Veggie Burgers

Hard to believe now, in our produce-focused, locally sourced world, but in 1982, the idea of a commercially produced veggie burger was brand new, and appealing only to a micro audience of committed vegetarians. This week we’re going to dial it back even further, to the swinging ‘60s, where the veggie burger was born, in a trendy London restaurant.

The seed was planted in 1969, when Gregory Sams opened a macrobiotic diner located in the basement of London’s Paddington neighborhood. At the aptly named SEED, he offered then-exotic items like seaweed, unleavened bread and miso, reports Smithsonian Magazine. His original concoction--a meatless patty made from seitan flavored with tamari and mixed with adzuki beans, oat flakes, dried herbs, tomato and onion—drew customers in, among them, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who became regulars. With the vegetarian revolution well underway by the 1970s, Sams created a dry mix version of his star patties, and kicked it off commercially in 1982, and followed it up with a frozen VegeBurger in 1984. Not to be outdone by the Brits, Paul Wenner created an original veggie patty at his Oregon restaurant, the Gardenhouse, in 1981. Customer demand proved so strong for the burger, made with large chunks of real grains and mushrooms and lots of cheese, that he closed the restaurant in 1985 and founded Gardenburger, Inc. By 1992, his company went public, and in 1993, was named the fastest growing publicly traded company in America, the same year Boca Burger Inc. came on the scene. The veggie burger had officially come of age.

Two decades later, Gardenburger is owned by the Kellogg Company, Boca Burger is a subsidiary of Kraft, and the veggie burger is a mainstay on American menus. Its inherently healthy ways appeal to vegetarians and vegans, yes, but also flexitarians and even meat eaters. Food writer and cookbook author Melissa Clark confides: “I turn to veggie burgers when I crave the hamburger experience (soft bun, chewy protein, lots of spicy condiments) but would, at that moment, rather consume vegetables than meat.” The challenge however, is that while making a pretty good veggie burger is pretty easy, she says “Making a great one is a lot harder.”

That’s a challenge accepted, and flavorfully won, by veggie burger producer and author Lukas Volger in his lively best seller, “Veggie Burgers Every Which Way,” featuring novelties such as tofu and chard burgers, Thai carrot burgers, baked falafel burgers and corn burgers with sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese. His advice for great veggie burgers: focus on the protein, with one or two main ingredients; use a binder, such as egg and breadcrumbs; go big and bold with flavors, and mix in generous amounts of fresh herbs and spices; and top it off with strongly seasoned ingredients like pickled onions, olive tapenade and spicy relishes. His cooking method consists of searing the veggie burger over high heat on the stovetop and then finishing it off in the oven, for a crispy crust and beautifully cooked inside.

Using Volger’s book as a primary source, Clark also experimented with ways to build her perfect veggie burger and found precooking the vegetables before blitzing them in the food processor and adding mayonnaise made for a succulent, juicy final product. Her ideal ingredient mix includes tempeh and ground nuts for a meat-like texture, mushrooms and cheese for a savory umami flavor, grated roasted beets for the slightly pink look of beef and pimentón for spicy, smoky notes.

One of the newest and tastiest New York veggie burgers ever made sizzled onto the scene this summer, courtesy of the pastry chef at Del Posto restaurant, part of the Mario Batali-Bastianich fine dining empire. According to Grub Street, Chef Brooks Headley created the “next level veggie burger by taking a risotto-like approach to overcooking and undercooking some ingredients to achieve a meaty texture.” Topped with crunchy iceberg lettuce to better mimic a fast-food burger, plum tomatoes and some melted Muenster, the burger achieved the highest accolades from all who sampled it. David Chang termed it “the best veggie burger I’ve ever had,” T Magazine critic gushed, “It’s a squishy little sandwich that delivers some intense, umami-entangled satisfaction” and many diners told Headley they would never have guessed it was a veggie burger.

Other veggie burgers with cult followings, according to Tasting Table.com: at The Plant in San Francisco, a healthy dose of caramelized beets and mushrooms is mixed with lentils, bulgur and cashews; the falafel burger at Thistle Hill Tavern in Brooklyn, made with chickpeas, onions and parsley, as well as toasted cumin, coriander and cardamom, slathered in homemade tzatziki sauce; the black bean and corn patty studded with brown rice at Hopdoddy in Austin, crowned with avocado, goat cheese and arugula; and the black bean burger at The Mill Northeast in Minneapolis, blended with wild rice, mirepoix, nuts, mushrooms, shredded jack cheese and panko breadcrumbs, topped with melted provolone. VegNews, a leading vegan magazine, calls out its favorite at Comet Café in Milwaukee—the vegan Big Luck Burger, “everything about this burger screams perfection, the burger patty is even encrusted in hazelnuts!”

Introducing - the US Foods® 2013 Next Top Product® winner: the Black Bean Burger. It's full of black beans and a little kick, compliments of winner Chef Jerrmy of Greenhouse Grille, Fayetteville, Arkansas.