It\u2019s hard to stand out in the world of plant-based meats, but Juicy Marbles is trying to do so by attempting to replicate not just a steak but also one of the higher-end cuts: the filet mignon. When the company reached out to The Verge<\/em> asking if we wanted to try its steaks, its promises of a tender filet that\u2019s marbled and cooks like a real steak caught my attention, as someone who swore off eating meat for two years (but who still gets a little jealous of the delicious-looking things my wife eats). The price also caught my attention \u2014 $40 for a four-pack of four-ounce steaks. For the mathematicians at home, that\u2019s $40 a pound.<\/p>\n

Having eaten plenty of plant-based meats, though, I know that marketing materials can be very<\/em> deceiving and that being expensive doesn\u2019t automatically equate to tasting good. Keeping my hopes in check, I asked them to send me and my co-worker Alex Cranz, a person so committed to beef I think Hank Hill might have been modeled after her, some steaks. The plan was to get both a vegetarian and carnivorous perspective. <\/p>\n

Soon enough, the steaks had arrived, swaddled in dry ice. While I was preparing to cook them, I noticed that the raw steak smelled very<\/em> similar to raw Beyond Burger. That concerned me a little. While I do thoroughly enjoy a good plant-based hamburger, they often have a weird, indescribable taste that starts to seep in if the patty is too thick. (For example, I enjoy the Burger King Impossible Burger but not Red Robin\u2019s, which is significantly heftier.) At the time, I didn\u2019t know that it wouldn\u2019t really end up tasting anything like a hamburger patty, so with some extra trepidation, I set about cooking it.<\/p>\n