Beyond Burger - © Beyond Meat

Cooking Beyond Meat Burgers: NOT The Same As Beef

Beyond Meat Burgers are now available in supermarkets – in the Meat Department – and there has been a certain amount of interest from consumers in spite of the price, which is higher than that of real Beef. So now is probably a good time for a tutorial on cooking and serving the stuff…

Beyond Meat is Ahead of Labelling Wave - © Beyond Meat Label - © Beyond Meat via FacebookBeyond Meat Burgers come in packs of 2, in the frozen aisle. Folks who’ve
tried them agree with the maker that they’re almost indistinguishable
from real Beef in flavour and texture – if you prepare them as
recommended, or apply some simple hacks…

Mainstream news and lifestyle media coverage of the new Veggie-based Meat Substitutes has, until now, concentrated on how the product compares with real Beef. Even online reviews have focused mainly on the post-cooking product: the flavour, mouth feel, colour and overall ‘dining experience’. But now that you can take them home and prepare them yourself, it’s probably a good time to look at how preparation of Veggie Protein Meat Substitutes should be handled and cooked.

They come frozen, so…

Beyond Meat products come frozen, and the manufacturer strongly recommends that you thaw them slowly in the fridge before cooking them. There are some good reasons for that, most of which revolve around the fact that there is not as much fat in them as there is in real Beef.

Critically, the makers strongly recommend that you pan fry or grill the product rather than microwave it or oven bake it. But you can cook Beyond Burgers any way you want – even from frozen – by applying a few hacks (see below).

Beyond Meat products should be cooked as soon as possible after thawing, though they will last a few days in the fridge before losing their ‘freshness’.

You could eat them raw, I guess…

Even though Beyond Meat contains no Animal Protein, they could theoretically be consumed raw. But Beyond strongly suggests you don’t do that, just in case, to ensure your safety and satisfaction. I can see why eating the stuff raw would be disappointing, from an ‘enjoyment’ point of view: cooking it is what imparts a lot of its flavour and texture. So you can probably write off Steak Tartare made form Beyond Meat loose ground without further consideration.

Some cooking hacks you can try…

If you customarily microwave or oven bake your Burgers, you can adapt either of these techniques to Beyond Meat products with a little creativity. Mainly, you’ll want to brush a little Oil onto each side of the Patty to keep it moist until its integral Fat starts to render. Yes, Beyond Burger 2.0 has faux marbelling, now, which makes the prepared product tastier and juicer than the original. But remember, it’s Veggie, not Animal Fat, and behaves differently on the heat.

The same recommendation, from intrepid experimenters, applies when cooking Beyond Burgers from frozen. But be advised that oven baking from frozen will take somewhat longer than other cooking methods and there’s no way to keep them from developing extra crispy ‘crusts’ if you cook them from frozen.

Cooking times will vary…

The official cooking time for Beyond Patties recommended by the manufacturer is 3 min. per side, pan fried or grilled over medium heat. But those who’ve tried them note that the Burgers will cook faster on a hot grill and, as noted above, require more time if cooked from frozen (up to six minutes per side). You’ll probably have to experiment a bit to get it right using your preferred cooking method.

Take note: There are no official cooking time recommendations from the maker for Rare, Medium or Well Done. Beyond Burgers are either ‘done’ (‘Well’) or they’re ‘raw’. (See comment, above, on how the cooking process develops their flavour and texture.)

Have fun with Beyond Burgers!

But do acquaint yourself with its peculiarities before setting out to explore its more exotic possibilities…

~ Maggie J.