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Blending around 70% ground beef with 30% chopped mushrooms could reduce the environmental impact of beef:
The idea is that mixing chopped mushrooms into our burgers boosts the umami taste, adds more moisture and reduces the amount of beef required for a burger. And reducing the need for beef has a big impact on the environment. According to the World Resources Institute [WRI], if 30 percent of the beef in every burger in America were replaced by mushrooms, it would reduce greenhouse emissions by the same amount as taking 2.3 million vehicles off of our roads.
[...] Richard Waite, from the World Resources Institute, is thrilled. "I think it's great!" he says. WRI has been pushing the blended beef-mushroom burger as a candidate to become one of America's most-served menu items, which WRI calls "power meals." According to Waite, the list of the top 20 meals served by food service companies currently contains only one plant-based item, a veggie wrap. The rest are meat-centric, including four versions of the classic hamburger.
Many niche burger makers and school cafeterias have joined the blended burger bandwagon. In the dining rooms of Stanford University, Waite says, it's the only kind of burger you'll find. But Sonic's 3,500 drive-in restaurants represent a huge boost to the concept.
Here's a recipe for a roasted mushroom base and beef-mushroom burgers.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bob_super on Tuesday March 06 2018, @02:08AM (27 children)
Step away slowly from the 99% beef patty (gotta have spices), and nobody gets hurt.
You may want to zigzag as you leave the place, just in case I have ideas about you sharing your ideas.
2.3M cars is what? 1% of the US's total? Start by enforcing proper pollution controls, if you care about the environment. Then save more gas by slowing them down by playing frogger in the 405 (at 4AM, when it's actually hard). Your odds of survival are better than if you try to put you shrooms in our meat.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @02:16AM (16 children)
You haven't really thought too much about the environmental impact of high density cattle farming on an industrial scale, have you?
Look, I'm all for a good burger now and then and I don't want to take that burger away from you. You clearly enjoy it and that's great, I think you should be able to keep enjoying. But maybe take a step back and think about those spices you so eagerly want and combine that with the extra flavoring you'll get from mushrooms. Also maybe try to eat it in a bit more moderation, if you can.
On top of that, you are aware that eating veggies does not in fact turn you into a gay wuss, are you? We'll still think as much of you as a manly man if you eat your veggies as well (See, an AND, not an OR) instead of just pigging on protein.
Also, about that 99% beef patty... have I got news for you, my friend. Because that what you've been sold as 99% beef, may be 99% beef, but that does not mean it's 99% /meat/.
(Score: -1, Troll) by leftover on Tuesday March 06 2018, @03:07AM
You dissemble a lot about topics you really don't understand, don't you. Instead of posting here as an anonymous blowhard, I really think you should look into a couple of topics. First, find the sources of the "killer cattle" story. Second, look into the effects on human development when we started eating meat then think about who might want to reverse those effects. Perhaps you do not mind the idea that your children/grandchildren could be reduced to prey animals. I do mind rather a lot and I consider bloviators like you to be on the wrong side. Pathetic, still on the wrong side. Have a nice evening doing your homework.
Bent, folded, spindled, and mutilated.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday March 06 2018, @03:49AM (14 children)
First, maybe you should define "high density cattle farming". Industrial scale, also. Most American cattle farmers are pretty small scale, and they aren't they aren't exactly "high density". Let me stick a disclaimer in here: I AM NOT defending the big commercial operations! The thing is, most beef comes from individual farms and ranches. The big operations are big - but there aren't all that many of them.
I suspect that you might be a city boy, and you've seen very little of America's country sides. You've watched a couple documentaries, in which an activist group has portrayed animal husbandry as a gross, evil, cruel, inhumane business. And, you've gobbled up a couple more documentaries about how much the cattle industry pollutes the environment. Well, those documentaries aren't exactly the norm.
Groups like PETA mostly have their heads up their butts, and contributors to those groups are mostly just virtue signaling tools. Life in rural America just isn't what all those activists would have you believe.
Cows fart. Big deal. Cows happen to be ruminants. Do you know what that means? They have more than one stomach. They produce a lot of gas in the process of digestion. Do you know what other animals are ruminants? Deer, buffalo, elk, sheep, goats, and more.
You like nature, right? Well, before the white man arrived, and destroyed a lot of nature, buffalo wandered this land in the millions. Elk probably not so numerous, but deer probably competed in terms of numbers. Ruminants are everywhere. And, they all fart like mad. That's nature.
