Ground meat formed into a patty = burger
Ground meat formed into a loaf = meatloaf
Ground meat formed into a ball = meatball
Ground meat formed into small balls = polpettini
Ground meat stuffed into a casing = sausage
Any other way to name or make something that is essentially just ground meat?
This month's Food Network Friday, brought to us by the very talented Tami Noyes of Vegan Appetite, is, you guessed it, a form of ground meat, Reuben Meatball Sliders. Now, I can totally see the appeal of this recipe - Reuben. Name anything a Reuben and the folks over at Vegan Appetite will hear its calling. I am no exception and have made my fair share of the sauerkraut sandwich. This 'Reuben' is the ground meat version of our beloved dish.
The chef who created this spin on an old classic, Jeff Mauro, is the latest Food Network Star winner. He has us adding the cheese into the ground meat, along with the rye bread in the form of breadcrumbs. So far so good. Naturally, he loses me at the ground flesh and eggs. No problem. We'll just make our own ground plants in lieu of the animal parts and eat a better burger as a result.
As a nod to Jeff, however, he did manage to make tofu delicious during one of the Star challenges, which Paula Dean, who is now diabetic and is pushing pharmaceutical drugs to 'treat' the very same diabetes that her diet no doubt plays a huge part in perpetuating if not outright causing, found delicious. If only she'd adopt tofu instead of bacon as a staple.
Tangent!
The sauerkraut and the 1,000 Island Dressing go on top of his meatballs and the whole thing is between slider buns. To veganize the slider, I made a 'burger,' only smaller. I used black beans and gluten in this one because I wanted to take a break from adding tofu to my burgers. Except for adding some pickle relish to the burger, the only thing I changed was the meat, eggs and used vegan dairy. Otherwise, this is a darned fine sandwich and I am getting some really great experience making vegan burgers.
