Review: Juicy Marbles Plant-Based Filet Mignon
WE ARE now awash in fake meat.
In the 11 years since the launch of Beyond Meat, followed two years later by Impossible Foods, plant-based meat products have gone from a side-eyed science experiment to something totally acceptable and still pretty cool whichever you would choose. for a barbecue in the backyard.
There are now Impossible Whoppers at Burger King and Beyond nuggets at KFC. There are plant-based sausage patties for your breakfast sandwiches and pea protein crumble for your burrito bowls.
And now, as the fake meat industry enters its second decade as A Thing, there’s a glut of plant-based products on the market.
While the early stages of the pandemic saw an increase in meat amalgam sales in US grocery stores, they have since plummeted. Sales of plant-based fast food items never really took off, and some of them completely ghosted menus. Beyond Meat’s stock is stable from its 2019 IPO and Impossible Foods has toyed with the idea of going public but…Beyond Meat.
Call it ‘false teat fatigue’ or ‘meatless malaise’ or ‘plant-based growing malaise’, but the whole food category seems to need a revamp, like the old party rage at herbal lasted later and longer than it ever should have.
But now and interesting twist: Juicy Marbles has arrived.
Yes, the company name is juicy balls.
Juicy Marbles makes, of all things, a plant-based tenderloin steak so tender, so flavorful, and so similar in appearance and texture that you’d fool yourself into eating a premium cut for a whole wasted less money than the real thing. At least that’s what the company claims.
We at men’s health have covered plant proteins from a health and nutrition perspective since its inception. So when the opportunity to try a Juicy Marbles Filet Mignon popped up in my inbox, I accepted the invitation with an open and curious mind.
What ingredients make up a Juicy Marbles Filet Mignon? What is the nutritional value of one serving and how does it compare to beef tenderloin? Is this stuff healthy? What does it taste like?
And, perhaps most important of all, what is a Juicy Mables?
What is a Juicy Marbles?
Let the company website explain itself.
“Juicy” refers to the texture of the meat, which is “firm, yet velvety. As the juicy bits gently tear apart, one can begin to question reality. It can be described as succulent, succulent, or even outrageous. .”
“Marbles” refers to the mixture of fats and proteins in a beef steak, which can take on a “marbling” appearance, much like that which occurs in marbled rock. Or, as Juicy Marbles puts it: “The ‘intramuscular’ fat structure is akin to premium cuts. The marbling keeps the meat moist while cooking, resulting in a juicy steak full of flavor and aroma. of beef deeply steeped.
If this all sounds a little weird, Juicy Marbles understands that.
“In a world so painfully serious, yet so ridiculous, you know it was only a matter of time before a plant-based filet mignon became a thing,” their website states.
What is a Juicy Marbles filet mignon made of?
In fact, it’s not something you wouldn’t otherwise see in other plant-based meat products.
Water, soy protein concentrate, wheat protein isolate, sunflower oil, natural flavors, beetroot powder, kappa carrageenan, methylcellulose, salt, yeast extract, iron, vitamin B12.
Like the Impossible products, Juicy Marbles builds its base with soy protein and adds sunflower oil for its fat. (Beyond Meat relies on pea protein, by comparison.)
How is a Juicy Marbles filet mignon made?
Like their competitors’ proprietary processing technologies, Juicy Marbles doesn’t go into detail. Again, from their website:
We don’t print meat, nor do we grow it in a lab. With the power of thunder and universal love, we forged a massive machine deep in the country’s lush forests that gave birth to Luka Dončič and Melania Trump. Meat-o-Matic 9000™ is what we called it due to lack of imagination at the time. Alas, with its powerful force of goodness and kindness, it layers proteins into linear fibers, mimicking muscle structures.
There’s more, but you get it.
What is the nutritional value of a Juicy Marbles Filet Mignon?
According to the label printed on the package, a 113g Juicy Marbles filet mignon has 180 calories, 28g protein, 6g carbohydrates (
If you’re looking for a rough beef comparison, 100g of beef tenderloin (with the tenderloin cut out) has 274 calories, 18g protein, 0g carbs (so 0g added sugar, 0g fiber) and 22 g of fat.
Plant-based meat marketers often advertise that their products contain less saturated fat than beef, but that’s kind of a no-brainer, as we’ve pointed out before.