Why you wanna mess with nature? You need to concentrate on reducing the number of internal combustion engines, and stop worrying about cattle. Cattle aren't unnatural, at all. They HAVE replaced the huge herds of buffalo, or American bison. But the cattle are probably a close approximation of the former herds of buffalo.
Run along now - verify my statements if you like. Then, get out there and protest against automobiles. Leave the burgers on the hoof alone!
Oh - here is a list of ruminants for you - https://www.animalwised.com/ruminant-animals-full-list-and-fun-facts-206.html [animalwised.com] Just for fun, you might look some of them up. Which of them are on endangered species lists? Which of them once numbered in the millions, or maybe even billions, but have been reduced to hundreds of thousands - or less? I leave you to learn, and to think. Maybe after you've put things in a more proper perspective, we can discuss the issue of bovine pollution some more.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Whoever on Tuesday March 06 2018, @04:06AM
So, let's start with numbers:
there are just under 100M cattle in the USA, while the deer population is estimated at less than 1/3 of that.
That is an irrelevant number. What's important is what proportion of the livestock are in large farms that confine their livestock.
Approximately 80% of livestock were sold by farms with confined livestock.
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/home/?cid=nrcs143_014121 [usda.gov]
You were saying?
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @05:08AM (2 children)
Their diet has changed. Cattle nowadays are fed corn. Corn makes them expel gas far more than when grazing grasses. I'm not saying how much that contributes to climate change, only that looking at the raw head counts isn't good enough.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @11:13AM
Corn is a grass.
(Score: 2) by Taibhsear on Tuesday March 06 2018, @03:32PM
Do you have a citation for the relative amounts of gas production of grass vs corn? I'm genuinely curious how large the difference is.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday March 06 2018, @07:02AM (9 children)
Replace them with huge herds of kangaroos - they fart much less methane [theguardian.com].
Just don't try to milk them (especially the males) you may end gutted [youtube.com].
And don't punch them unless they are busy keeping your dog in a headlock [nationalgeographic.com].
(if you really want to know, you'll have to try it yourself, but the taste of kangaroo meat is pretty close to the one of a veal, except some more herby overtones and a somehow tougher texture)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday March 06 2018, @10:37AM (8 children)
"(if you really want to know, you'll have to try it yourself, but the taste of kangaroo meat is pretty close to the one of a veal, except some more herby overtones and a somehow tougher texture)"
I can attest to that. It's tasty.
If we all start eating kangaroos, though, will PETA complain we're eating Kanga and Roo?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday March 06 2018, @12:08PM (7 children)
Mate, I dare you to eat a kanga [kangaloader.com]
Roo meat is available at major retailers downunder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday March 06 2018, @01:47PM (6 children)
Kanga and Roo [wikia.com]
Did you miss the reference because you were looking at it upside down? ;-)
I'm impressed you can get kangaroo meat anywhere in Australia. I've longed for the native meat, buffalo, to be widely available in America, but no luck.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @02:57PM
Hmm I find that odd, because I have no issues here in Colorado finding buffalo meat.
All of the major grocery stores in the area sell buffalo. One of them even sells ground kangaroo along with elk and boar.
https://www.thebalance.com/sprouts-farmers-market-profile-1325948 [thebalance.com]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday March 06 2018, @04:09PM
I've eaten a lot of beefalo, starting with my sophomore year of high school. The local burger/ice cream stand somehow acquired some buffalo, and started a breeding program. Beefalo is great stuff! Buffalo meat is good, but, somehow, it never lived up to my expectations. It compares to average to good quality beef, but it's just not really special, IMO.
The superior meat, IMHO, is either angus, or brahma, or a mix, called brangus.
Of course, everyone has an opinion, right? If you like buffalo meat, I hope you can find all you want, at reasonable prices.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday March 06 2018, @07:51PM (2 children)
I've longed for the native meat, buffalo, to be widely available in America, but no luck.
Do you only shop at Walmart or something? You can get buffalo at any decent grocery store these days; I even saw some (ground) at Costco last time I was there.
It's not as easily available as regular beef, but that's because it's more expensive and Americans are cheap, but it is out there. But you're not that likely to find it at crappy stores.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday March 06 2018, @08:55PM (1 child)
Hardly. I'm in Brooklyn. We have Costco, BJ's, Sam's, Whole Foods, Fairway, you name it. None of them carries buffalo. The meat seems to be more available in the West now than when I was a kid, and that's good, but it doesn't seem to made it to the East Coast yet.
It being NYC, I'm sure I could find it at some specialty shop if I looked really hard, but I don't want to pay $15/lb for it or make special trips to Queens. Tja, not a need, only a minor want.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday March 06 2018, @09:50PM
Hardly. I'm in Brooklyn. We have Costco... None of them carries buffalo. The meat seems to be more available in the West now than when I was a kid, and that's good, but it doesn't seem to made it to the East Coast yet.
