Pitmaster Matt Abdoo joins Epicurious for the ultimate burger-tasting challenge. Matt made 39 burgers using every type of meat to determine the best one. From brisket to kangaroo–which meat makes the best burger, and which should be left outside the frying pan?
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00:00I'm Pitmaster Matt Abdu, and I'm about to try 39 burgers, each with a different meat.
00:05I've got your classic meats, some less conventional ones,
00:08and others even I have never tried before.
00:11This is completely outside of what I thought a kangaroo would actually taste like.
00:14Which work? Which don't?
00:16And what's the best meat to make burgers with?
00:18Let's find out.
00:20Short rib.
00:21It's got a nice char on the outside of it.
00:23It's probably gonna be a little bit fatty, a little bit luscious.
00:25You can see how juicy that burger is.
00:28Oh yeah, packed with beefy flavor.
00:30The short rib is meat that's resting on the bone on that rib cage.
00:33Anytime that there's meat resting on the bone of the animal,
00:35those bones add more beefiness flavor to whatever that muscle is.
00:39And since short rib is resting right upon it, it's gonna have all that flavor.
00:42The texture is soft, it's luscious, it's got that nice fattiness to it.
00:46It's really, really good.
00:47Brisket.
00:49I love brisket as a cut of meat, period.
00:51It's looking plump, it's looking juicy.
00:54This is a great burger.
00:55I think I have grease dripping down my chin.
00:57The taste of this brisket isn't as beefy or as luscious as the short rib was,
01:01but it still has a ton of great flavor going on and a good fat content to it as well.
01:05The brisket is part of the chest of the cow and it's used a lot.
01:09And generally speaking, most of the muscles that are used a lot on the animal
01:12tend to have more flavor, but as a downside, they can be tougher.
01:16So what do you do?
01:16Either low and slow cooking methods to them,
01:18or you can grind them up to make really great burger meat.
01:21It's got great flavor, it's got great texture, it's super juicy.
01:24Overall, brisket, winner.
01:27Chuck.
01:28Right out of the gates, I can see that this burger is nice and juicy.
01:31This is an 80-20 blend, 80% lean, 20% fat.
01:35It's nice and soft.
01:36It's tender while still having a lot of flavor to it.
01:38I would say 80-20 is probably the perfect ratio for most burgers being cooked in this method
01:43because it lends itself to being really, really juicy.
01:45When you start getting less than 20% fat, burgers can tend to dry out.
01:49If you're looking to do something a little healthier and back out some of the fat,
01:51by all means you can, but the less fat you have, the drier the burger is going to be.
01:55This burger is Chuck with a 90-10 ratio.
01:58You can really just look at that burger and see that it's not as juicy as the 80-20.
02:02That's because it has that 10% less fat ratio to it.
02:06I would recommend using a 90-10 ratio if you're being health conscious,
02:09but you still want to have a hamburger.
02:11If you're looking to splurge and have a burger, I would stay within that 80-20 ratio.
02:16Sirloin.
02:17It's got that roasty, steaky smell to it, which would make a lot of sense,
02:20since typically sirloin is a cut of meat that'd be used for steak.
02:24It's got great flavor, but what's missing in the sirloin is that fat.
02:28It's not as juicy, and missing that fat's also giving the ground meat
02:31a little bit of a grainy texture to it.
02:34Most cattle in America are finished with corn,
02:38which means the last part of their diet, they're fed a lot of grains or fed a lot of corn.
02:41That corn finish is what really gives that cattle the ability to put on weight,
02:46to increase the marbling score within that meat itself,
02:48develop that sweet, beefy flavor within it,
02:52which ends up grinding to be fattier and juicier.
02:54This isn't my favorite.
02:55It's a little too dry, and it lacks that texture for me.
02:58Hanger steak.
03:00Hanger steak hangs from below the diaphragm of the cattle.
