My worst hamburger/cheeseburger (whatever that disgusting thing was) ruined my day and a half. It was in Gdynia, Poland in late 1990s and the taste was beyond bad but I was really hungry.
It was some disgusting piece of unidentified minced swine meat, pickles, enclosed in old bun and filled to the brim with despicable mixture of ketchup and mustard.
A perfect metaphor for what this country was back then. The one meal that described its aspirations and shortcomings.
The one I had in Germany was disturbingly uniform in its thickness (which was quite thin), dry, didn't taste like much, and was absolutely overflowing with shredded lettuce. It was kind of like what someone would make if you described a hamburger to them briefly and they just kind of winged it.
As disgusting as these appear and sound on paper, every single review I’ve seen across multiple brands of these canned hamburgers/cheeseburgers has been positive. Because of those I’d give 'em a try if I ever saw them for sale.
Haven’t heard anything about retiring yet. I think part of it is a lot of the pound shops he depended on for tat have gone away. On top of that, after all these years I would guess that he is running out of novel junk from his collection to talk about. He’s also been working on his feature films too, which may be more rewarding to him in the long run than reviewing wonky toys and terrible food.
I’m cool with him slowing down as long as he’s enjoying himself.
They used to just about everywhere in the US a few years ago. They called it the impossible burger and it tasted the same as a whopper. Not my cup of tea, but I’d say it’s a faithful reproduction
What are you unclear about? Look up veggie burger on image search. They're usually conglomerations of various vegetables that are compressed and fried or held together in some other fashion.
Hungry Jacks (upside down Burger King) used to sell those types of veggie burgers. They were super unimpressive since they felt more like a “just give them an option” thing rather than something meant to be enjoyable. I’d be surprised if they didn’t just copy another Burger King menu item.
As an aside, I feel like one of the few people that enjoy the impossible burgers. I’d buy em all the time if not for the price. Which as an Omni, seems like they’re doing their job then.
Nah this was in like 2012 or 13 or so, before impossible burgers were a thing. The patty was a thin unidentified mat of some kind of substance. There was a sodden patch of greenish white and one of reddish white.
FWIW - this picture has been floating around since the mid 2000’s; the person who blogged about it cooked it super wrong. The instructions said to use a bain marie, and they didnt know what a bain marie, but saw you boiled water in it, so they just boiled the can. If you boil a can, water is 100% going to seep into it, and turn it into…what you see here.
It’s a lower pot that you boil water in with an upper pot that you put the food in. No water gets near the food, it’s meant for applying even, indirect heat
A Bain-Mairie is specifically a “hot water bath” of a ramekin in a pan full of water in the oven. Double boilers are stove top pot of in/on another pot of water.
Judging by the can, this thing is meant for multi-day backpacking trips, and you’re telling me that on top of tent, sleeping pad, change of clothes, propane stove etc. I have to bring a freaking bain marie along and do some french cooking nonsense in order to get this to taste right, when the patty already looks more like an industrially manufactured pipe seal?
Sure, no problem, I got my bain marie right here, next to my solar powered sous vide oven and my portable overnight charcoal smoker. I don’t need room for water or sunscreen or anything, having a gourmet canned cheeseburger is far more important.
They are in the same way any canned good is. If you boil it, the can is likely to warp slightly and allow water in, also things like plastic liners and other chemicals can leech into your food, you generally aren’t supposed to cook food inside the cans they come in.
Canned food is literally pasteurized in said can, while submerged in water at temperatures slightly lower than 100 °C. The whole reason to put food in cans is to create an airtight atmosphere that can be thermally treated with hot water. This kills certain spores (mainly botulinum) which is why canned food has a very long shelf life.
It’s still not correct to cook the food that way, but not because of the reason you made up.
Boiling a can can absolutely open up a can. Pasteurizing happens below boiling point and for much shorter time, not enough time to change the pressure inside the can.
Boiling it for a long time can evaporate liquids and cause the pressure to build up and split a can open or warp it enough to open. It’s enough of a concern that condensed milk generally ships with a warning because of it.
Note that it won’t generally be the giant pop/explosion of cooking a can directly in flames.
In fact, cans of condensed milk specifically bursting when boiling was a big enough concern a few years ago because of a tiktok trend making caramel that way that there articles and videos of people fuckin it up
Hmm, I might backpedal a bit with my comment. Though I believe it’s near impossible to get the contents to a flashing point unless the water that is used is in a pressurized environment. Condensed milk is a liquid, meaning it is heated a lot faster than food. Liquids are subjected to convection when heated, meaning they heat up easily. I doubt a hamburger inside a can will ever reach 100 °C in boiling water.
Still, thanks for explaining your reasoning, I work in the beverage industry and know a fair deal about pasteurization, but that all happens somewhere between 60-80 °C and CO2 is the main culprit in terms and peaking cans. I wasn’t thinking about water turning into gas, thus increasing internal pressure.
No problem on explaining my point! I do also concede that it is a guess on my part, but also when you consider theres other images you can find of a canned cheeseburger that don’t look nearly so wet and soaked, I feel reasonably confident in my guess.
I have a feeling it might have to do with the cheeseburger being trapped in an airtight environment. That way the water can’t evaporate, it stays in the can and condenses right back onto the cheeseburger once opened.
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