The plant-based meat from Impossible Foods Inc. used to be impossible for home cooks to get their hands on. The product was marketed to chefs such as David Chang and available at restaurants and fast-food spots such as Burger King. Consumers could buy their faux burgers, if they could find them, but they couldn't easily cook them themselves.
Today Impossible products as well as plant-based meat substitutes from several other brands are commonly available at supermarkets everywhere and there's a cookbook to help you figure out what to do with the plant-based product in your refrigerator.
"Impossible: The Cookbook" (Chronicle Books, $30) doesn't have a recipe for Impossible Whoppers, though it devotes a chapter to the subject along with sliders and patty melts. Traci Des Jardins, a James Beard Award-winning chef and consultant for Impossible, says they considered making an all-burger cookbook, but the "meat" is more versatile than that.
The book devotes a few introductory pages to the product. If you don't know what heme is, this cookbook won't answer your question. (Heme is an iron-containing compound that makes meatless meat taste and look more like the real thing.) But tips for handling the meat substitute are helpful. The product, which feels oddly sticky when you work with it, has less moisture than real ground beef. That means that here, more than ever, the burgers should be cooked to medium-rare or medium, never well done. Use cold meat and put it over a very hot surface or the result will be mushy. And plan on adding fat to the pan if you're substituting it in a recipe that calls for ground beef or pork.
The book's recipes — there are almost 50 — were created by chefs and Impossible staff. It's a crowd-pleasing array that could help cure plenty of hangovers: cheesesteak with caramelized onions, Peruvian lomo saltado (steak and french fry stir-fry), biscuits with spiced sausage gravy, mapo tofu. Des Jardins calls out a recipe for hummus with Ethiopian spiced meat from chef Kwame Onwuachi as a favorite.
I tried the Jalapeno Burger recipe from Pinky Cole of Slutty Vegan in Atlanta. Cole's recipe features a patty spiked with onions, garlic, and cumin, topped with faux pepper jack cheese and pickled chiles. Her jalapeno burger packs a lot of punches — if you like a tricked-out burger the way I do, you'll be delighted by it.
Jalapeno Burgers
3 potato buns, split
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for buns
12 ounces Impossible burger meat
¼ cup loosely packed, finely chopped yellow onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons chipotle mayonnaise
3 (1-ounce) slices pepper jack cheese
3 tomato slices
3 tablespoons sliced pickled jalapenos
1 cup shredded iceberg lettuce
Toast cut sides of burger buns over low heat on a lightly oiled griddle or large, heavy skillet, about 2 minutes. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine Impossible burger, onion, parsley, garlic, cumin, coriander and salt. Shape burger mixture into 3 equal patties, about ½ inch thick.
Heat griddle or skillet over medium heat, then add 1 tablespoon oil. Cook patties, turning once, until browned on the outside and medium-rare inside, about 6 minutes.
Spread toasted sides of each bun with chipotle mayonnaise. For each burger, top bottom bun with a patty, a cheese slice, a tomato slice, pickled jalapeno and some lettuce. Cap burger with top bun and serve at once.
Makes 3 burgers.