03:03There's only actually one of them on each animal, so it's very sought after,
03:06and it's considered the butcher's cut, where the butchers would save them for themselves.
03:11Really great flavor.
03:12It almost has a little bit of a gaminess to it, which is surprising me a little.
03:16It's got a pretty good juice content into it.
03:18It's not dry.
03:19It's soft.
03:20It's luscious.
03:20Hanger steak is making a really great burger,
03:22although for the price point of what you're probably going to pay for hanger steak
03:25to be ground up into a hamburger meat,
03:27I'd probably stick with something more short rib brisket or chuck,
03:30because you might get better bang for your buck.
03:32Japanese Wagyu.
03:33Wagyu is literally the Japanese word for cattle.
03:36Wagyu cattle are fed luxurious foods like the byproducts for making things like sake,
03:40beer, and whiskey.
03:41They're also fed much later on into their lifespan,
03:43so they can develop that really crazy great marbling and fatty flavor and texture to their meat.
03:48Japanese Wagyu typically don't graze as much,
03:51because there's not as much land as there is for American cattle,
03:53and as a result, they create this really fatty marbling texture to the meat.
03:57Looking at this burger, I'm already a little sad.
03:59This is A5 Japanese Wagyu.
04:01It's the highest grading of Japanese beef that there is,
04:04and you can already see it's really kind of shrank quite a bit.
04:08It also kind of saddens me to take this luxurious,
04:11top-of-the-line, best-there-is-in-the-planet meat,
04:13grind it up and cook it down into a hamburger meat,
04:16because it's really not how it's intended to be consumed.
04:18You can really just see in it, it's just chunks of fat.
04:21There's no texture to it.
04:23It just looks grizzly, almost.
04:25I'm sorry, Japanese Wagyu.
04:28What's very interesting about this bite is it is super rich.
04:31It is super fatty.
04:32I don't even really need to chew it all that much,
04:34because the body temperature of my mouth is like melting the meat as I'm chewing it.
04:39It's kind of like just having a big chunk of fat from a steak ground up.
04:42I'm not digging it.
04:43The cost of Japanese Wagyu is astronomical.
04:46In Japan, cattle are graded between A, B, and C,
04:49and in those subsects, they're from five to one.
04:51A5 is the highest rating of Japanese Wagyu that exists on the market.
04:54It is outrageously expensive.
04:57You can pay hundreds of dollars a pound just for it.
04:59So if you're going to be spending that much money on it,
05:01don't grind it into a hamburger.
05:02There's too much fat.
05:03It's just going to melt out,
05:05and what you're left with is just something that's sad.
05:08Kobe beef.
05:09Kobe beef is still Japanese Wagyu,
05:11and it's thought of as being the creme de la creme
05:13of the best Japanese cattle in the entire country.
05:16It specifically comes from the Hokuto region of Japan,
05:19where they have much more rules and regulations of how the cattle are grown.
05:23It's surprisingly really, really juicy.
05:25The flavor of it is really quite spectacular.
05:28It's strange though, as you're eating this,
05:29sort of just the way that the meat cooks up
05:31with that really fattiness to that grind on it.
05:33It's rich and luscious, but also kind of crumbly at the same time.
05:36When I'm looking to have a burger,
05:38I'm looking for something that holds up together,
05:39has beautiful flavor.
05:41In this, it's just unbalanced.
05:42There's too much fat, which makes it not eat well as a hamburger.
05:45American Wagyu.
05:47American Wagyu is going to be completely different from the Japanese Wagyu meat,
05:50because it's a crossbreed between a purebred Japanese Wagyu
05:53and typically an Angus steer or Angus cattle here in America.
05:57They're also going to be finished with corn,
05:58so it's going to develop a different amount of flavor.
06:00An American Wagyu isn't fed for as long as Japanese cattle are,
06:03so it's never going to develop as much fat or as much marbling.
06:07Definitely not as fatty.