So, in short, a Juicy Marble Filet Mignon has more protein and carbs for less calories and fat.
How does a Juicy Marbles filet mignon taste?
It is complicated.
When I opened my two-pack of steaks, I did what I usually do when presented with something unusual: I nicked it.
While the plant-based steaks certainly looked like the real thing—size, shape, and trademark marbling included—they felt firm and without giving. I was hoping that the Juicy Marbles protein “linear fibers” might loosen up a bit with cooking.
I prepared a steak according to the directions on the Juicy Marbles package: lightly salt all over, sear in an oiled medium-high head skillet, cook 8 minutes per side to develop a nice crust but not overcook.
I prepared the other like I would any other filet mignon: heavily salt bottom and top, wrap in bacon and sear in a pan for about two minutes per side to develop a nice crust but not too much. to cook.
The Juicy Marbles steaks quickly seared, sending tendrils of smoke into the hot pan, though I couldn’t place their aroma (Was it something lightly doughy, like a Chuck E Cheese ball pit? Or was it it more vegetal, like simmering cabbage? ).
I plated the steak naked, no rest required, and tossed fresh mushrooms into the hot pan to serve as a side.
The steak certainly looked the part – a deep caramelized crust surrounding a column of reddish-brown protein. And when I cut the tenderloin in half, the “meat” stretched out in roughly cut streaks strewn with fatty deposits. Sacred modern science Juicy Marbles looked quite amazing.
I was hungry at the time, and so my first bite I didn’t eat much – a little salt, a little beef – but maybe that was because I swallowed it.
So I tried another bite. The same. And another. Okay, maybe now I had some kind of mediocre sushi bar funk? Like a lingering taste of the smell of not-so-fresh fish?
And as the fake meat cooled, the texture changed from slightly overcooked steak to jerky brisket, with the linear proteins turning into shreds.
Tried the bacon wrapped version and…same thing. More salt helped, as did the bacon, but I couldn’t finish either steak.
And while I didn’t feel greasy like I sometimes do after eating a steak, I also didn’t feel full or satisfied. Which is weird, considering I had consumed over 30 grams of protein, dietitians and researchers agree that it helps fill you up.
I kinda felt like I had gone on a date with a really attractive person only to find they had no personality. Juicy Marbles looked amazing from packaging to plate, but didn’t bring much to the table in terms of flavor.
Is Juicy Marbles Filet Mignon healthy?
Also complicated.
Years ago, in connection with this article, our author contacted Ryan D. Andrews, RD, a plant-based nutrition expert from Connecticut and author of Guide to plant-based nutrition.
At the time, Andrews said, “These types of meat analogues are recent inventions. We don’t know the long-term health implications of regular consumption.”
I wanted to know if now, 11 years after the debut of fake meat, Andrews had changed his position.
“My position is essentially the same,” Andrews told me, “but allow me to offer a bit more context.”
“The best case scenario for personal and planetary health would be that we consume no more than 1-3 ounces of meat per day (this could be plant or animal meat), with the rest of the diet built around minimally processed vegetables (including tubers and roots), legumes, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and seeds (as well as smaller amounts of eggs, seafood, and cultured dairy products) .”
So, in essence, simply swapping your usual meat-based tenderloin for a plant-based tenderloin is a very minor (and possibly inconsequential) dietary change. It’s the whole diet that you need to look at, not a specific food.
Ryan continues, “At the end of the day, I encourage people to treat plant-based meat like animal meat, which is to find your minimum effective dose and not let it supplant the healthiest (and sustainable) foods.”
Is Juicy Marbles the future of plant-based meat?
Man, who knows.
Juicy Marbles becomes available online to US consumers “around” March 20 for $35 a pound, as relayed by a company representative. You can probably read all about Juicy Marbles’ expansion plans, with their seemingly charismatic founders championing a “better for you” beef that will soon appear on plates around the world. Who knows, maybe they’ll even have an IPO one day (or not).
But as Beyond and Impossible know, it all depends on the consumer. And consuming Juicy Marbles is a weird experience that’s a lot like eating other fauxteins: fun to try once.
I wondered, as I ate the last bits of those pan-fried mushrooms that were infinitely meatier than the ribeye: why do we keep messing with Mother Nature?
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