While the weather is still great for outdoor grilling, Jane Black makes the case for mushrooms and:
their ability to mix with and boost the flavors of ground meat in foods such as burgers and chili, while simultaneously cutting calories, fat and costs. A sensory study funded by the council, to be published in the Journal of Food Science this fall, showed that consumers generally preferred meat-mushroom blends in tacos over a 100 percent beef filling, citing increased aromas, flavors and moisture. “You can make things healthier by putting broccoli in it. You can make things cheaper by putting soy in it,” [president and chief executive of the Mushroom Council, Bart] Minor says. “This is revolutionary because it’s so simple. It’s meat and mushrooms. They go together like peanut butter and jelly.”
Black says blending mushrooms with meat is a win-win:
Substituting mushrooms for just one-quarter of a recipe’s beef content reduces calories, fat and sodium by about a third. Because livestock production and distribution accounts for an estimated 14.5 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide, eating less meat is also environmentally responsible.
I’d bet even picky kids won’t be able to tell there are mushrooms in their burger if the ‘shrooms are minced and mixed well-enough before mashing out the patty and putting it on the grill.
If anyone comes up with a great recipe for meat and mushrooms, I’d love to post it on The PediaBlog!