06:08Definitely not as rich.
06:10Has more of that traditional hamburger sort of texture and quality
06:13of what most American palates are going to recognize and enjoy.
06:16Comparatively to just a typical chopped hamburger meat or chuck or round,
06:19it's got a lot more richness to it.
06:21It's got more beefy flavor than just the typical rounds of cuts of steak or meat.
06:25It just performs better as a burger.
06:27It's better balance of fat and meat and flavor.
06:29Overall, American Wagyu for me is a sweet spot for a great hamburger.
06:33Round.
06:34Round's coming from the hind quarter of the cattle,
06:36so those back legs.
06:38What I'm getting more so than anything off of this
06:39is the aroma.
06:40It's smelling like a really beautiful roast that mom's been cooking in her oven all day,
06:44low and slow.
06:46Lots of great flavor in this.
06:47It's tender.
06:48It's juicier than I thought it would be.
06:49Typically speaking, the round is a little bit of a leaner part of the muscle on the cow.
06:54It doesn't have as much fat storage.
06:56The less fat, the less moisture,
06:57the less juiciness there's going to be in that burger when it's cooked.
07:00But this is eating really well for me right now.
07:03Turkey.
07:04Turkey is obviously different than any sort of cow or cattle.
07:07There's not nearly as much fat or flavor for that matter.
07:10It has more of a dense texture to it because of that lack of fat.
07:15Kind of spongy, kind of chewy, kind of bouncy, dry.
07:18Turkey burgers are always going to cook up drier
07:21than traditional cow or cattle or beef burgers.
07:23There's just not enough fat in turkey to create that moist texture.
07:27Also, you have to typically cook turkey more than you do ground beef.
07:30Again, the longer you cook something, the more you're going to dry it out.
07:33If you're looking for something leaner and healthier, not a bad option.
07:36Salmon.
07:37It's got a nice crisp edge from all the fat that's in that salmon,
07:41from all the oil that's in that salmon.
07:42There's not much juiciness coming out of this at the moment.
07:45And you can see that white protein leaching out.
07:47That's usually an indication when the salmon has been cooked past its peakness.
07:51It tastes like oily, fishy fish.
07:53Grinding it up, cooking it in this matter has made it completely dry.
07:57The texture for me is undesirable.
07:59Salmon is a very oily fish.
08:00It's got lots of omega-3s into it.
08:02But unfortunately, when you grind salmon meat and you cook it,
08:05all that oil leaches out and all you're left with is the dry protein that remains.
08:09It just doesn't cook up well into a burger.
08:12Chicken.
08:13Visually, the caramelization of the proteins is cooking up nice and golden brown.
08:16It does not look very juicy.
08:18The aroma, though, does smell like beautiful roasted chicken.
08:22It's really dry.
08:23There's not enough fat in this to make it and to be a texturally enjoyable burger.
08:27Chicken meat is going to have a more mild flavor than turkey will.
08:30It's a smaller bird.
08:31The feed that they're going to have is going to be different.
08:33The flavor profile of the meat is going to be different in that sense.
08:35On its own, this just doesn't hold up.
08:38Pork.
08:39It's got a lot of juice within it.
08:41Texturally, it looks a little bit more dense
08:43than some of the higher fat ground beef blends that we've seen so far.
08:48Texturally, flavor, that's eating really well.
08:50It's juicy.
08:51The texture is tender.
08:52Bun's a great vessel holding it together,
08:54capturing those juices that are in that pork shoulder.
08:56Pork shoulder is one of the most economical cuts of meat.
08:58Pork in general, pound for pound, is probably the least expensive protein on the market.
09:02Feeds a lot of people for low cost.
09:04Because of the ratio that the fat to lean that's in the shoulder,
09:07it just cooks up to be a really great burger.
09:09Grass-fed beef.
09:11Grass-fed means exactly what it sounds like.
09:13The cows are fed a diet of grass primarily from just roaming free range on the pastures.
