Like Jughead from Archie comics or Wimpy from Popeye, not only would I gladly pay you Tuesday for a cheeseburger today, they became my staple PMS go-to food. If I ever had a food addiction, it would be to burgers. Mustard's Last Stand in Evanston, IL so far has the best double cheeseburger on the planet, and I've tried em' all over the country, even the trendy joints in the city where they throw a fried egg and shit ontop, or drizzle with truffle oil or butter, or a Culver's butter burger (the bun is soaked in it) or a Steak and Shake burger on garlic bread or.....ok yeah. Hear Homer Simpson in your head saying 'MMMMM BUUURRRRGGGGER' and that's me.
My only regret is not having tried an In and Out burger but you know I might have a BITE one day. Shit man. A day at a time, I am powerless over the cheeseburger. In fact, I posted this picture on my Facebook page May 1st of 2012 with the heading "Pretty much addicted to Cheeseburgers." This one I happened to have made at home (and I got over the whole burger gotta be flat thing)
I have tried turkey burgers-meh. I had heard that Boca burgers are actually really good veggie burgers. I had not ever, nor did I ever care to try one. Veggie burger, what the hell? What's the point? A burger is ground beef, period.
Well.....now that the arteries are clogged, I've had to re-think the whole cheeseburger concept of Prozac for my brain. And then I thought "Fuck it-I'll go for the vegan burger."
Now the idea hit me when I was asked to find the rave reviewed vegan cheese who turns out is by a company named Daiya. It also turns out that my national grocery chain store carries it, in a speciality case. Now this is because I live in a town that harbors yuppies and money, but it also borders a very blue-collar lower income town so I'm also close to Aldi's and shit, too. Best of both worlds. So I eyeball this cheese and it comes shredded or it comes in slices. I see the sliced cheddar, thought of the veggie burgers I just bought and said to myself that for the interest of my blog and by request, I will sample this cheese and a
I did buy the classic vegan Boca soy burger, but these intrigued me as well.....made with veggies and quinoa, so I went with this. Plus the pic on the box looked pretty good, as does the grilled cheese sandwich on the Cheddar. Now the directions on the box said to pan fry, though it did give microwave directions. I'm curious as to why it said nothing about grilling, so I think next time I make them, I'm gonna throw them on the George Foreman and see what happens.
And this is what the final product looked like. So far, the cheese looked pretty normal coming out of the package but I did note that it took much longer to begin melting than regular cheese does.
Now, keep all this in mind. The soy- free gluten -free look- on- the- label -for- the- other -free shit vegan cheese, is made up primarily of different oils. I'm feeling conflicted about that. While it may be animal free, oil is no better for the arteries and body than animal fat. I don't want to argue semantics because I agree that animal fat is far worse than plant-based fats, but oils and fat are fats and the package also does say "vegan flavoring." WTF is 'vegan flavoring." That seems very vague and ambiguous to me. It seems shady. Traditional crap food does this same sort of tricky Jedi label tricks, so I'm leery about the whole thing. However, if you are a purist and naturally hating on anything containing animal, this is your best cheese substitute option.
As raved about-it's pretty good. I have not had the courage to try a slice raw by itself yet (baby steps.) I am afraid since the last batch of cheese was God awful plain. But on the burger-it was good. I'd say the consistency once it's melted is similar to Velvetta-it's thick like that and almost 'saucy', like a melted Cheese-Whiz kinda thing, which many people do love. The flavor was authentic enough but I wouldn't say nailed cheddar flavor. It does taste like a cheese, just not necessarily a pure cheddar. That said, it's much better than the other brand I tried and there is a mozzarella cheese by this company that I am eager to try next.
I know that in speciality stores and higher end markets there are artisan vegan cheeses, and there are tons of recipes online of how to make vegan cheese-typically out of nuts such as cashews. I haven't 'gone there' yet. I am limited by budget constraints and I want to first venture into the vegan waters by getting what's readily available at my 'normal' grocer. It's a psychological thing, I believe-if I can get it at this national chain, then somehow it's less alternative to me which means less foreign which means easier to maintain? I don't know. I don't always get my mind.
Now, as for the veggie burger-it was delicious. However-it tasted like roasted veggies. It didn't taste anything like beef. I'm thinking now that it wasn't supposed to, not like the soy crumbles I tried that were in fact made to emulate ground beef. Nope, these veggie burgers were made to be just that-a patty of veggies. So while it made for a very good cheesy veggie burger (and the pretzel roll made it)-if you are looking for a mock beef taste you won't find it with this particular burger. I will continue to experiment of course with the meat substitutes-I am very curious about the fake chicken, beef strips and fish I see in the frozen weird section.
About price, the price of the container of cheese was comparable to regular cheese, that is about the same price. Nowadays the cost of cheese has floored me, and this was roughly the same, about 5.00. The Boca burgers were on special, two boxes for 6.00, and you get 4 patties to each box. Hamburger is larceny now as well, so really it is within the same price parameters as animal meat, so no, it doesn't cost more to eat this way. I already had lettuce, tomato and onions laying around and I used a spicy mustard-didn't cost me a thing to garnish. Had some corn with it, though sweet potato fries baked might've been a great side as well.
My rating, out of 5 stars, I give it a 3.5, only because I did want a 'burger' taste but as far as just a decent sandwich goes, I'd give it a 4. This would be the cheese to try. Oh, they also have a 'cream cheese' to spread on bagels and toast. I don't eat bagels. The only exception to that was when I'd eat lox and bagels and that was maybe once a year, so I most likely won't be trying the cream cheese for bread purposes. I do have some creamy casseroles and dip recipes that call for cream cheese that this may be a great sub for.
It's not easy being cheesy!!! :)
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