VGN burgers from scratch
I eat more burgers now than I ever did as a meat eater. But none of the ready made burgers on the market are exactly what I was looking for. So after spending too much money on burgers that were just passable on the palette I decided to give a “from scratch” burger a try.
Ingredients in my burgers vary from batch to batch but in general they include: TVP, Vgn Bouillon, VWG, Rice, & Onion. I suppose you could add other textural veggies in the mix, but I’ll leave that up to you.
If you are a newbie vegan or a meat eater reading this then you may not know what those initialisms up above mean. TVP is Textured Vegetable Protein. It is a soy product that is sold in dry granule (and chuck) form and is used as a substitute for ground meat. It has a very subtle flavor. So when you cook with it you need to add in your own flavor.
VWG is Vital Wheat Gluten and is a very high gluten content (or hard) flour. It is mostly used in making the faux meat Seitan because the high gluten content makes for a chewier dough.
The Vegan Bouillon that I used was “Edward & Sons” brand bouillon. At Food4Less here this bouillon comes in “not-beef” and “not-chick’n” flavors. The beef bouillon will give your burgers a smoky hearty flavor like some of the major brand vgn burgers. If that is what you like then go for it. I chose the chicken flavor. This bouillon is not as good as Frontier brand chicken bouillon, but it does well in a pinch. If you don’t have a faux meat bouillon then I suggest using vegetable broth to rehydrate your TVP. Additional flavoring might be necessary. You can add things like BBQ sauce into the mix later if you like.
I cooked my rice ahead of time. I used Calrose rice because it is substantial and won’t get lost, texture wise, in the patties. Why rice? I like a little more body to my burgers than a traditional TVP burger provides.
While my rice was cooking I cooked up some chopped Onion until super tender. Some people might add uncooked diced onion to their burgers but, as I have mentioned before, I don’t like the texture of onions.
I combined the rehydrated TVP, rice & onion and then slowly added the VWG. The goal was to make a mixture that could be shaped into a patty without falling apart. I add more VWG than most recipes call for, but that is because I like the consistency.
rough estimate of ingredients:
- 1 cup dry tvp
- 1 cup vgn bouillon
- 1/2 cup cooked rice
- 1/4 onion, diced and cooked in a little vgn margarine
- 1/2 to 1 cup VWG (depending on consistency)
Another way my burgers diverge from the traditional TVP burger is in the cooking method. Since I use more VWG in my patties they can be a bit gummy if cooked like a regular patty in a pan. So I precook them with steam. That’s right. I steam them.
In a large pot I use water, a dash of soy sauce and a couple tiny drops of liquid smoke. Why? The steam can be used to impart additional flavor to the burgers as they cook. Soy sauce is usually a good choice. And the liquid smoke is to give it that hint of grilled flavor. A little liquid smoke goes a VERY LONG WAY. So be careful when choosing to cook with it.
I place the patties on a steam basket and steam them for 30 minutes minimum on both sides. Yes, an hour of cooking time instead of just a few minutes in the pan. Obviously, this is not an “I’m hungry now” kind of burger. But the resulting patty is fully cooked, firm and well flavored. And if you use a lot of VWG then you have more of a chicken patty than a beef patty. So keep that in mind.
The fully cooked steamed patty can be served as is or cooked as you like. I usually fry them up a little because I can. But the solid shape would lend itself well to breading and frying like a wonderfully southern dish. Because in the South we fried everything. ;)
I have no burger buns in the house and refused to take a picture of my ghetto burger made with two slices of bread. So imagine some delicious awesomeness that didn’t last long on the plate.
well, I have some cleaning up to do.
Much love.
Tags: burgers, steaming, TVP, VWG
Filed under Cooking, Miscellaneous, Recipe.
