the Impossible Whopper

It has been an interesting journey in that the rise of plant-based meat substitutes corresponded with the time after my surgery in which I was not allowed red meat. I am coming up on the six month mark and so should be able to return to red meat. I’ll check with my surgeon at the beginning of next week. (I really want a Double Double from In-n-Out!)

In the interim, however, I have tried a number of plant-based products: the Beyond Meat burger, two varieties of Beyond Meat sausage, the LightLife ground, the LightLife burger, and, of course, the Carl’s Jr. Beyond Famous Star. I have been pleased with the taste and texture of all of those.

Then there’s the one I’ve been waiting for: the Impossible Whopper. It rolled out nationwide on Thursday and I tried one yesterday. Now I have long been a Whopper fan. It’s not In-n-Out, not by a long shot, but one cannot live by In-n-Out alone, and the Whopper is a pretty darn good burger as fast food burgers go. The only problem is that it doesn’t come with cheese. You have to specifically request it, which I think is silly.

So the Impossible Whopper? Marvelous. I could not tell the difference from the beef Whopper. I just need to remember to ask for cheese.

Beyond Meat. LightLife. Impossible. It’s a whole new world and I love it.

the Beyond brand fast food products

I wrote a while back about trying the Beyond veggie burger from the grocery store. I was really impressed with the texture and taste and was anxious to try the Beyond Famous Star burger from the Carl’s Jr. fast food chain.

I finally got the chance to give it a try, and I was very impressed. Quite tasty, just like the beef Famous Star, hardly indistinguishable. A second try confirmed my feelings.

More recently Del Taco came out with their Beyond Taco. Now I am not a big Del Taco fan. (What’s a Mexican fast food chain doing selling french fries, and who wants french fries with a taco?) Nonetheless, in my quest to learn about the new generation of plant-based meat substitutes, I felt that I owed the product a try.

My perception: not bad. The consistency was the consistency of taco meat and the taste matched that of a Del Taco taco. I won’t go back, but I’m glad I tried it.

I also have to give Del Taco credit for being fully committed to the Beyond Taco. They have dedicated printed Beyond Taco wrappers complete with logo. Carl’s identifies their Beyond Famous Star by wrapping the burger a certain way or affixing a sticker that says “Promo.”

Now I’m waiting for the Burger King Impossible Whopper to arrive in Southern California. I’m looking forward to that.

supper or dinner?

What’s that meal we eat on weeknight evenings? I say “dinner.” It’s what I said when I was growing up. “Mom, what’s for dinner?” But somewhere in the back of my mind I think I knew it was really supper. Maybe my dad used the term; I’m not sure. On Sunday in the mid-afternoon we had dinner. My mother made a roast, we had sides, and my Grandma Christie often joined us.

The folks at Wide Open Eats published an interesting essay on the subject. They point out that from an etymological standpoint dinner is the main meal of the day, whatever time it is served, while supper is by definition the evening meal.

No doubt you have your own perspective on this critical issue.

hot sauces

Terry and I are big fans of hot sauce. We always have a bottle of Cholula and a bottle of Tapatio on hand for when we have Mexican dishes. I generally feel that Cholula has a richer, more full-bodied taste than Tapatio, but it’s nice to have both.

Typically we never kept Louisiana-style hot sauce among our supply of condiments, but I bought a bottle at one point for a recipe I was fixing so we’ve had it on hand. Now it’s not as if I’m unfamiliar with Louisiana hot sauce. Both Popeye’s Chicken and Waba Grill make it available and I know it’s much hotter than Mexican hot sauce.

I had, however, never juxtaposed the two kinds of hot sauce in my mind until recently. One evening we were having leftovers that were sort of bland so I put all three bottles on the table. It really hit home the reality that Louisiana hot sauce is a lot hotter than Mexican.

What I learned: I really enjoy Louisiana hot sauce on my leftovers.