Veggie burgers

This is fun: a taste test of veggie burgers. I go for #2 and then #3.

#1, the Morningstar has too long of a mad food scientist's ingredient wish list. No need to eschew meat while supporting the barons of Strangelove industrial mega-food.

For home-made, I like Isa Chandra Moskowitz's recipe for veg patties: it addresses the crumbly problem.

And here's another good recipe I've also tried (tasty although definitely crumbly). It contains a useful warning about using the George Foreman grill for veggie burgers. You can't! Most will crumble and stick into a mess.

(I was at an outdoor party a couple of years back when the host, a meat-eater, started grilling up some of those wacky veggie hot dogs. They ended up looking like tumor-ridden burnt oddities. Don't do that! I'd rather grill up some fresh vegetables.)

When I lived in a group house, I was the designated veggie-burger-maker. I would construct mine out of black beans, bread crumbs, tofu, and a vegetable. Once, I used habaneros - a lot! - as the vegetable. The things were so nuclear spicy, that none of us could get through an entire burger.

So, I divided each into small portions, stored them in the freezer, and pronounced them breakfast sausages. That worked! But the supply still lasted for awhile.

There's a DC restaurant that makes its own black bean burger - very tasty. At the moment, I can't remember which it is; I'll update/edit when I do.

Call 'em veggie pancakes and you'll get past this problem: "but they aren't burgers!"