Michelin Guide Feature: Are Plant-Based Meat Substitutes The Way To Go In The Dining World?
About: Plant-based meat substitutes are the latest buzzword on menus these days. No fewer than 15 restaurants in Singapore, from fast-food joints and cafes to a Michelin-starred restaurant, are venturing into dishes that are made with alternative sources of proteins.
These lab-grown or synthetic products may taste and feel like meat, but they do not contain any traces of actual meat. Instead, the list of ingredients mainly comprises plant-based proteins from peas, soya beans and potato, coconut and seed-based oil, and yeast. These plant-based meat substitutes are used in many cuisines, including Cantonese, Indian, Sichuan, Peranakan and Vietnamese.
Chefs share their reasons for and against using a new slew of synthetic meat that are appearing on menus in Singapore.
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Plant-based meat brands have been in the Singapore market for a few years now. United Kingdom-based Quorn, a meat-free product of mycoprotein produced by fermenting a naturally occurring fungus, launched here in late 2017. Mezza9 in Grand Hyatt Singapore started serving burgers made with Los Angeles label Beyond Meat last August. However, the real buzz started in the past six months, when major food technology firms began muscling their way onto the meat-free dining scene.
Drawing the most excitement in this burgeoning market is Impossible Foods from California’s Silicon Valley, which is famed for its plant-based meat that “bleeds”. Cut open a freshly grilled patty and a plush dark red interior is revealed — looking exactly like meat that has been cooked to medium-rare or medium doneness. Its stand-out ingredient is heme, an iron-containing molecule, which gives off “a meaty flavour”. Heme is found in genetically-engineered or fermented protein soy leghemoglobin, which originates from soy roots. In January, eight-year-old Impossible Foods rolled out a second version that replaces wheat protein with soy protein to yield a thicker and more adhesive texture. Impossible Foods also reduces the amount of coconut oil while adding sunflower oil. In March, it debuted in Singapore, with eight restaurants offering dishes made with Impossible Foods, which is only available in minced form here.
One of the early birds to use Impossible Foods in Singapore is one-Michelin-starred steak restaurant CUT by Wolfgang Puck in Marina Bay Sands. The restaurant’s signature Mini Kobe beef sliders can be replaced with the Impossible “meat patty” slathered with smoked shallot jalapeno marmalade, garlic aioli and ketchup, and sandwiched between two mini brioche buns. CUT By Wolfgang Puck’s executive chef Joshua Brown was initially skeptical about serving a plant-based meat substitute in a steak restaurant. However, he gave the product a go as he was looking for alternative meat-free burger fillings, on top of mushrooms and falafel, to cater to a considerable number of diners who, rather ironically, were looking for non-beef options in a steakhouse. He was sold on the concept of synthetic meat after he tried cooking it. He says: “Unless you set out looking for the differences, you will not be able to find the differences. The Impossible burger patty cooks pretty similar to a beef patty with a 80:20 beef meat to fat ratio, and it does not shrink as much as real beef.” He adds: “I prefer to cook the Impossible patty till it reaches medium doneness at least, so that it becomes a little bit more meat-like and firm. Flavour-wise, it is a little more earthy and has some nuttiness. The Impossible “meat” tastes closer to grass-fed than grain-fed beef.”
