Building a better burger
As part of thought leadership efforts at the C.I.A.’s Healthy Menus R.&D. Collaborative “one of the most successful efforts presented was from The Mushroom Council,” Mr. Drescher said. “Its Blended Burgers — ground beef or chicken blended with mushrooms — reduce calories, saturated fat and sodium. This (concept) has taken off in amazing fashion for school food service where, since operators need to serve well-done burgers, mushrooms can add an element of hydration.”
As menu strategist for The Mushroom Council, Steve Solomon said he’s responsible for everything that happens away from home. Along with a team of chefs, he works on concept development with restaurant chains and together they make it happen. Most recently, the group undertook the Better Burger Project, a promotion with the James Beard Foundation where Mr. Solomon asked participating chefs to create a meat and mushroom burger to be put on their menus.
“We developed this concept of blending mushrooms with meat to build healthier food for America,” he said.
Working with the C.I.A., Mr. Solomon found that mushrooms, whether they are roasted, grilled or sauteed, then finely chopped to match the consistency of the meat, may be added to ground beef or ground turkey to create juicier, more flavorful burgers.
“Some chefs are using only low cost white button mushrooms, but you can also blend various types such as shiitake, Portobello and white button, to add another level of flavor,” he said.
Among the earliest adopters of the blend were food service management companies, including the Compass Group. Sodexo recently announced it will offer only blended burgers in all of its school food service accounts.
“Now, more than 200 universities are using the blend as well as a growing number of chains; at the Cheesecake Factory, the turkey burger is blended with mushrooms, garlic and other spices,” Mr. Solomon said.
When Pizza Hut, a business unit of Yum! Brands, Inc., wanted to reduce sodium in its meatball pizza, they added mushrooms and, at Seasons 52, where all items on the menu boast less than 475 calories, “they’ve finally been able to introduce a beef burger at lunch thanks to the calorie reduction effected by the blend,” Mr. Solomon said.
Admitting that more locations are putting blended burgers on the menu as a means of calorie, sodium and fat reduction, Mr. Solomon sees that consumers “tend to shy away from ordering an item if you promote or market it specifically as ‘calorie reduction;’ Now it’s ‘holistic’ — ‘It’s good for me,’” he said.
