Hamburger Patties and Kilts or sometimes you win…sometimes you don’t

I have been making veggie, soya, nut or some other sort of non-meat burger for the past 30+ years.  There have always been two problems with all of the versions. The taste and sometimes more importantly the texture. Or more specifically how to make them stay together long enough for them to be flipped. Of course the ultimate goal would be to make them strong enough to flipped on a BBQ.

I am pleased to announce that I am very close to the second goal the first (the taste) is much easier. Using chick peas, lots of onions (and other spices) hickory smoked almonds, non salted peanuts, sunflower seeds and walnuts and a homemade patty press I have made the near perfect burger. So simple.

The  patty press is just an empty chick pea can (with both ends cut off) , and some plastic disks cut from margarine containers. Dump in a burger size pile in the bottom can, slip down a disk and use a wine bottle to apply some pressure, repeat until can is full. Apply enough pressure on the full can until it feels right.  I then put the burgers in another container and store in the fridge. Going to try some on the BBQ next time I go see my daughter.

It feels good to have achieved a goal – no matter how small. Of course I could have bought a patty press for $15.00 at Zellars 20 years ago, but never thought about it, and besides the mixture was refined enough at that point.

On the other hand my kilt is a bust. Tried in on yesterday to measure where the straps needed to go ( the final step) and realized that I had made a fundamental error that could not be fixed and therefore it is not really wearable in public. I could have cried. The fabric was on sale so I only lost $22. But all that work for nothing….. Guess I will make some minor changes to the one I made and wore last year…. Could buy some more fabric and do another one but I am not too sure if I am the time. Oh well