ‘natural flavourings’ and ‘methyl cellulose thickener’, which is used in various foods and cosmetics, and the result is the Vivera is such a jumble on first look you don’t exactly know you’re biting into. It does, however, do a great job to mimic the appearance of a real meat burger.
The Vivera is one of the thinnest burgers in our test and needs a little care when handling uncooked so as not to crumble. We thought it tasted a little ‘flimsy’ and didn’t have that satisfying bite you’d expect with a real burger.
Samuelsson was impressed at how well this burger seared, however, picking up the charred flavour better than any burger in out test, but he did note that it tasted a little dry and recommends supplementing it with extra dressing and a decent piece of tomato. "I like the texture and flavour of this burger, but it does get a little murky and dense after that first bite," he says. "It’s not as juicy as the other vegan burgers I’ve tried, but if you like a well-done burger it’s a good choice."
Score: 6/10 | £2.69 for 200g | ocado.com
3. Beyond Meat: The Beyond Burger
The Los Angeles-based producer of plant-based meat substitutes has recently come to the UK, and its Beyond Burger can be found near the meat aisle in Tesco. Aimed to ‘look, cook and satisfy like beef without GMOS, soy or gluten’, the Beyond is a compact burger that does a good job to look like real meat.
Made up of 18 per cent pea protein isolate, as well as rapeseed oil, coconut oil, ‘smoke flavouring’ and that favourite patty ingredient ‘methyl cellulose’, the thickness of the Beyond Burger makes for a satisfying bite.
"Beyond has done a great job to think through texture," Samuelsson says on first taste. "It feels like a fatty burger, and it holds up well against the bun and all the condiments inside. When cooked, it’s looks like a good burger colour that replicates real meat, which makes for a satisfying bite."
Score: 6/10 | £5.50 for 227g | tesco.com
2. Meatless Farm Company Meat Free Burger
Soya protein concentrate and pea protein make up the main ingredients of this well-seasoned patty. As well as fruit extracts such as beetroot, radish and tomato, it also includes vitamins and minerals including B6, B12 and B1.
We particularly liked the flavour and thickness of this burger, and thought it did well to imitate real meat. We did think however that it needed condiments to give it an extra flavoursome punch. Samuelsson thought the Meat Free Burger charred very well and enjoyed biting into it. "I like the size and flavour of this burger, which is important for it to stand out, so you don’t feel like you’re just eating stuff in a bun," he says.
Score: 6/10 | £2.50 for 226g | sainsburys.co.uk
1. Waitrose Korean Inspired Burger
While it doesn’t even try to look like a real-meat burger, this vegan patty does well to pack in flavour and texture. It crumbled a lot during the searing process, but eventually held together when it was packed in the burger with the vegan condiments.
While we didn’t make it our favourite in our test, this burger did well to suitably impress Samuelsson. "I’m not sure what’s Korean about this burger," he quips. "While it doesn’t substitute for real meat, and I’d feel a little lost eating it, it does have the most flavour of all the vegan burgers I’ve tried in this test."
Its natural ingredients including red cabbage and black turtle beans make it so crumbly. It also includes ubiquitous beetroot and soya protein concentrate, as well as more unusual ingredients such as sushi rice and breadcrumbs to give it a bit of a crunch.
Score: 7/10 | £2.75 for 227g | waitrose.com
Conclusion
It's a vegan victory for Waitrose and ignominy for Iceland. But looking at the field in general, it's not great news. Not yet, anyway. "A burger for me has to be rock‘n’roll," says Samuelsson. "You need to feel like you’re eating something delicious. And a good burger depends on the perfect bun-to-patty ratio – you want the bun to be soft enough to bite into with a wonderful patty that should feel rich and almost fatty, but not too fatty."
"When we’re talking vegan, the burger needs to be delicious and better than the real thing. So we have to know what we’re trading for – and right now it can’t be for health reasons as we don’t exactly know what we’re eating, so we can only judge on pure taste."
"For me, eating a vegan burger after a meat burger is a bit like listening to Jimi Hendrix, and then someone suggesting that I listen to electric guitar on a computer. It just doesn’t have the same effect. But I applaud everyone who has launched a vegan burger for starting the conversation about what we should be eating. Now we just have to concentrate on getting delicious!"
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
