rants & recipes

I've tried bean burgers a few times, nothing too special. Even the very famous chickpea cutlets didn't do much for me. So I decided to try a burger with some wheat gluten and these turned out pretty good! They firmed up and didn't fall apart the way some patties I've tried did.

I doubled the original recipe and made eight patties. I will definitely make these again and experiment with more flavor, though that's not to imply there was anything wrong with these, as is.

With some gravy, these would make a good Salisbury steak ... you know, if you're missing food from a little boil-n-bag thingy.

• 1 1/3 cup vital wheat gluten
• 2/3 cup garbanzo flour
• 1/2 cup oats
• 2 tsp marjoram
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp basil
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 cup TVP (I used Butler Soy Curl crumbs) combined with 2/3 cup boiling water
• Mix the following, twice:
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp A1 (I did vegan Worcheschire sauce the second time)
• Add enough water to by 7/8 cup
• 1 tsp (total) liqud smoke

• 2 cups hot water
• 6 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Reconstitute TVP.
3. Mix dry ingredients ("gluten" through "nutritional yeast").
4. Mix remaining wet ingredients. Add to TVP. Allow to cool
5. Combine and knead for a few minutes.
6. Form into 8 patties.
7. Place 4 patties in a 9*13 inch casserole dish. Repeat. (I picked each patty back up and oiled the dish underneath it.)
8. Mix broth ingredients and divide between the two dishes.
9. Bake for 20 minutes.
10. Flip burgers and bake an additional 20 minutes.
11. Remove from broth and allow to cool.
12. Pan fry and serve.