In Sarah Kosar's surrealist play "MUMBURGER" we meet the very recently grief-stricken Tiffany and Hugh who tragically lost the matriarch of their little family. In the grieving process much is revealed including (SPOILER ALERT!) the consumption of raw meat.
Naturally, we didn’t want to have the actors actually eat raw meat due to obvious health risks, so we contacted local chef of the Carnegie restaurant One Thirty One East, Chef Bernie, to see if he could help us create “Mum meat”; something that *looks* like raw meat, but was safe for the actors. The following is a short Q&A we had with Chef Bernie about what he calls the “Tremendous Burger”:
What is MUMBURGER’s “Mum meat” made of?
The mum burger -- otherwise known as the “Tremendous Burger” -- is made with white beans, lentils, bugler wheat, roasted red beets, grilled mushrooms, onions, tofu, salt pepper, cumin, and love.
What inspired you to create the Tremendous Burger?
I have an employee that became vegan. He was talking about this “beyond burger”, and “the impossible burger”. Saying that they were vegan but bled like real meat and tasted like real meat, so I set out to create my version of this vegan meat-looking burger. I knew right away that I was going to use red beets for this blood effect, so I put it on our lunch feature sheet at One Thirty One East and it was a big hit.
Tell us a little bit about your restaurant One Thirty One East.
My wife Michelle Eibl and I opened One Thirty One East almost 5 years ago; we have been unbelievably busy from the start. It’s what I call “world fusion” cuisine. I am heavily French influenced though I love Asian, Italian, and Mediterranean as well.
How did the Tremendous Burger get connected to MUMBURGER?
Hans Gruenert, the owner of Carnegie Stage, had tried it about a year ago and loved it. He recently talked to me about “Mumburger”, remembered this burger and thought that it would work for the show.