I'll echo the sentiment. The local Safeway sells Impossible Bratwursts.
They are honestly delicious. We grilled them on a fry-pan. The flavor and texture are almost perfectly there. It's just a bit spongy, and the depth of the umami/savory flavor isn't quite as deep. But if I hadn't known they weren't meat, I'd have been fooled. Throw a few of them on a grill or beer-boil them, put some mustard down over top, little kraut, I'd never know they weren't meat.
If the burger patties are anywhere near as good as the brats, then I think they'll sell a billion of them. For hearth-health and calorie density alone, I'd order them nearly every time.
My favorite of all of these products are the various Impossible Sausages, probably for exactly the reason that sausage is way more flavor and texture than just the meat or “meat” itself. Seriously love the bratwurst alternatives. The burgers from either brand? I completely agree with you, there’s something just slightly off about them.
Those sausages are definitely better than the burger patty to me. I just wish Impossible would get more products out since their burger patty is the first uncanny valley leaping veggie meat I've had.
Maybe a vegan sausage patty could be more easily convincing - they usually have lots of binders and spices anyway. Beyond Meat/Impossible Burger were disgusting to me (compared to regular beef), and they were dyed bright red and stayed bright red when they were cooked which is weird and not like meat.
My favourite (chain fast food) non meat burger option so far has been the one that McDonalds recently released in New Zealand - it's a deep fried, crumbed mashed potato patty with other vegetables in it too. Doesn't pretend to be meat but is delicious.
Honestly, I've been making Impossible burgers at home on brioche buns, butter lettuce, and nice tomato and they're better than pretty much any burger I've ever had (Beyond is 2nd runner up for sure and still super good). I don't want Lab-grown meat and I think it's pretty gross, and I'm a massive carnivore.
It's tasty. I consider them "medium quality burgers", compared to the low and high quality burger I've eaten. I'm perfectly fine eating these. They don't upset my stomach, ever. [Real meat can - perhaps too oily for my system?]
Also, use the meat with taco-seasoning on nachos, is okay. The texture is a bit grainy vs hamburger.
And the sausage product, when shredded and placed on-top of a vegetarian pizza, is AMAZING.
Beyond Meat is still strange for burgers, though they make good sausage - tasty with eggs.
The Beyond Beef burgers that my local burger chain (Grill’d) sell are pretty good, too. They’re a little drier than a good beef patty and a bit sweeter, but if you told me it was beef I think I would believe you, albeit not cooked perfectly.
My understanding is that popular opinion says Impossible is even closer, though I haven’t tried it personally.
As a counter-counter-point, I recently tried the Impossible burger, and while it's amazing, it's not remotely close to real meat. And that's in ground-beef-covered-with-cheese-and-sauce-and-toppings form. Impossible vs a great steak or some grilled salmon? No way.
I've only had beyond meat sausage but impossible burger at Umami Burger in Oakland is far and away the best meat substitute I've ever had. I'm looking forward to seeing impossible meat in supermarkets because it blows beyond meant out of the water.
I agree. I'd heard the hype about Impossible so I was excited to try it when I finally saw it available at a restaurant near me, but found that it tasted pretty similar to a Morningstar Farms Griller's Prime patty. Since it cost me as much to sub an Impossible patty as to buy a whole bag of Griller's Prime, I wasn't impressed.
The Beyond Burger though, man that's good. I haven't had real beef in years, but people tell me it looks and smells pretty similar when cooking and I think the taste and texture are really close too. I love 'em.
I really wish the Beyond Sausage shortage would end.
While I'm also excited about fake meat, the impossible burger isn't close.
Impossible tastes as if you took low quality meat, pureed it, took all the fat out, made it into a patty, and then froze it. Sure, you could trick me into thinking its real meat, but not high quality meat.
And of course, this is completely different than creating a steak or something.
They are honestly delicious. We grilled them on a fry-pan. The flavor and texture are almost perfectly there. It's just a bit spongy, and the depth of the umami/savory flavor isn't quite as deep. But if I hadn't known they weren't meat, I'd have been fooled. Throw a few of them on a grill or beer-boil them, put some mustard down over top, little kraut, I'd never know they weren't meat.
If the burger patties are anywhere near as good as the brats, then I think they'll sell a billion of them. For hearth-health and calorie density alone, I'd order them nearly every time.
Living in the future has a few perks!
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