Book review: The Vurger Co at Home

The Vurger Co provides satisfying vegan burgers with tasty toppings and appetising sides

There’s been a well-documented surge in the plant-based fast-food market, with established chains launching vegan dishes and new restaurant brands popping up on high streets. One such brand is the Vurger Co which was founded in 2016. It secured £1.4m in investment in 2020 and now has four restaurants, in Brighton, Manchester, and Shoreditch and Canary Wharf in London.

Co-founders Rachel Hugh and Neil Potts describe their book as a “treasure trove of top tips” from the creators of the restaurant’s dishes, which have been translated into 80 “soul-satisfying, indulgent and delicious” recipes divided into brunch, lighter lunches, fakeaway, party bites, desserts and drinks, and sauces.

The recipe for the chipotle corn vurger (opposite) was created in collaboration with Welsh chef Gaz Oakley in 2019. The fusion of the sweet, charred patty with crisp, spiced jackfruit and a hot cheese queso saw the special’s run extended time and time again due to popular demand.

But this book is much more than just burgers – an intriguing recipe for ‘lobster’ bruschetta uses pink oyster mushrooms combined with hearts of palm, jarred red peppers and nori, while the reader is advised to use an air fryer to achieve the appetising curl on the crispy corn ribs served with a chilli garlic butter.

While the book is clearly aimed at the home cook, it still provides many plant-based ideas for chefs looking to expand their menus. And there’s some clever cookery going on – a detailed recipe for ‘chicken’ gravy is recommended to accompany the Southern-fried nuggets, but would be very welcome on a Sunday roast; there’s charred cauliflower fritters (another collaboration with Oakley) that are jam-packed full of flavour; and sheets of rice paper, coated with paprika, garlic and onion powder and dried sage and glazed with a sticky umami sauce made from soy, agave, miso paste, balsamic vinegar and liquid smoke, is ingeniously used to replicate pork crackling.

The Vurger Co at Home by The Vurger Co (Harper Collins, £16)