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I tried making a vegan burger in my kitchen before, and it turned out all right. However, when I taste a vegan burger or a vegan hot dog at restaurants or in frozen foods, it seems much closer to the real taste.

So I was wondering, what are the ingredients that make vegan meat taste like real meat?

Peter Mortensen
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soundslikefiziks
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    Vegan meat is an oxymoron. – Neil Meyer Nov 26 '16 at 14:43
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    @NeilMeyer http://linguistics.stackexchange.com/ – soundslikefiziks Nov 26 '16 at 15:35
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    I was wondering that myself. Definitely some kind of nature identical flavor is being used, but I've no idea where to get some of it or how to make it. I usually prefer mushrooms and veggies though. – Ivan Anishchuk Nov 27 '16 at 10:43
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    http://www.beefresearch.org/cmdocs/beefresearch/the%20chemistry%20of%20beef%20flavor.pdf – rackandboneman Nov 28 '16 at 12:34
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    related : http://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/15475/67 ; http://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/12351/67 ; http://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/3540/67 ; http://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/35461/67 ; http://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/13086/67 – Joe Dec 01 '16 at 15:21
  • Because restaurants cook vegan burgers on the same grill as delicious meaty burgers. ;) – Nathron Dec 01 '16 at 19:14

1 Answers1

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The meaty taste is Umami. It is the flavour of monosodium glutamate, in the same way that salty is the flavour of salt.

Both mushrooms and tomatoes of the right variety are quite rich in it, as is yeast extract. You can also just buy the stuff commercially.

Don't worry about the stigma attached to it, it's not actually toxic or anything.

Carmi
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    Also, soy sauces (some have added MSG but it is not needed), doenjang, miso, sufu... – rackandboneman Nov 28 '16 at 12:32
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    Lots of yeast extracts are rich in glutamates and nucleotides as well. – SourDoh Dec 01 '16 at 01:59
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    @SourDoh, I mentioned yeast extract in my answer. It's true that also miso and other fermented soy products have it too, but it was just a quick answer and hardly an exhaustive list. – Carmi Dec 01 '16 at 06:59