SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @02:16AM (7 children)
Mushrooms are great, but they're more expensive than ground beef unless you get the cheap flavorless kind.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday March 06 2018, @02:33AM (5 children)
If you're talking about Agaricus bisporus [wikipedia.org], I don't think they taste flavorless at all. You'll want to sauté or roast them before sticking them in your burger meat.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Informative) by dbe on Tuesday March 06 2018, @03:06AM (2 children)
Agreed, saute in butter (the real kind, not margarine), a lot of it... and you can get an amazing mushroom flavor.
Also don't cut them in too small pieces as they reduce a lot, you still want to have something to chew on.
Incidentally if you have to "re-hydrate" dry mushroom, butter does also the trick.
-dbe
(Score: 3, Insightful) by epitaxial on Tuesday March 06 2018, @04:40PM (1 child)
Saute anything in butter and it tastes good.
(Score: 2) by Kawumpa on Wednesday March 07 2018, @04:51AM
Ah, the secret of french cuisine. :)
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Tuesday March 06 2018, @03:25AM (1 child)
The only thing about mixing ground beef and mushrooms in order to cut cattle production is that the medium that Agaricus bisporus (or crimini mushrooms) are grown in is cow manure. Fewer cattle means fewer mushrooms.
That said, there are many reasons why mixing mushrooms with ground meat not only improves the taste, but is healthier. I've used shiitake and oyster mushrooms mixed with beef for burgers and meatloaf. Very tasty indeed.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday March 06 2018, @04:19AM
The substrate for these mushrooms can use a lot more than just
bullshitcow manure:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5483216/ [nih.gov]
https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/opag.2017.2.issue-1/opag-2017-0056/opag-2017-0056.xml [degruyter.com]
https://etda.libraries.psu.edu/files/final_submissions/5686 [psu.edu]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday March 06 2018, @02:39AM
Also, one of the benefits of this mixture seems to be that the mushrooms can blend in and not affect the overall flavor of the burger much, aside from possibly making it juicier and adding more glutamates (umami/savory flavor) to it.
So the school lunch cafeteria can improve the taste while saving money.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]