Last week I attended the soft opening of Restaurant at Villa 47, and could not believe that I had been seated next to André Naudé, a director of Libstar, the holding company of Rialto (which in turn owns Villa 47), and a former Tiger Brands client of mine of 15 years ago. André had organized an invitation for me to attend the launch of their new Denny mushroom burgers at the Libstar head office yesterday. 

A number of food writers was invited to the new Denny mushroom burger cooking demonstration by Chef Jason Whitehead. We were told that some prizes could be won, including for best mushroom burger design by ourselves, and for best Social Media coverage achieved during the two hours.

Chef Jason showed us how to best prepare the mushroom burgers, which are frozen, and either are deep-fried in oil, or fried in a non-stick pan. Each side should be sealed, as one would cook meat, and cooked for 3½ minutes on each side.

Vanessa Sew Chung Hong, the Marketing Manager of Denny mushrooms, welcomed the participants, and said that the new Denny mushroom burgers are not only ideal for vegan and vegetarian eaters, but also for other eaters that want to eat something lighter and healthier. She addressed a question about salt content, and she shared that the products has been found to be too salty initially, and have been reformulated to reduce the salt content. She said that the Original variant (left) is gluten-friendly, while the Crumbed (right) variant is not. The product costs R39,99 for four patties. The mushroom burgers are produced for Denny by Finlar Fine Foods, another company in the Libstar group, which produces all crumbed products for Woolworths. Mushrooms are healthy, free of fat, and contain protein, dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

Chef Jason prepared a tasty spinach and mushroom curry using the Original mushroom burger, and had added cumin, onion, garlic, ginger, chili, tomato, coriander, bay leaves, and curry leaves. It was served with Basmati rice and coriander.

Chef Jason also prepared mushroom wraps using the Crumbed mushrooms, adding cheddar cheese, salsa, chili, and sriracha sauce.

Then came the big challenge, namely to prepare our own mushroom burgers, after Chef Jason had prepared the Original and Crumbed patties for us. Four different bun types were available, one being gluten-free, which Chef Jason had baked himself. There were different types of cheese, spinach, tomato slices, feta cheese, butter lettuce, bacon, butter, mayonnaise, tomato sauce, mustard, and gherkins, which we could add to our burger. I made a topless one, as the gluten-free bun was heavy and dense, so putting one half of it to one side.

Our mushroom spoil ended off with mushroom ice cream, topped with cream and chocolate sauce, and presented in a Parmesan casing. The cheese basket overpowered the taste of the mushroom ice cream.

We spoke about the versatility of the Mushroom burgers, for example to serve at breakfast, topped with a poached egg and Hollandaise sauce. Denny is the largest mushroom producer in the country, and currently offers fresh mushrooms, mushroom sauce in cans, mushrooms in brine in cans, canned soups, pasta sauces, cooking sauces, and more. Denny is looking at new products which it can launch to expand its product range. Its mushrooms are grown in Krugersdorp in Gauteng, Shongweni in KZN, and Fisantekraal in the Cape. The company also owns the Silverstream brand, and produces house brand mushroom products for all major retailers.

Disclosure: we received a pack each of the Original and Crumbed Denny mushroom burgers, and a pack each of white and brown Denny fresh mushrooms. We received a Denny branded mushroom home grow box kit. I won the prize for generating the most Social Media coverage, rewarded with a bottle of Boekenhoutskloof The Chocolate Block 2015.

Denny, Libstar, Bloomberg House, 43 Bloulelie Crescent, Plattekloof, Cape Town. www.libstar.co.za  www.denny.co.za. Twitter: @DennyMushroomsSA Instagram : @DennyMushrooms

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.whalecottage.com/blog  Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@WhaleCottage  Facebook:  click here Instagram:@Chris_Ulmenstein