Last week, I tried mixing one pound of beef with one box of falafel mix and grilling it as burgers. It worked okay. Since it made too much food anyway, I decided to try half a box of mix to one pound of meat tonight. Will let you know how it turns out.
(I get the beef in one-pound frozen chubs from the processor, so it doesn't really help us use less meat to make recipes that use only part of a chub. I'll still have to finish it off within a few days, and I tend to use up extra bits of meat in things like scrambled eggs, which I would have had meatless if I didn't have some meat sitting around.)
Someone asked me how I feel about TVP. So-so is the answer. I don't want to increase our soy consumption greatly; I prefer to use soy cautiously. Also, I'm not sure it qualifies as "food" a la Michael Pollan. But it is on my list of items to try mixing with the burgers.
The TVP product I am planning to try to mix with the beef is called "Gimme Lean" (undoubtedly a play on Jimmy Dean sausage). (Side note: The packages of this stuff that I always used to buy were emblazoned with a banner that read: "Makes incredible sausage patties!" I always thought that it ought to read, "Makes CREDIBLE sausage patties!" But I digress.) I really like the stuff, and I bet it would mix pretty well with beef.
Also on my list are blander creations of home-cooked lentils and bulgur, and a couple more stabs at meatloaf burgers. I want to do something quite simple and easy, since I don't make hamburgers because I enjoy their complicated recipe.
UPDATE: It occurred to me that the implied division sign in my title is incorrect. Since I am decreasing the ratio of falafel to beef, this post should be entitled, "More beef/falafel burgers."
UPDATE AGAIN: Yum! Half a box of falafel makes a big difference. These were noticeably burgerier, which is what I was going for. (Not that the others were bad, they just made me ask why I bothered putting meat in them at all.)
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