09:18Typically speaking, it results in a leaner animal.
09:21They're not being finished on grain.
09:22They're not developing as much fat or marbling as grain-finished cattle will.
09:26This is also organic.
09:27Organic means it's just fed a natural diet without any additives
09:30or antibiotics or hormones given to it.
09:32Texture is a little bit denser in there,
09:34meaning that it probably didn't have as much fat as a traditional grain-fed cow would have.
09:39It's definitely drier than the grain-fed chuck that we had earlier.
09:43The flavor does also have sort of like a little bit of a livery,
09:46sort of gamey kind of quality to it.
09:48That's probably due to the diet of eating just grass and being organic.
09:52For me, this is just missing that fat balance.
09:54It's good, but it's not great.
09:56Beef blend.
09:57This is a blend of chuck, shoulder clod, and brisket.
10:00Shoulder clod is just a muscle within the chuck, within the shoulder.
10:04It's more of a specific leaner cut carved out of that big primal portion of the cattle.
10:09Oh, wow.
10:09Look at that.
10:11The flavor on that is awesome.
10:12It's what I want in a hamburger.
10:14It's juicy.
10:14It's tender.
10:15The texture is spot on.
10:16The right ratio of fat to lean is right in there.
10:19Blends in general allow you to make that perfect balance of what you're looking for,
10:22for fatty, lean, richness, flavor.
10:25Getting those cuts from the animals that you're specifically trying to make,
10:27a specific blend for you, just ends up creating a really special burger,
10:31and when done right, can make a great burger all the time.
10:34Dry-aged beef.
10:35Dry-aged beef is typically taking a large cut from the cow
10:39and aging it in a controlled temperature, moisture, and air environment.
10:44As that's happening, moisture is being taken out of the meat from the drying process.
10:48It's fortifying the flavors within that meat,
10:50and the natural enzymes in the meat tend to break it down,
10:53causing it to become really tender.
10:55Smells got a little funk, but not overwhelming,
10:57but it does have that rich, beefy aroma to it.
11:01The dry-aging process is really making that beef flavor
11:03kind of punch itself up and shine through.
11:05It does have a little bit of that funk from the dry-age,
11:08but in a very pleasant way.
11:09Over time, as the meat is dry-aging,
11:12there's going to be natural molds and things that sort of grow on that meat
11:15that add to that funky flavor that's happening.
11:17The longer it dry-ages, the more those things can develop
11:19and result in even funkier flavors.
11:21It's not rotten, but it's certainly something that's going to have that,
11:25what's going on?
11:25It smells a little funky to it,
11:27and something that some people really might enjoy.
11:29If you're into that and you like that,
11:30you're probably just going to end up paying more for it,
11:32and it'll be exactly what you want.
11:34Venison.
11:35The word venison comes from the Latin word venare,
11:37which translates to hunt.
11:39Originally referred to as any game meat, not just deer.
11:43You do get that mild game flavor in the back,
11:45but it's not overpowering.
11:46It's not too punchy.
11:47It is very lean, so that fat isn't really coating your mouth
11:50in the way that a traditional beef burger would.
11:52I like that mild liver flavor profile that's coming from it.
11:55If you like that, this venison burger is for you.
11:58Bison.
11:59Bison for me is going to have lots of similar characteristics to that of cattle.
12:03A lot of domestic American cattle is a subset
12:06from a crossbreeding bison to where we are today.
12:09It's actually really good.
12:10It's juicy.
12:11It's got good texture to it,
12:13with like a little bit of sweetness behind it too.
12:14The beef flavor is a little bit more mild,
12:16while the gamey flavor is a little bit more pronounced.
12:18Bison is high in B12 iron and it's protein rich,
12:21so it does have some redeeming health qualities over traditional cow.
12:24It's certainly something that if you want to eat,
12:26you should give it a try because it tastes really good.
