How would I go about recreating beef/hamburger taste/umami, strictly vegan?
I've begun to experiment with creating the perfect vegan hamburger. Hamburgers was something I held very dear before I stopped eating meat and I haven't been able to find something that even comes close to a meat based burger.
Now I've done some experiments with seitan and I feel that I'm getting there with the texture and chewiness, however the taste is still far off and I would like to ask you for your best tips on recreating the beefy taste that hamburgers have.
I've tried the usual, soy, ketchup (or dried tomatoes), garlic, onions, marmite, nutritional yeast and vegan worcestershire sauce. And of course a tad of liquid smoke, but I feel lost and unable to track down what I miss and need to make it just right.
Best Answer
Cooks Illustrated has an ultimate veggie burger recipe that you can adapt. Their key to umami is cremini mushrooms. I've made that recipe and it was well received. Of course, no one mistook them for real hamburgers, but the patties tasted quite good.
- MSG (monosodium glutamate) is to umami flavour what sugar is to sweet flavour. So if you're pro-msg, you can try that, too. And pleanty reasons not to ;)
- I recommend trying shitake mushrooms as well.
- Also try up to 5% wheat germ/flour which should help with the caramelization and related flavours.
- grated vidalia onions in the patties also help (caramelization and umami).
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How do you make fake beef flavor?
Spices and so-called aromatics are also on standby for replicating meaty taste. Opt for smoky choices like paprika, chipotle powder, cumin, or even smoked sea salt. As for fresh ingredients to start a meat-like meal, Redmond recommends onions, leeks, shallots, garlic, and scallions.How do you create umami Flavour?
How to Add Umami to Your CookingHow do you mimic meat flavor?
Beef Flavor To make your own spice blend: Start with a base mixture of salt, pepper, brown sugar, onion, garlic, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Other great flavoring agents for beef-alternative dishes are: Vegan Worcestershire sauce \u2013 Adds that signature umami flavor.Does plant based meat taste like meat?
Heme is found in a protein called hemoglobin that is found in every living plant and animal, and is something we've been eating since the dawn of humanity. This ingredient not only makes Impossible Burgers taste like meat, but helps them stay juicy, moist, and slightly red at the center.The secret recipe for plant-based vegan burgers | Chef David Lee, Planta
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Answer 2
While I agree with Mando Mando's answer, I would add a couple of thoughts. First, if you use shiitakes,use dried, they have much more umami (the name of that beefy taste) when used properly. You probably will need to mix a few ingredients. While umami taste is activated by glutamate (found in high levels in fresh shiitakes, soy sauce, tomatoes, kombu kelp, etc), when it is combined with certain other amino acids, the umami taste is multiplied, rather than added to. While glutamate is the most common amino acid in life, the others can be harder to come by. Here is a list of common ingredients and their levels of the 4 most umami-evoking amino acids:
http://www.starchefs.com/features/rediscovering-umami/html/umami-chart.shtml
What you want is to combine as many of these aminos as you can. Unfortunately, of the ingredients inventoried there, only three are vegan AND have significant amounts of umami aminos other than glutamate: dried shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms and truffles. And the enokis and dried shiitakes seem to lack the necessary glutamate activator. So I would combine these ingredients with other things you've tried (like soy) or other suggestions made (like pulverized kombu kelp.)
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