Question
Jody Criman
Is there an ideal ratio for the different categories in veg. burgers? How thick should they be? What should the moisture level be when making them and how should they feel?
Answer
So this is kind of an open-ended question, Jody, because there are so many different ways to make veg burgers. It's actually one of the things I love about veggie burgers. I'm not a big fan of like the Impossible Burgers or, um, the Beyond Meats because they taste too much like meat for me. And after being a vegetarian and vegan, as long as I have, um, that like flavor just really, um, it turns me off. Um, and so I like actually veggie burgers that taste like full of veggies and all kinds of other things in them. But that being said, there's a lot of different kinds of veggie burgers. So, uh, you know, ratios are gonna be very different on the different styles. Um, thickness, uh, you know, typically probably, you know, aren't gonna be too thick. Like if you're doing like an inch, you know, tall, that's probably a little too big, but maybe a half inch at the most would be on a veggie burger. But, um, you know, you get also down to a quarter inch, um, for those veggie burgers as far as thickness goes. Now, as far as ratios go, um, you know, they're a huge variety, but typically, you know, if you're doing something like it, it's almost like in thirds ish, no, I guess I wouldn't say that. Like, it might be something like a cup of grain and a cup of, um, you know, maybe two cups of your moist vegetables, um, and maybe another cup of like beans or something like that. And then, you know, your flavor enhancers and your herbs, and then usually something to bind them with the beans might be the binder for it. Or if you're doing another grain, you know, forward veggie burger, it might be something like aquafaba or something other to be able to help bind that up. Now, on the moisture level, you don't want them to be too moist, right? Like, I mean, you want some moisture into them when you eat them. They shouldn't be completely dried out, but if they're sticky, especially after you're cooking, something's gone a little bit different. Um, they, they definitely will be sticky when you first make them though, because they're all kinds of vegetables. You're, you know, um, your binding element, whatever you're using is your binder, which, and, and something else might be an egg, but in the veg world, we use a whole lot of other things to be able to do. Binding beans are probably the most popular for veggie burgers. Um, you know, and because you're kind of pulsing those up, they're going to stick a little bit when you first, uh, you know, make them. And, um, that's you. I usually put them in parchment paper to be able to make sure that they don't stick to each other if I'm making a lot of them. Um, so, you know, you don't wanna go too thick on them. The moisture level should be moist enough when they're first make them, but when you're done cooking them, you don't wanna lose all the moisture out 'em, so you still have some of that moisture in them. Um, and then, uh, yeah, as far as the feel, you'll still have a, I mean, you'll have a little give when you push into them, your fingers will sink into them, um, as well. And if you push hard enough, they're going to break apart as well. So a little bit hard of a question to answer there, but, um, you know, some of those things you're going to find in there and there's no real, uh, you know, this is the end all, be all answer to that because there's so many different varieties in veggie burgers.
