Beyond Beef

At home and when eating out, low fat and veggie burgers have become the burger of choice for many Americans. Burger Kings across the US and Canada are offering veggie burgers, as are Hard Rock Cafes and the food outlets at Disney amusement parks.

America’s biggest corporations are offering low fat and veggie burgers in their company dining services. Here is a list, compiled by the Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine, of just some of the companies serving low fat and veggie burgers to their employees:

Chrysler( Michigan), General Motors ( Michigan), Texaco ( New York), Procter and Gamble ( Ohio), AT & T ( New Jersey), Wal-Mart Stores ( various locations), Phillip Morris ( New York), Hewlett-Packard ( California), Metropolitan Life Insurance ( New York), State Farm ( Illinois) and Mobil(Virginia).

It seems low fat and veggie burgers are making fast fans of many former double bacon and cheese burger lovers.

Burgers are being created with chicken, turkey, salmon, buffalo, veal and vegetables. The Sheraton Inn, Seattle, Washington, offers a salmon burger served with a choice of condiments including a lemon dill mayonnaise.

Mother’s Restaurant, Irvine, California, offers several “veggie” burgers, including a bean-and grain based burger and a potato and lentil selection.

Chicken and turkey burgers are available as a frozen, ready-to-use menu items; just throw them on the grill and go. Chicken and poultry burgers are very neutral in flavor, ready to be seasoned. Try red pepper flakes, white pepper and cilantro for a Southwestern flavor, bell pepper, tomato puree and garlic for a Mediterranean flavor.

A Nice, Juicy, CHERRY Burger?

Big and juicy doesn’t have to mean cholesterol-city. Nutrition-sneaky chefs have been playing with their burgers and have found ways to keep them juicy without adding fat. A deli owner in Washington State found a way to cut the fat in burgers and incorporate his state’s famous crop- cherries. He found that substituting ¼ the meat with fresh cherry pulp he keep the color, texture and juice of the burger and cut the fat by 25 per cent. The USDA has just allowed chopped prunes or prune puree to be substituted for some of the beef in burgers supplied to schools across the country. Both cherries and prunes add texture, moisture and nutrients without adding fat or sodium or detracting from meat flavor.

If cherries or prunes are not your cup of tea when it comes to burgers, take out some of the meat and add in soy, tomato products, egg whites combined with fresh bread crumbs or minced fresh vegetables.

Or perhaps you’ll scrap the meat and go with a veggie burger instead. High in fiber and vitamins and low in fat (unless you fry them, bind them with eggs or top them with half a pound of cheese), veggie burgers can be made with chopped, cooked vegetables, cooked grains (rice, barley) and corn, tofu and other soy products and potatoes. Make your own or select from the many frozen, ready-to-use products available.