The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet - Joni-Marie Newman

[MarkAnthony]

Anyone got this book? I think it's quite new. I got it the other day and have tried two recipes so far. They've been very good.

As someone who is useless at getting veggie burgers to hold together usually I'm hoping to get some proper practice from this book and eventually be able to make my own that will actually work as burgers instead of slop. The first burger I made out of here didn't hold it's shape well, but the second one did a lot. She also says (and she's right) that freezing your burgers beforehand seems to create a better all-round package: they brown more evenly and hold their shape better.

So yeah, VEGGIE BURGERS. If you don't like veggie burgers you're an apple, or something.

[Blueberries]

That books sounds quite good, the lady who wrote it also wrote 'Hearty Vegan Meals', co-wrote '500 Vegan Recipes' and was on an episode of Everyday Dish.. her food always looks really good.

I always find the secret to getting veggie burgers to stay together is to make sure they're not too liquidy and that they have some sort of binder. Egg-replacer, or even tomato paste or extra flour. And letting them fry/bake until one of the side has crisped, not trying to flip them too soon also helps. Freezing them also sounds like a good idea :D

[MarkAnthony]

Strangely, one of these recipes contained chickpea flour as its flour component, the other plain flour. The plain flour one held much better than the chickpea flour one, which I find odd because chickpea flour has such a binding effect with water (my whole omelette recipe is based on it).

I suspect I'll learn a fair few techniques from this book, which is what excites me most right now. The recipes in terms of flavours seem to be good, but what I'm really invested in is putting time into the techniques, and seeing what does what. I'm optimistic about the learning process so far. :)

[MarkAnthony]

Hmm basic black bean burgers are very tasty but don't hold their shape well...what could this mean?

[twinkle]

Hmm basic black bean burgers are very tasty but don't hold their shape well...what could this mean?

Too much liquid? Beans need to be mashed a bit?

[Andy_T]

Hey, sounds awesome, have just ordered it..

Best regards,
Andy

[Firestorm]

I made the Deli Style Tuna Melt today. The recipe doesn't have any flour or anything to bind it, but I think it could have done with some. It just about held together but could have been better (this might be cos I used half mayo/half salad cream instead of all mayo). It tasted good though.

[michaelt]

A lot of the recipes call for awkward to get ingredients (for the UK) like gluten flour, which can be a hassle. My wife made some sweet potato and fennel burgers, which were ok but a bit gloopy and bland. Not really worth the trouble. However, there are lots of good looking recipes and we'll certainly persevere with the book. If anyone's interested, I also made a simple spread/dip from this book, which I've blogged about here: http://www.turpsthoughts.org.uk/recipes/

[Firestorm]

I agree some of the ingredients can be awkward to get but there are always potential substitutions (I.E The Denver Omelette burger requires tofu & liquid smoke but I thought about using smoked tofu instead - although I just managed to get liquid smoke off Ebay):-). I think this book probably has more "Doable" recipes that the author's last book (hearty vegan meals for monster appetites). If you want gluten flour I think Veggiestuff and honest-to-goodness both sell it. I have also read in a cookbook (Rustic Vegan Cooking) that you can use strong wholewheat flour?

I would definitely recommend trying the "Tuna" melt!

[MarkAnthony]

Unless you are very pressed for space where you live I'd recommend any vegan to buy some gluten flour online in bulk. If you buy about ten bags at once the price works out reasonable, and obviously it keeps forever.

You can pretty much do the same with liquid smoke. I think technically all my liquid smoke in the cupboard has expired but there's absolutely nothing wrong with it that I can see. I think it's a case of the best before date really just being a company disclaimer than being anything meaningful.

The cookbook does say you can substitute almost any flour for almost any other in the recipes. I'm going to look into this a bit more since I was really disappointed that the chickpea flour ones didn't hold together.

[twinkle]

... If you want gluten flour I think Veggiestuff and honest-to-goodness both sell it...

I've mentioned this a couple of times but I recently ordered 6kg of gluten flour from Honest to Goodness as the price was the best I'd found online. Just a warning though - they use a bit of a crap courier whose online tracking system is rubbish, so only order from them if you've got an address someone is going to be at all the time (or you live near a Parcel2go/my hermes depot!)

[Firestorm]

^^ I have to agree with the courier - I've only ever bought cold stuff and had to make sure there was someone at home all day to open the door and then put it in the fridge because their cool bags aren't fantastic.

[Kitteh]

I made the gf sun-dried tomato rice burgers - they are delicious!

[Maître]

Are the recipes suitable for freezing and oven baking like most store bought 'veggie burgers'? I'd love to make my own in mass, freeze and then bake them when needed as some easy filling meal when I don't have time to cook (chuck in the oven and come back in xx amount of time while doing something else).

I make really thick chili using lots of types of beans and usually freeze some of it for use later in the week, I imagine that it would taste amazing in burger form and it would be a nice change, but I'm not really sure how to do it. Does anyone have some generic 'burgerfication' recipe that would work for chili (and other stuff, lentils for example)? Sorry it's slightly off topic, but I didn't really want to make a whole new topic :p