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Rating veggie "sausages"
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Author:  TheFuzzy [ Sat Aug 16, 2014 12:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Rating veggie "sausages"

As a non-meat-eater, I'm not partial to "fake meat" as a rule. If I wanted to eat meat, I'd eat meat; I don't need a wheat gluten simulation of duck to make me happy. The exception is veggie breakfast sausages (or as we call them, "snausages") for which I have a weakness, mostly because sausage isn't about the meat, it's about the spices. Anyway, I've pretty much had all the brands, so some ratings. Note that I haven't eaten actual pork sausage in 27 years, so don't expect any comparisons to real meat.

MorningStar Farms: the ubiquitous supermarket brand, and about as good as you'd expect from something so generic. Chewy tofu. Pretty much only any good if slightly burnt; I recommend frying the links in smoking-hot oil. Lately, though, they've added "hot" patties to their line, which are somewhat better, but often hard to find. The best thing about these is the name; as my sweetie points out, they must be made with "Seitan" (English major humor). C+

Boca: in my opinion the best of the veggie sausage lot, and also the hardest to find, even in their hometown of Ft. Lauderdale. Links only, and only one type, but that one type is heavily seasoned with a variety of spices (including garlic, sage and oregano), and reasonably good however you cook them. A-

Gimme Lean: a play on "Jimmie Dean" these veggie sausages come in "chubs" which you need to slice into patties yourself, like "real" pork sausage. They've been "seasoned" with nitrates to give them that "real pork smell", which does make them taste authentically like bargain-basement cheap pork sausage of dubious ingredients and safety. D-

Trader Joe's Patties: these used to be pretty good, slightly better than MorningStar patties, but then TJ's switched suppliers to one who doesn't believe in seasoning their TVP and wheat gluten except with salt, and I'm pretty convinced uses cardboard as a filler. These taste like suffering. F

Home made snausages: given the ridiculous price of veggie sausage -- somehow TVP is cheap filler in a real burger, but becomes expensive when in a box by itself -- a number of times I've made my own from mushrooms, onions, wheat gluten powder, TVP, whole garlic and lots of spices. Pretty good, but high-effort and I've never quite gotten the texture right. Also, I can only do patties this way, not links. B+

Quorn: Unlike all of the others, Quorn (a European brand) is not made from TVP and gluten ... it's made from some kind of ground-up fungus. This gives it a nice mushroomy flavor, not particulary like meat but pleasant on its own. The links have a much better texture than the patties, which are a bit dry. B

Author:  JesBelle [ Sat Aug 16, 2014 1:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Rating veggie "sausages"

I've made white puddings a couple of times and have considered doing a vegetarian version. There are many recipes out there and white pudding is mostly about the spices -- coriander, sage, MSG, ginger, mace, white pepper, nutmeg, and allspice in the version I make. Anyway, I finish them by rolling them tightly in plastic wrap, refrigerating overnight, then simmering them until cooked through. I freeze them in their plastic "casing." When I want some, I just unwrap, slice and fry.

Author:  TheFuzzy [ Sat Aug 16, 2014 2:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Rating veggie "sausages"

Ooops, I forgot one. Added to original post.

JesBelle: please let me know if you do make it! I'd love to see how it turns out.

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