12:28Lamb.
12:30Lamb is one of the most popular meats worldwide.
12:32However, the average American eats less than one pound of lamb per year
12:36compared to 57 pounds of beef.
12:38I'm half Lebanese, so I grew up eating this.
12:40I mean, this is looking pretty juicy to me already.
12:43This lamb right now has a really great fat content in it.
12:46It's got a nice mouthfeel.
12:48It's coating my mouth really well.
12:49The texture of it is nice and tender.
12:51Lamb definitely has a more punchier flavor than beef
12:53and it's just a bit more pronounced.
12:55Elk.
12:58Oh, wow.
12:59Totally different flavor profile than I was expecting it to have.
13:01It's very tender, like super tender.
13:03It is a little dry.
13:04There's not a lot of fat in it,
13:06but it has something I can only explain
13:07as sort of like a mild gamey sort of fall flavor profile to it,
13:12but super tender.
13:13Like the meat, it's like melting in your mouth.
13:15It's so tender.
13:15Definitely different, but enjoyably different.
13:18Italian sausage.
13:19I'm half Lebanese.
13:20I am also half Italian.
13:22Thai and sausage is something I am epically familiar with.
13:25It's more of that compact, dense meat.
13:27You can see the little chunks of fennel seed.
13:31That's spongy like meat from the sausage.
13:32That fennel's really jumping up at you.
13:34I'm getting oregano.
13:35I'm getting garlic.
13:36Some basil, maybe.
13:38When you're taking meat and you're turning it into sausage,
13:40you're adding things to it and you're working it.
13:42We're adding salt.
13:43Salt's going to break down some of the proteins.
13:44It's going to leach out some of the moisture.
13:45When you mix it, it's going to bind it back together
13:48and hopefully hold the moisture back into it,
13:50but it's also going to completely change the texture
13:52and you're going to move away from having fresh pork flavor
13:55to pork flavor that has very strong notes
13:57of whatever those spices or seasonings
13:59that you're adding into it to make it that sausage.
14:00It doesn't feel like a burger, but it's still delicious.
14:03Chorizo.
14:04There are two main types of chorizo.
14:06Mexican chorizo and Spanish chorizo.
14:08Spanish chorizo is a cured version of the sausage.
14:11Something similar to like a salami that you would have.
14:13This is Mexican chorizo.
14:15It's filled with things like chilies and paprika and garlic.
14:18It's typically coming from the pork shoulder,
14:20so it's going to have a lot of moisture
14:21and fatty juiciness to it.
14:23There is a lot of flavor going on in this particular chorizo.
14:26Recipes can vary from house to house, from recipe to recipe.
14:29This might be a little too much for me to eat,
14:32all just straight chorizo like this,
14:34but a few bites, I give it a thumbs up.
14:36It's pretty tasty.
14:37Crab.
14:38Personally, I'm going to call this a crab cake.
14:40Crab cakes need a binder to hold them together.
14:42Something like breadcrumbs or eggs.
14:44Unlike ground meat, which is natural proteins when cooked,
14:47coagulate and hold itself together on its own.
14:50Overall, it's got that beautiful sweetness of the crab.
14:53I love the crunch of that breading that's on the outside of it.
14:55The texture of crab in general is very soft
14:57and it can flake apart very easily.
14:59You want to make sure when you're working with it,
15:01you don't overwork it too much and shred it too much.
15:03If you shred the crab too much,
15:05it's going to completely change the texture
15:06and tend to dry out on you.
15:09Shrimp.
15:10This is just shrimp.
15:11Shrimp has enough proteins within it
15:13that when it's ground and worked and cooked together,
15:16it's going to hold its own shape.
15:17It's got those speckles of that sort of orangish, reddish, pinkish.
15:21Think of the lines on the outside of shrimp cocktail when you eat it.
15:25That's kind of weird.
15:26It's very bouncy.
15:27It's very spongy.
