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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

taste test

Cellular Aquaculture Startup BlueNalu Unveils Cell-Based Yellowtail in Culinary Demo

Today BlueNalu, a San Diego-based startup developing seafood from fish cells through a process called cellular aquaculture, announced that it has done a culinary demo of its cultured yellowtail amberjack.

In a press release the company called the demo a “milestone” to support its plans to introduce cell-based seafood to market within the next two years. BlueNalu CEO Lou Cooperhouse noted that the company has also internally tested mahi mahi and red snapper.

Several other companies have already done taste tests of their cell-based seafood. Wild Type organized a dinner featuring its cultured salmon earlier this year. In Asia, Shiok Meats debuted dumplings containing cultured shrimp in March, and just last month Avant Meat unveiled its cell-based fish maw (edible swim bladders of fish) at the Future Food Summit in Hong Kong.

However, it seems that BlueNalu’s fish is unique in that it acts just like traditional fish in all cooking techniques, whether it’s served seared or steamed or raw. As Cooperhouse noted in the release, “we don’t believe that any other company worldwide has been able to demonstrate this level of product performance in a whole-muscle seafood product thus far.” In the tasting, the so-called “medallions” of yellowtail were prepared cooked in tacos and seafood bisque, as well as acid cured in a poké dish. Wild Type’s salmon, by contrast, can’t be cooked to high temperatures or else it falls apart.

Photo: BlueNalu

BlueNalu’s next step is to scale, scale, scale. They’ll have to move pretty quickly to meet their incredibly ambitious plans that include a goal to break ground on a facility which will produce 18 million pounds of cell-based seafood within the next five years.

While a successful culinary demo doesn’t necessarily mean that BlueNalu will be able to achieve that goal in that timeline, it’s certainly a promising first step.

Avant Meats Has First Public Taste Test of Cultured Fish Maw in Hong Kong

For many Western consumers, “fish maw” is an unfamiliar foodstuff. However, in China and other surrounding regions, the ingredient, which is technically the dried swim bladders of large fish like sturgeon, is considered a delicacy. For that reason, it’s both extremely expensive and leading to extreme overfishing. There’s even a black market for the stuff.

In Hong Kong, startup Avant Meats is finding a more sustainable way to feed hunger for fish maw by growing it outside the animal. The company got one step closer to that goal last month, when they did the first public taste test of their cultured fish maw at the Future Food Summit at Asia Society Hong Kong.

The fish maw, grown from cells from a croaker fish, was embedded in a potato ball which was then deep-fried. Obviously we didn’t get to taste it ourselves (sadly), but in a video sent to The Spoon taste testers noted the ball’s chewy, gelatinous texture, a hallmark of fish maw. Texture is one of the biggest hurdles for cell-based meat, so if Avant Meats has indeed nailed it that could serve them well as they head to market.

When I spoke with Avant Meats co-founder and CEO Carrie Chan back in March, she explained that they had decided to focus on fish maw as their first product because of it’s simple composition, which allows them to speed up R&D, scale quickly, and come to market at a lower price point. Another reason they chose to focus on fish maw is because of its popularity with consumers in China and Hong Kong, their initial target demographic. However, according to a press release sent to The Spoon, their next product will be a fish filet that is intended for both Eastern and Western menus.

This year has been a busy one for cultured meat companies in Asia. Back in March Shiok Meat debuted its cell-based shrimp in the startup’s home country of Singapore, and Japan-based Integriculture recently did a taste test of cultured foie gras.

American companies like Memphis Meats, JUST, and Wild Type have also done several tastings of their own cell-based products, some on significantly larger scales. However, since cell-based (cultivated?) meat will likely debut in Asia, it’s exciting to see the increase in cultured meat and seafood activity in the area — especially for products developed specifically to appeal to Asian palates.

Avant Meats has raised an undisclosed pre-seed round and has a team of five in its Hong Kong HQ. They’re hoping to reach pilot production by late 2022/early 2023.

How to Grill Beyond Meat’s Plant-Based Burgers and Sausages

As a vegetarian, whenever I go to summertime barbecues I usually come prepared with my own meatless sustenance to throw on the grill. Lately that something has been Beyond Meat’s burgers or sausages, because, well, they’re delicious.

When confronted with plant-based meat that looks a lot like the real thing, the person manning the grill often gets confused. Do they cook these plant-based patties just like a regular burger? How long do the sausages need to stay on? Do they need any sort of special treatment?

I usually just leave the grillmaster to it and make do with the end result. But in the spirit of journalistic research, this week I decided to fire up the grill myself (for the first time ever!) and figure out how to optimally cook Beyond’s plant-based offerings. Here’s the guide I put together from my findings:

Photo: Catherine Lamb

  1. Heat the grill. Charcoal is obviously preferred since that’s how you get that smoky flavor that screams “hey dummy, it’s summer!” Usually 15 minutes or so is enough for the grates to get screaming hot, which is what you want in order to get a nice sear on the outside of your “meat.”
  2. Bring your meat to room temperature. Though Beyond Meat aims to be sold alongside meat in grocery stores, I often find it in the freezer section. Be sure to bring your burgers and brats to room temperature before you grill them, lest you end up with a fully cooked outside and a frozen interior.
  3. Oil your burgers/sausages. Beyond’s packaging instructs to lightly oil the surface of the burger and sausages so that they don’t stick to the grill grates. I brushed the outside of the meat with some canola oil and it worked beautifully — no stickage at all. Oiling the grates themselves would also work using an oiled paper towel or grilling spray. Just make sure to do it while the grill is cold so you don’t risk burning yourself.
  4. Cook for a short time over high heat. The best part of any grilled meat (or “meat”) is the smoky char, so make sure your grill is really hot before you put down your Beyond patties or sausages. Cook them a few minutes on the first side (I found that two minutes was enough), check to make sure the bottom is brown and caramelized, then flip (for the burger) and turn (for the brats) and cook another few minutes.
  5. Don’t press down! This one really only has to do with the burgers. As with meat burgers, you don’t want to press down on your Beyond patties with your spatula. Yes, it makes a nice sizzle sound. But it also causes all the fat (in this case, coconut oil) to squish out of the burgers, which means they’ll be less juicy.

Photo: Catherine Lamb

In the end, grilling Beyond Meat isn’t a whole lot different than grilling regular meat. I was worried the burgers might fall apart when I flipped them or the sausage casings would stick, but I was surprised by how easy they were to cook.

In fact, they might actually be easier to grill than regular meat. Beyond’s website instructs cooking the burgers and sausages to 165°F internal temperature but I didn’t fuss about that. Since Beyond’s meat is plant-based, it doesn’t carry the same risk of salmonella or E. coli as pork or beef, so undercooking isn’t as much of an issue.

There’s also a little more flexibility in terms of timing. Overcooked Beyond burgers aren’t great, but they’re much more palatable than the tough hockey puck of an overcooked beef burger. During my tests the plant-based sausages also stayed moist and juicy, despite the fact that I got distracted and left them on the grill for much longer than the suggested six minutes.

My taste testers (who are both meat eaters) and I agreed that while we wouldn’t mistake Beyond’s products for real meat, they were plenty delicious. Delicious enough that they would even seek them out at a restaurant or in the grocery shelves.

They have plenty of opportunity to do so. Beyond Meat products are served at over 15,000 restaurants, including all Carl’s Jr. and Del Tacos nationwide. They’re also available at more than 35,000 grocery stores. And based off of Beyond’s first earnings call this week, there’s a lot of expansion — both in retail and in restaurants — coming down the pipeline.

That’s good news for summer barbecues.