Sonic’s Slinger opens the door for ‘shrooms
Count me in for The Blend.
I have never been a mushroom enthusiast, but I am rethinking my indifference after testing the new Signature Slinger from Sonic Drive-In.
The patty of the burger is about 75% beef and 25% mushrooms, but it tastes like a regular Sonic burger — and quite possibly better.
My esteemed colleague Amelia Freidline and I tried out the Slinger on the day of its nationwide debut, and we agreed that neither the texture nor the taste presented any indicators that the patty contained anything other than beef.
Available for a limited time, the Slinger is advertised on the digital portion of the Sonic menu, where the new option is touted with the tagline, “All of the flavor, none of the guilt.”
Indeed, the burger has about 350 calories, certainly less than the standard amount for a similar fast-food item. (We suspect the bacon-and-mayo-laden version of the Slinger is not so innocent.)
Amelia and I would go back and get these burgers again, especially at the price tag of about $2.
It remains to be seen whether more mainstream consumers will agree, but this should be exciting for mushroom producers.
As I mentioned earlier, I am not particularly partial to the vegetable — I was that kid who ate around mushrooms and picked them off pizza slices — so even though I like the concept of The Blend, I probably would not have tried it in my own kitchen.
That might change, thanks to my positive experience with the Slinger and with more chopped-mushroom products coming to retail every day.
I knew burgers with mushrooms in the patty could be good because I had sampled ones prepared by chefs — but they can make most anything tasty.
Right or wrong, seeing Sonic successfully execute the concept gave me more confidence that maybe I could do it, too.
If nothing else, I would certainly be more open now to buying burger patties at the store that already have cooked mushrooms in them.
Predicting whether other people exposed to the Slinger would have the same reaction is difficult given my inevitably produce-colored glasses, but I believe this could be a game-changer for mushrooms.
Ashley Nickle is a writer for The Packer. E-mail her at anickle@farmjournal.com.
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