Meatless Patties Basics
If you love burgers, you already know that there is more to meat-based patties than just the taste. First of all, it should look enticing and the size should be just right when grilled and placed on a bun. So, when you decide to switch to meatless patties, whether for environmental reasons or just to try something new, you would expect the patties to be somewhat similar to beef burgers. Is that even possible? Well, yes! With the evolution of meatless patties over the last few years, big brands and pioneers in this industry such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods have made it possible.
Let’s take a look at how these revolutionized meatless burgers fare against their meat-based counterparts concerning certain key characteristics such as texture, size, and thickness.
Texture
One of the main reasons burger lovers crave meat-based patties is the juiciness that makes the burger melt in the mouth after being cooked. Of course, there are varieties of meats and they all taste and feel different but for the most part, the meaty and juicy taste is what makes those meat-based patties so irresistible to meat-eaters. How do the manufacturers of meatless patties ensure that the consumers will experience that same sensation once they take a bite of their plant-based patty? There is a whole new competition amongst the plant-based meat makers out there on who will make the tastier and juicier patty and that is good. Impossible Foods for example uses coconut oil and sunflower oil to accomplish that juiciness. Red beet juices and plant-sourced heme is used to mimic the “bloody” or “rare” look.
Size
While the average size of the traditional veggie burger (think of the ‘80s and ‘90s) is about 2.5 ounces, since the revolution of meatless patties began, brands have begun to design the size of the meatless patties to reflect their similarities with common beef burger patties. The size of the beef burger patty varies, but on average it is 4 to 6 ounces. Beyond Burger has kept this in mind while crafting their meatless patties that come in 4-ounce sizes. Usually sold in packs. With other manufacturers, you could buy burger bricks that can be cut into required burger sizes, but this is more common with retail stores and restaurants. Some of us, just like the restaurant chefs, like to prepare and size our patties ourselves and that is where various patty presses come in handy.
Veggie and Black Bean patties
These guys have started it all. Even though we associate veggie and bean-based patties with rough and chunky textures, that is really not the case nowadays. Veggie patties or “Vegge burgers“, as they were initially called, were invented in the US. By an American health food enthusiast who initially launched them in the UK where they gained great popularity. Although some of them tend to be a bit thicker and wider in size, veggie, mushroom, and black bean patties look and taste almost the same as the new generation’s “high-tech” plant-based ones. To compete in this fierce market of taste quality and appeal, old-school patties had undergone some aesthetic changes in the recent past. Unless they are homemade, these patties are also about ¾ of an Inch thick. Although a new generation of “alt-meat” patties is also plant or vegetable-based, traditional veggie patties still have their market and faithful followers who are often not sold on the idea of veggie patties that taste like beef.
Thickness
When you want a little bit of variation in your burger, you might often go for a slider. A slider is typically smaller in diameter and a bit chunkier patty served on a smaller bun such as a challah bun. Many restaurants market sliders as mini burgers. Could you do the same with the meatless patties? The answer is yes. Typically, veggie sliders are made at home where you throw in your favorite veggies and mushrooms to make a quick mini patty. For those who wish to buy premade ones, restaurant chain like White Castle has been including sliders made from Impossible faux meat into their menu. You could also use these plant-based ground faux meat to carve your sliders at home.
Nomenclature
What constitutes a patty?
Patty [Pat-ee] is a noun, (plural: patties) referring to a thin round, flat piece of minced, (ground) meat or plant-based (veggie) alternative. In most cases when we say “A patty” we think of a hamburger-style patty that is sandwiched between two round pieces of bread commonly known as buns. This is largely due to the ever-growing popularity of American burgers in the last few decades although, a lot of people will refer to a burger patty as simply “a burger” and although this nomenclature is probably not entirely correct it is an acceptable way of labeling burger patties nowadays, especially in the UK. When we shop for burger patties in grocery stores or online, we will see some products labeled as “plant-based burgers” and some will have “plant-based patties” or simply “meatless patties” labels on them. Recently Trader Joe’s launched plant-based protein patties, for example, and I found that way of labeling to be somewhat more acceptable with plant-based burger patties because they are “distinguished” easier from their beef-based counterparts.
What constitutes a burger?
When we think of a burger, most of us think of a complete sandwich that consists of two buns, a meat-based or meatless patty between the buns along with the veggies, and dressing. Since patties without buns don’t always constitute a complete burger calling patties, burgers wouldn’t necessarily be incorrect but it could create confusion amongst consumers at times. People in the UK tend to refer to burger patties as just “burgers”, while the term “patties” is used more often in the States when referring to hamburger meats. With the growing popularity of plant-based burgers, a large number of manufacturers are labeling their products as “Plant-based patties“, “Protein-patties” or “veggie patties” rather than just “burgers.” Let us know in the comments below what do you think a proper name for a meat-based or plant-based patty would be.
Origins of hamburger and burger patties
The name “Hamburger” or “Burger” for short derives from the name Hamburg, a city in Germany where, many historians believe, the first versions of beef steak sandwiches originated and paved the way for some of the early versions of minced beef sandwiches that were later called burgers. While many food historians believe that the true origins of a modern-day hamburger are ambiguous, they do agree that it did originate somewhere in the US in the late 1800s or early 1900s and evolved into the national staple that it is today. A hamburger is a recognizable moniker almost anywhere in the world today and it is adopted in many languages as a pseudonym for a meat-based or plant-based patty sandwich.
Takeaway
When you enter the world of meatless patties after being a lover of meat-based burgers for years, you might feel cautious about the sacrifices you need to make in terms of the look and feel of the burgers. With traditional Veggie burgers, yes, these changes could be unnerving because they are a bit different from beef burgers in terms of size, texture, and looks. Thankfully, with the revolution that the average meatless burger is going through, you could end up relishing a meatless burger without even noticing any difference in the texture and size. It is not just the burger patties, the meatless evolution also includes nuggets, sliders, and other variations that give you the feel of consuming meat-based products without a trace of animal protein in them. Nomenclature and labels almost don’t make any difference at this point when we now even use terminology like “plant-based meats”, which raises the question, what really can we call meats? Bring home one of these meatless, plant-based patty packs for your next barbecue and chances are, your guests might not even notice the difference.