15:28The shrimp flavor is very mild.
15:30It's not off-putting at all,
15:31but the texture of this is really undesirable to say the least.
15:35Ostrich.
15:36I have had it as carpaccio and tartar,
15:39but I've never had it really ground and cooked into a burger form.
15:43Ostrich is a very lean animal.
15:45It's not going to have a lot of fat stores the way that cow or cattle will,
15:48and because of that,
15:49it's lacking the fat that makes a great burger a great burger.
15:52It has sort of a back-end note of a little sweetness back there.
15:55It's certainly not rich and beefy like cow,
15:57but the gaminess of this is sort of overpowering that sweetness for me.
16:01It's not terrible, but it's also not great.
16:04Eel.
16:06It has like a fresh fish note to it, but it's not fishy.
16:09It's not nearly as fishy as the salmon burger was.
16:12Eel is typically a fattier fish,
16:14but I don't think it's going to be oily fatty like the way salmon is,
16:16so maybe this might cook together.
16:18I have no idea what I'm about to bite into here.
16:22It's surprisingly sweet.
16:23A fish flavor to it, nothing overpowering.
16:26I wish it had maybe some more crunch on the outside of it
16:28to kind of offset the interior texture of it.
16:31Kind of tastes like a big fish stick.
16:32Eel has a much higher fat content than lots of other fish,
16:35but sadly, it's not coming across in that way
16:38as far as the texture or the mouth coating.
16:40Maybe a lot of that oil might've melted out in the cooking process.
16:43The more I let it sit and develop, the more I'm enjoying it.
16:46It's just missing a little juiciness or fat to really round it out.
16:50Alligator.
16:51It kind of smells a little bit like chicken.
16:54Think of the darkest of dark meat turkey
16:57and then add a little minerality brininess behind that,
17:00and that's kind of the flavor I'm getting.
17:02The meat's tender.
17:03It's not like it's tough or I have to work really hard to get through it,
17:05but there's no sort of redeeming mouth quality.
17:08I would be guessing that this is tail meat,
17:09which is the prime cut of the alligator.
17:12It's going to be more tender,
17:13but again, even though it's probably the best cut on the alligator,
17:16it's still hard getting my head wrapped around
17:18that sort of minerality behind it,
17:19that brininess, that saltiness.
17:21It's very interesting.
17:22It's just not for me.
17:23Rabbit.
17:24Rabbits are considered a very sustainable meat
17:26because they have a very good feed to meat ratio.
17:30This has a very almost tough texture to it.
17:32It's taken a lot to chew through.
17:34It's very mild, resembles something similar to like maybe roasted chicken
17:37if it had like a little gamey note in the back end of it.
17:40The flavor is not terrible,
17:41but there's really no redeeming quality into having this like a burger.
17:44When you squeeze it, you can see the natural juices coming out of this,
17:47so it might make you think it's not going to eat dry,
17:49but that's just from it being cooked appropriately,
17:51so there is some moisture still left in that ground meat,
17:54but it's not that fat that's going to coat your mouth
17:56and give you that desirable beneficial flavor or texture.
17:59It's just meat juices.
18:01Kangaroo.
18:02There isn't a single kangaroo farm in Australia.
18:06All kangaroo is free range meat without any hormones, additives, antibiotics, or anything.
18:11Also, kangaroos are considered to be pests,
18:13so actually Australians are encouraged to eat them.
18:15Wow, look at that.
18:16I was not expecting the inside of this meat to look this juicy.
18:19It does have that sort of mild livery like gamey aroma to it.
18:25Really interesting.
18:26It has a very similar flavor to that of the elk and the bison that we ate earlier.
18:31It's very tender, surprisingly so.
18:33It's quite pleasant.
18:34This is completely outside of what I thought a kangaroo would actually taste like.
18:37I can see why there's such a thing as kangatarians,
18:39people who are vegetarians, but eat kangaroo as their only meat.
