Top 8: the best alternative burgers to beat the beef
Picture: iStockÂ
Burger Friday is a good way to start the weekend, but it can be a bit tedious if we stick to the classic beef version. Today we look at alternatives, not all non-meat, but emphasising juiciness, interesting textures and tastes.Â
Start with good bread – for our tests we used superb, rich brioche buns from ABC bakery. Italian-style breads such as ciabatta and rounds of thick sourdough work well too. Just make sure the bread is substantial enough to take the weight of the burger and toppings, and can soak up the juices without leaking through the crust.Â
There are good recipes for interesting steamed Bao buns and other rolls in Upper Crust by Marie-Laure Fréchet (Flammarion €35).
Some of the veggie/vegan options that didn’t make our Top 8 had too much salt for our taste. Over 1% is not acceptable in one part of a meal like a burger (there will be more in the mayo/chutney/bread), so read the labels before buying. Watch markets for seasonal options, and My Goodness (English Market, Cork and Farmers’ markets) for additions such as kimchi and other fermented treats.
O’Mahonys buffalo burgers 6 for €10
Beef is low in flavour compared to these plump, meaty Cork produced buffalo burgers. Fry some onions slowly in olive oil for 10 minutes. Butter the buns with mustard mixed with mayo. Add lettuce and thinly sliced tomato, then the onions, the meat, a teaspoon of chutney and finish with more juicy onion and a flourish of microgreens. At O’Mahonys Butchers, English Market, Cork.
James Whelan lamb burgers 374g €7.48
Tasters liked this alternative to beef which wasn’t fatty and had plenty of flavour with a low 0.22% salt, black pepper and a little mint. We mixed some lemon juice and a squeeze of garlic into the mayo, then topped with thinly sliced red cabbage, carrot pared with a potato peeler, cubed beetroot and baby spinach. The two burgers were substantial.
O’Sullivan Chicken burgers €1.25 each
Chicken makes good burgers, and is a good way to use leftover cold chicken shredded and mixed with a barbecue sauce or mayo. These from the English Market stall in Cork had decent flavour and were nicely minced (not extruded and rubbery). We also liked Moy Park Chicken Kiev (260g €3), but be careful with the liquid filling when biting into its garlicky deliciousness.
Toonsbridge Buffaloumi 260g €6.50
Enough for four burgers, we horizontally sliced this block of buffalo milk halloumi, originally a Cypriot-style cheese, and fried in olive oil. A good cheese to experiment with flavours, we paired it with rasped cucumber (grated courgettes are also good), chutney, rocket, and finished with a drizzle of pomegranate molasses. Everyone loved them. Try finishing with a smear of harissa paste for extra heat.
Iceland Butcher & Cooke Pulled Pork 380g €3.50
Pre-shredded and cooked, with a pouch of a sweet barbecue sauce, this was enough for four burgers, so good value. Heat for 30 minutes in the oven. (Heated shredded confit of duck available in most supermarkets is delicious too.) Add grated beetroot, kimchi, mashed canned red kidney beans and gherkins to offset the fats. For this tasting, we added spring onions, gherkins and a squirt of Kewpie Japanese mayonnaise brought along by a taster.
Salmon fillet €3Â
Fry, steam or poach a fillet or darne of salmon with a slice of ginger for five minutes with a lid on and divide for two burgers. Spread mustard and mayo on the buns, top with lettuce, thinly sliced cucumber or grated raw courgette, grated carrot, then the salmon drizzled with lemon or lime juice. Top with a scattering of toasted almond slivers.
Aldi Plant Menu Spicy bean burgers 454g €1.59
Tasters liked the well-balanced spicing of these four burgers made from flour, onion, red kidney beans, carrot, tomato purée, green peppers, haricot beans, sweetcorn, cannellini beans, spiced with cumin, paprika, oregano, chilli, coriander. They crisped up nicely and were delicious with fried onions topped with Greek yoghurt drizzled with Irish Highbank Orchard apple syrup (pomegranate molasses and date syrup were delicious too). Add shredded lettuce for green vitamins.
M&S Food Cheddar cheese and onion crispbakes 2237g €2.32
These two patties were one of the younger tasters’ favourites, the cheese (13%), onions (17%) and potatoes (18%) crisping up nicely and contrasting with the soft buns. They had barely acceptable salt levels of 0.98%. We served with vitamin-rich shredded cabbage, carrot, rocket and spinach and a drizzle of date syrup. At 11.9% a little more fats than other products.
