If you have followed my blog thus far, you will know that I am an ardent fan of Oumph! products. I have, as yet, only reviewed the Pulled Oumph! (link here), but I have tried quite a few of their vegan range and have talked about the company and their offerings in a few of my other posts. I mention this up front, as I want to make it clear that I already had a positive bias when approaching my taste test of their burger for this review. I will try to remain impartial…
Tastes like meat?
Short answer; absolutely. The taste is amazing and doesn’t suffer from over seasoning, unnecessary spice, or overload of onion-ness that many meat-sub products fall foul of. The texture is also very good; not perfect – it does lack a little bit more bite, leaving it feeling softer than a true meat burger – but is as close as I’ve found to a good replacement. I think this could stack up against a whole host of actual low- to mid-range meat burgers and come out on top. Looks good, smells good, tastes good.
Easy to cook with?
I guess there had to be a drawback somewhere. The burger is let down somewhat by its propensity to stick to the frying pan. I’ve cooked a number of these burgers now and have tried a few different methods – lots of oil/not much oil; high heat/ low heat; constant flipping/leaving it alone – every time, the bugger super-glues itself to the pan. It’s not a deal breaker by any means, and other than that these are quick and easy to prepare. But the sticking is a pretty big issue as it causes the top and bottom of the burger to be broken and it leaves a fair amount of it welded to the pan. Which is a shame. Not enough to put me off buying them, but a definite annoyance.
Value for money?
These were bought from ASDA, and were on a rollback offer of £2.50. Their usual price is £3.49. Which as far as I’m concerned, for two burgers, is ridiculous. These are a decent size of burger so can – and do – easily make two meals. But, as I also mentioned in my Quorn Ultimate Burger review, I absolutely disagree with selling burgers in anything less than a four pack, especially for that kind of price.
FINAL VERDICT
I can’t say enough good things about this burger in terms of taste and texture. This is definitely the closest I’ve come to a genuine burger replacement, and I’d be happy to have one of these instead of a variety of actual meat burgers I’ve tried in my life. On taste alone, this would come perilously close to a five star review. However, it is sorely let down by difficulties in cooking and on the cost of a two pack. Neither of which will stop me buying them in future, but they do stop me from giving more then 3.5 stars.