18:43It's also kind of interesting.
18:44The longer that this sits after it's being cut,
18:47it's almost kind of like drying out in real time.
18:50Maybe that's because of the lack of fat within the actual meat of the kangaroo,
18:53but it's still juicy.
18:54This totally surprised me.
18:56Duck.
18:58Duck is a more active bird than compared to turkey or chicken.
19:01This leads to a higher concentration of myoglobin, which gives it its darker color.
19:06The flavor is really great.
19:07It is, however, a little bit dry, kind of so much so it's a little hard to swallow.
19:10I wish it had a little bit more fat into it because the flavor is really so good.
19:13Duck have a layer of fat underneath their skin that helps insulate them in cold water.
19:17However, I don't really think that's coming through here.
19:20Whatever that fat is, either it wasn't ground up into this burger or it's just not working.
19:24I think there's a reason why I haven't really seen a duck burger before.
19:27Wild boar.
19:29In Italy, we call this cingale.
19:31You see in all different types of form from ragus to stews,
19:35but I've never seen it actually ground up for a burger.
19:38Wild boar will basically eat just about anything.
19:40If you are out there hunting it, be careful because very often you can find worms in the meat.
19:44Interesting thing about wild boar,
19:46the female flavor is typically more mild in that livery gamey flavor
19:50where the males are going to be a lot more intense.
19:53The testosterone in the meat, especially if they're killed in the wild hunt,
19:56makes the flavor really, really intense.
20:00Surprisingly, it's actually not that dry.
20:02The gamey flavor of it isn't that pronounced.
20:04It's almost like a leaner, more porkier pork.
20:08Yak.
20:09Oh, wow.
20:09This doesn't look yakky at all.
20:11It's got a glisten of some decent fat content.
20:14Well, very mild, not overly beefy at all.
20:17I'm not getting that mouth coating from excess or additional fat within the grind,
20:22but it's not dry either.
20:24It has a very enjoyable sort of soft textured sweetness to it.
20:28This had a little bit more fat in it.
20:29This would be a really great burger.
20:30Very pleasantly surprised with the yak.
20:33Veal.
20:34The flavor of veal is always going to be more mild than full developed beef or cattle or cow.
20:40Lots of times veal are just on a milk-fed diet,
20:42which gives them the very pale color of their meat and the internal side of it.
20:46Oh, yeah.
20:47Super tender, beautiful, subtle, mild beef flavor.
20:51You can definitely see why it would be a concern to cook it past medium
20:54because it's definitely going to start to dry out on you.
20:56There's just never going to be enough fat in there to really take it past that doneness.
20:59Downside is it doesn't have as much beefy flavor.
21:02If you think back to dry age, why did we dry age the meat?
21:05It was to evaporate some of the moisture and intensify and punch up that beefy flavor.
21:08Veal is kind of the opposite of that.
21:10It's much more mild and much more mellow.
21:12It's really good.
21:13Beyond Beef.
21:15Beyond Beef is an incredible creation that's come about in the last decade or so
21:19that mimics meat flavor and texture through plant-based proteins.
21:24There's a lot less emissions.
21:26There's a lot less water needed to create it.
21:28Overall, it's much better for our environment,
21:30lot less saturated fats, and it looks and tastes like beef.
21:35I mean, it's fascinating.
21:37It tastes like a charred hamburger.
21:38Does it have the exact texture?
21:40Does it have the exact flavor of ground beef?
21:42It does not.
21:43But if you've never eaten ground beef or you don't choose to eat ground beef,
21:46you're never probably going to know the difference.
21:48The actual texture of itself with a crunchy, crispy outside
21:51and that tender inside is also quite fascinating.
21:53It's like sort of that nutty, almost edamame-like flavor.
21:57If you don't want to eat beef, but you want to have a great burger,
21:59Beyond Beef is a great option.
22:01Impossible Beef.