I saw it in a Costco in a small city in Virginia a little south of DC. I wonder if there's just something weird about NYC. Or maybe I was just lucky at Costco that day.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday March 06 2018, @09:22PM
Well, part of it, yes it came from "upsidedown look" - I was giving you a "taste" of what the usual bloke in outer suburbs here will have in mind when he hears "kanga".
Otherwise, yes, the reference was missing from my culture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by jelizondo on Tuesday March 06 2018, @02:20AM
Another 'merican who has not tried the real mushrooms [wikipedia.org] and thinks weed is a veggie...
Probably from California to top it off!
;-}
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @02:25AM
What if we call it "Mushroom Meatloaf" instead? Will that allow you not to shoot people?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Fluffeh on Tuesday March 06 2018, @04:09AM (5 children)
Actually, I love to cook - and I love a good burger - and I think that a patty with some vegetables in with the meat actually tastes a lot better than straight meat. I generally add some onion, some mushrooms, a tiny bit of carrot and sometimes a tiny bit of leek as well. But I put the veggies through a meat mincer, then put the meat and veggies through the mincer again to mix it properly (or just chop the veggies up super fine, then knead it in by hand) - but then the usual salt, pepper and other spices... man, it's the best burger you can get! MUCH better than plain meat. It looks like 100% meat when cooked - but has a much more rounded taste.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Tuesday March 06 2018, @03:09PM (4 children)
I don't doubt your burger tastes quite good. On the other hand, I wonder if you're covering up the taste of bland beef.
We have a food industry in the U.S. dedicated to maximum production and speed. Taste and flavor is secondary. Cattle are bred and fed to make the most meat at the fastest rate. That's not going to necessarily produce the most flavorful beef. I imagine this is true to some extent in industrial farming in other countries too.
I often grind my own beef at home when making burgers. For many years I also used to throw in some vegetables and a complex mixture of spices, sometimes dashes of sauces, etc. And it tasted good.
But then I started trying to find better beef with a stronger flavor... Which can be hard to find. (Mixing beef from a couple different cuts of the cow can help.). And I found all those fillers covered up the good flavor of the pure beef. Nowadays, I often only add just a little black pepper (occasionally a dash of another spice or herb) to the mix. Salt actually radically changes the texture of burgers during cooking, so I've taken to frequently excluding that from the mix too and only salting after cooking.
To each their own, though. I have no problem with those who want to add significant filler to a burger -- eventually you end up with something that's more like a meatball or sausage, but that can be good too. I just think GOOD beef can be great on its own too.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday March 06 2018, @04:17PM (1 child)
You remind me of an old friend. Most of my life, when I had a steak or anything, someone was handing me some A1 or something similar to put on the steak. Went to a restaurant with this guy, and we both ordered steaks. Waitress asked if we wanted steak sauce, and his reply was, "Why, is the steak that bad?" That got me to thinking, so I ate my steak without any sauce. Yep - it was a great steak, and putting A1 on it would have pretty much ruined the flavor.
I don't mind mixing in some veggies or whatever in a meatloaf. Don't mind condiments on a burger. But, if I'm having a steak, just trot that thing across the fire, and bring it to me. Good beef doesn't really need any help. Bad beef can't get enough help! Mediocre beef should have been ground up for hamburger.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @07:22AM
You remind me of my friend who would go ballistic if someone tried to serve him hot dogs or hamburgers (lamb burgers are OK).
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday March 06 2018, @07:54PM
All meat is somewhat bland in flavor; that's why we do things like marinades and sauces and use spices, and it's been this way for centuries and in most cultures around the world.
(Score: 2) by Kawumpa on Wednesday March 07 2018, @04:46AM
This, most people buy either store ground beef or the wrong cuts and then wonder why the burger tastes bland. Everybody will have to find their own blend, but I recommend at least a third of short rib and if you want it a little funky, grind in some oxtail as well. You can salt post-forming, pre-grilling/searing. Don't handle the meat excessively and keep it cool.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday March 06 2018, @07:17AM
What's wrong with offering beef/mushroom burgers besides the traditional beef-only burgers? If those new burgers taste as great as the article claims, they will be bought not because of the environmental impact, but because of the taste. And if not, well, then they'll not be able to sell too many of them, will they?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Tuesday March 06 2018, @06:34PM
This is how it begins.
It ends with the 99% eating flavorless gray goop.
No more twinkie farmers.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.