Culinary Institute Beef and Mushroom Burger

Richard Blais' Earth & Turf Burger, served at the Flip Burger Boutique in Atlanta, is 50 percent beef, 50 percent mushroom. Courtesy of Flip Burger Boutique hide caption

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Courtesy of Flip Burger Boutique

Richard Blais' Earth & Turf Burger, served at the Flip Burger Boutique in Atlanta, is fifty pct beef, 50 percent mushroom.

Courtesy of Flip Burger Boutique

With so many people reconsidering their meat consumption, the mushroom industry is hoping their product can become the next "other" white meat. And with the cost of meat rising, scientists and chefs say they think mushrooms have a shot at moving closer to the eye of the plate.

Not long agone, the Mushroom Quango, an industry grouping, hosted scientists, nutrition researchers and chefs for a Mushrooms and Health Acme. Among them was Amy Myrdal Miller, manager of programs and culinary nutrition for the Culinary Found of America, who presented findings from a research written report she did with Academy of California, Davis researcher Jean-Xavier Guinard. (The study was funded by the Mushroom Quango.)

Miller's hunch was that consumers could enjoy mushrooms as a salubrious substitute for meat without sacrificing flavor. So she and Guinard gave 147 adults eight unlike samples of taco blends with varying amounts of meat and mushrooms. On ane end was a sample with 100 percent beef, and on the other was 20 percent beefiness, 80 percent mushroom. In between them was a 50 percent beefiness, 50 pct mushroom mix.

The bulk voted for the l-fifty mushroom and meat blend, finding the burgers just as satiating as the real thing, and more flavorful, according to Miller.

Season isn't the but payoff. Mushroom-meat burgers are, on average, 24 percent lower in fat and 27 percent cheaper than regular, all beefiness burgers, according to the Mushroom Council. And adding mushrooms to any dish ways adding vitamin D, potassium, antioxidants and B vitamins.

Restaurants throughout the U.South. are also discovering that meat and mushrooms can make a very skilful pair. Atlanta-based chef Richard Blais, who appeared on Elevation Chef and heads several Atlanta eateries including Flip Burger Boutique, was one early adopter. Here'due south his recipe for the Globe & Turf burger served at Flip.

Bob Okura, executive corporate chef and caput of Culinary Evolution at The Cheesecake Factory, says he spotted the mushroom-meat pairing trend years ago and so adult The Cheesecake Manufactory'south turkey mushroom burger.

"Mushrooms seem to generate a natural umami reaction that makes everything in a dish gustation even better than they do on their own," says Okura.

About 400 million pounds of mushrooms come from farms in Chester County, Pa. Eliza Barclay/NPR hide caption

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Eliza Barclay/NPR

About 400 meg pounds of mushrooms come from farms in Chester Canton, Pa.

Eliza Barclay/NPR

As Nancy Shute has reported, mushrooms' umami comes from their loftier levels of glutamate. (And check out Robert Krulwich's engaging piece on the origins of umami.)

Mushrooms are also making their way into burgers in several schools.

Jessica Shelly, nutrient services managing director for Cincinnati Public Schools, says she has had huge success with adding one-eighth of a cup of mushrooms to burger meat.

"It has been an immediate hitting with students," she says.

Yale University and Cornell University are serving mushroom-meat mixes in their cafeterias, too. And burgers aren't the only blendable menu detail. Robert Rusan, a chef in the Maplewood Richmond Heights schoolhouse district in St. Louis, is adding mushrooms to turkey and beef meatballs and meatloaf.

"Mushrooms blend hands in meat mixtures because they take a compact texture," says Rusan. "I anticipate more than and more schools getting on board with using mushrooms, primarily because mushrooms are becoming trendier."

With increasing mushroom consumption, sales accept risen consistently for the by several years and are forecast to grow by three.seven percent for 2013, outpacing general produce, co-ordinate to the Mushroom Quango.

Equally more chefs and diners notice the mighty mushroom's versatility, meat won't necessarily exist edged out completely, but could play 2nd fiddle.

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Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/11/05/243218136/make-room-for-mushrooms-fungi-compete-with-meat-in-burgers