22:03This is another one that's a plant-based meat substitute.
22:06Not seeing a lot of juices coming out of it.
22:07Sometimes if these burgers have a tendency to cool down too much,
22:10that coconut oil, which mimics that beef fat texture, can congeal a little bit.
22:14But when they're hot, they usually gush out just like hot burger meat will.
22:19Very, very similar texture and flavor profiles to the Beyond Meat.
22:24Again, you're getting more of that nuttiness, more so than beefiness behind it.
22:27It's very hard to tell any sort of key differences between this and Beyond.
22:31For me, they're exceptionally similar to one another.
22:34Veggie Griller.
22:35This is another meat-like patty that's all plant-based.
22:38It's different from Beyond and Impossible because it's a preformed patty.
22:41And obviously, it doesn't look the same.
22:44It's dry.
22:44It doesn't really taste like anything.
22:46Maybe the outside char is giving it its only redeemable sort of flavor quality to it.
22:51If this is what you like, more power to you.
22:53But I'm not seeking this out to replace my hamburger.
22:56Mushroom.
22:59Yep.
23:00That's a mushroom.
23:01Looks like a mushroom.
23:02Tastes like a mushroom.
23:03Portobello mushrooms have thick cell walls that give it its firm texture.
23:07They also have a really high water content, which helps maintain its dense feel.
23:11I love that this is just a vegetable that you can put on a bun
23:13and have something that resembles a burger.
23:16Black bean.
23:17Definitely see the cross-section of those black beans on the inside.
23:21Stuff that's holding it all together is very much just probably mashed up black beans into it.
23:27It's really starchy.
23:28It's really pasty.
23:29There's no beef mimicking quality behind this.
23:32The great thing about a black bean burger is that the binder is the starch within the bean itself.
23:36That bean paste, when it's formed and mixed into all the other ingredients that are in it,
23:39will hold its shape well enough so that you can put it on the grill.
23:42But for me, it's just a mushy texture.
23:44I'd rather seek out one of the other plant-based options if I'm going that direction.
23:49Veggie burger.
23:50I'm seeing carrots, zucchini, peas, broccoli,
23:53and it's all kind of bound together by maybe some of those vegetables being pureed
23:58while keeping some of them sort of coarse and chunky.
24:01Lots of veggies.
24:02It's a little mushy.
24:03And if you're in the mood to have a lot of vegetables on a hamburger bun,
24:06this could be the way to go do it.
24:08My top five burgers of the day were Chuck, Short Rib, Dry Age, Blend, and American Wagyu.
24:13Chuck is just that quintessential iconic ground beef that makes the most traditional hamburger.
24:17It's a great ratio of lean to fat,
24:19and it cooks up to be a really juicy, flavorful burger.
24:21Short Rib, for me, has all that rich, luscious, beefy flavor.
24:25It's juicy. It's everything I want in a great burger.
24:28Dry Age is creating that really rich, intensified, beefy flavor
24:31while also creating a perfect tender bite.
24:33I also like the little bit of funk that goes along with it.
24:36The Blend, for me, is just a great way of getting your perfect blend of rich,
24:40fatty, flavorful, juicy meat all combined into the perfect patty.
24:43American Wagyu is just that perfect ratio of fat to lean.
24:47It has incredible flavor. It's juicy. It's tender.
24:50It's expensive, so it's a real treat.
24:51My two runner-ups were Lamb and Yak.
24:53Lamb, because it just has that really pronounced, beautiful, delicious flavor.
24:57And Yak, I was just really taken back.
24:59I was surprised at how good, how juicy, how flavorful it was.
25:02And that little bit of sweetness behind it really caught me off guard.
25:04That little bit of sweetness behind it really caught me by surprise.
25:07If you're looking to create that great burger at home,
25:09make sure you're looking for something that has great beefy flavor,
25:11great fat, and great tenderness, and you're never going to be disappointed.