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I have found these veggie burgers that bleed; but as we can see the price is hefty (~$62 for 5 lbs). I want to replicate them at home. They would have to be very convincing - ideally, the person eating them will not recognize that they ate a plant product and not meat without being told.

What techniques and (vegetable-derived) ingredients can I use to imitate a real, bleeding meat burger?

mattm
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Liam
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    Hi Liam! Unfortunately, recipe requests are off topic here, so you might consider rephrasing your first question... your second question is a poll question which is not really allowed anywhere on Stack Exchange. – Catija Jan 23 '17 at 23:45
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    I'd try making a veggie burger (which is a bit of a pain for just a few), but also mix in bread that had been soaked in beet juice. But I'd also advise finding out if he has any allergies before you do it. And there are some groups that forbid or avoid consumption of certain vegetables. (Indian castes that don't eat onions or garlic; curly parsley and cauliflower aren't Kosher, as are a number of vegetables if not processed properly; etc.) – Joe Jan 24 '17 at 01:29
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    well, actually, I probably wouldn't bother making a veggie burger for this. If I knew the person didn't have any food restrictions, I'd make a veggie-heavy meatloaf in burger form. (finely dice some carrots, onions, bell pepper, maybe some mushrooms ... saute or sweat them down, add some spinach (I'd buy frozen, and thaw & drain it.), then put it over low / medium-low heat 'til it's dry ... let cool, then mix w/ the ground meat and some seasonings .... and then form them into patties. – Joe Jan 24 '17 at 01:37
  • It is a very valid question about a technique to achieve a certain appearance, texture, taste - not a recipe request. – rackandboneman Jan 24 '17 at 11:08
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    Hello Liam, your question was very far from our format, and got several close votes. We don't take questions which ask for generic ideas - you have to know what you want to do, and can come to us with questions how to achieve it. Also, as others mentioned we don't swap recipes. If you want to engineer your own recipe, then we can certainly help you with pointers what to try (as the existing answer does) and with troubleshooting along the way. So I removed the distracting background story and the open-ended request and left the answerable part. – rumtscho Jan 24 '17 at 11:50
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    Oh, and there is something confusing me - I understood your original question to mean that you found somebody else creating burgers which really exude something blood-like when bitten. The ones you linked don't make such a claim. Is this something you have seen, or heard of, or is it just something you came up with? Is the link relevant in any way, if it does not represent your end goal, or did I misunderstand you and you don't expect them to look like "bleeding"? – rumtscho Jan 24 '17 at 12:03
  • @Joe parsley and cauliflower are Kosher, they're just better at hiding bugs (which aren't Kosher) than other veggies. – JAB Jan 24 '17 at 23:44
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    @JAB : True ... if they could be cleaned of bugs ... but all of the vegetable guides that I've seen have said there's no accepted ways to clean them at home to be sure they have no bugs. (There are a couple of brands of frozen cauliflower that are certified kosher, though). Some say that curly parsley can be used to flavor soups if it's put in a cloth bag so the whole thing can be removed (insects and all) afterwards. And my understanding (as a non-jew), as that there was debate on if 'young grains' applied to that grown everywhere or just in Israel. – Joe Jan 25 '17 at 00:58

1 Answers1

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The ingredient list on the commercial product already gives you several pointers to work with in building a recipe:

  • A legume protein is used, with additional binders (tapioca starch). Probably not in plain flour form, since that would result in more of a pancake than a meat like texture.

  • beet juice and paprika are used both for a reddish colour and to get some of the adstringency/earthyness of meat juice in there. Also, one can assume the end product to be relatively acidic (despite there being an alkali - potassium bicarbonate - present), otherwise beet juice would give you a blue off colour.

  • At least two layers of smoke flavor - mesquite powder, hickory smoke extract - are used

  • shiitake and yeast extracts - umami sources

  • an iron compound - probably not just for enrichment, iron-adstringency is a flavor component in meat taste...

rackandboneman
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