Saturday, July 20, 2013

How Much to Cook a Veggie burger, Initial Impressions

A friend of mine who is vegetarian was speaking glowingly of the Boca burger. Not soon after I bought a box of them. I've had 3 so far. I just got the regular ones, I later learned I should have gotten the cheese ones. The first one I had with land o'lakes american, raw onion, jalapeno, and a slice of thick bacon, on a toasted english muffin with mayo on the bottom and ketchup on the top. I cooked the burger in the bacon fat in the cast iron skillet. Once I put the cheese on it I put the skillet in the oven to melt the cheese as is my way. I thought it had a nice meat-like texture. I don't know what possessed me to get veggie burgers, it was spur of the moment. I'm really not against the idea and they're pretty convenient. I was hoping they'd taste something like a felafel, which I like. I don't think it did, but it was OK nevertheless. I'm not really sure what it tasted like, but it was definitely decent. I did think it was a little dry though.

The next time I had the same fixins' but I put it on whole wheat toast. This one I didn't like. Initially I thought it was the bread, which I had just bought and wasn't familiar with this particular loaf. Though I was surprised that the bread could have such a dramatic effect. I also didn't cook it as much because I thought I may have overcooked the last one. Perhaps it wasn't as dry, and maybe it wasn't cooked enough. For some reason it tasted a lot like horseradish. I'm a fan of horseradish, but this flavor just wasn't good. I found the experience quite unsatisfying. I later tested the bread, making a kind of cheese sandwich with it, and it passed with flying colors. I can't see how it could be the bread. I told my friend about my experiences and asked if it was possible that it wasn't cooked enough. She said something like she couldn't imagine what they would be like if they were under-cooked, I forget the exact words. I'm not saying it was cold or frozen in the middle by the way.

The next time I had it on an english muffin with no bacon. I cooked the patty in olive oil, and I cooked it a lot, I thought it was good, just like the other time. If you like a kind of hockey puck type burger, it's not bad. And I admit I can enjoy a hockey puck burger. I guess the Boca burger should not be served medium rare. I also felt a bit better after I had one than I might expect to after a regular burger. I thought it still did taste a little of horseradish, but not in a bad way. My impression is then that it would be hard to cook it too much, and it's perfectly fine. And I'm glad that the bread I bought wasn't some crazy kind of super whole wheat bread that's inedible, though I think I'll stick to english muffins if I can. I know that the real test would be to cook it a lot and use the toasted bread, but we have to live in the real world. I also found myself thinking about putting tomato and lettuce on it, which is rare for a me.

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