Cowbell was an amazing hidden gem in New Orleans that closed temporarily after COVID then re-opened for a brief time before closing permanently after Hurricane Ida.
I never had the beef burgers, but the veggie burger was hands down the best veggie burger I’ve ever had. Even the pickiest vegetarians I’ve ever known agreed it was incredible. This is the only image I could find online, and it really doesn’t do it justice: Cowbell’s Harvest Burger
I’ve attempted to replicate it on my own several times over the last few years, and this is probably the closest I’ve gotten so far. Still not anywhere near the original but it was pretty amazing.
Cowbell’s original ingredients I’m aware of: Red beans, brown rice, sweet potato, bell peppers, other seasonal vegetables, sweet soy sauce, and panko bread crumbs
This attempt:
• Batch of red beans cooked in 2 tbsp Better than bullion vegetable stock
• 1 cup Quinoa
• 2 sweet potatoes chopped and roasted
• 1 red onion chopped and sauteed
• Vegetables I had on hand (bell peppers, beets, artichoke hearts) sauteed with the onion
• Inch of fresh ginger chopped and sauteed with onion and vegetables ~5 mins
•Flaxseed egg substitute (1 tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 tbsp water)
•Stir everything together and cool/refrigerate for at least 30 mins
•Once cooled, briefly pulse in food processor
•Spoon mixture onto sheet of parchment paper and use panko breadcrumbs to form patties
•Cook on parchment paper at 375°F for 10 minutes. Flip and continue cooking for additional 5-10 minutes
Top with whatever you like but avocado is always a great choice
I’m high and all I see is a sexy duck laying on a pillow.
I’d fuck that duck.
sounds like New Orleans needs more Cowbell.
ugh.
SMDH
(but it’s still recognition, and that’s really what a proper “dad joke,” is all about).
dad’s have perfected the anti-joke. I’m merely an uncle, though, so I struggle through it.
NGL, the anti-joke-by-proxy is honest work. 🤌🏼
I don’t pretend to be any restaurant that has opened in New Orleans. However, want to share a few tips I’ve discerned over a few years:
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The holy trinity is critical to Creole cuisine, and red beans in particular. The holy trinity consists of onion, Bell pepper, celery, and garlic is “The Pope”. This is perfectly vegan.
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to a non-vegan red beans and rice, the only ingredients I would add are bacon (or another source of pork fat) and pork ham in some form. I would substitute with any reasonable vegan source of fat
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sweet potatoes are still good if you absolutely need to turn this into patties for a complete meal at the end.
This is quite helpful, and no apology/qualifier is necessary.
I’d like to add that using epazote in your beans is a mofuggin godsend, IME. (not just in the red beans here, or even strictly Latin cuisine, either) A little goes a long way, so be gentle at first when adding it dried to your cooking water — as in, a ½T per 2gal pot of beans, or so, if memory serves. The difference is blight & day.
Enjoy not evacuating the building from now on! 😱😜
edit: I’m keeping it as-is. Sometimes, autocorrect is on-the-nose.
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That place was great. Never had the veggie burger but I’m glad to see you trying to reverse engineer it to keep it alive.
that looks really tasty! i’m going to try a combo like this with rice and beans together yours looks so great. nice job!
