The Impossible Burger is getting a makeover: Impossible Foods announced last month that they’ll be changing up their “better burger” recipe. Impossible Burger 2.0 will soon be available in restaurants and stores nationwide for everyone’s veggie-friendly diet needs; once only accessible to select top-tier eateries, widespread positive response to the new recipe encouraged Impossible Foods to speed up the availability for all establishments nationwide through top food distributors.
The plant-based burger now contains no gluten, animal hormones or antibiotics and still delivers a beefy taste while staying kosher- and halal-certified. You’ll get just as much iron and protein from the soy patty (the original formula used wheat) as you will from a serving of ground beef, and Impossible Foods has even genetically engineered a plant-based heme protein, which, in its natural form, is responsible for the flavors that come from meat.
Dailybreak had the opportunity to taste the new Impossible Burger, Wahlberg style. In an event hosted at Wahlburgers, Chef Paul Wahlberg showed me how he’s taking advantage of Impossible Burger 2.0 by debuting the Impossible Wahlburger, stacked with the vegetarian patty, cheese, lettuce, caramelized onions and tomatoes marinated in Sriracha and rice wine vinegar.
If you’re familiar with Boston (or the A&E network) at all, you know that the Wahlbergs are basically Massachusetts royalty. Born and bred in Dorchester, the clan includes big-shot actor Mark, New Kids on the Block alum (and Jenny McCarthy arm candy) Donnie, small-time actor Robert and chef Paul, among five other siblings and their sassy mama Alma. In 2011, Chef Paul Wahlberg opened the first Wahlburgers (the premise of their show), a fast-casual chain of burgers, fries and more, in Hingham, Mass., and 25 more restaurants followed across the country.
The brand new Dorchester, Mass. location, in particular, is a meaningful opening for the chef.
“I went to Roger Clap School, and we used to play street hockey in the parking lots out here. For us to come back home and really be a part of the community is hugely important to us,” Wahlberg said. “We get to tell everyone here, ‘I am one of you.’”
In creating the Impossible Wahlburger, texture was a huge part of what Chef Paul wanted in a veggie burger served at his restaurants, and he said the Impossible is what happens when it works.
“I worked on vegetarian burgers for a long time, and it was all about texture, texture, texture,” he said. “And then I tried this, and I lost my mind. They got the texture right, and the flavor is unbelievable.”
It’s obvious the chef knows what he’s doing; the burger is rife with umami and just enough zest from the Sriracha tomatoes to keep you on your toes. Had the patty been put in front of me under any other circumstance, I’m not sure I’d have been able to tell the difference.
While Wahlberg is already all about the vegetarian option, he also emphasized the Impossible Burger’s presentation as a socially-conscious food option: Its carbon footprint is about a fifth of that of raising a cow.
You can find all relevant nutrition facts on the Impossible Burger 2.0 here, and be sure to visit your closest Wahlburgers to get a taste.