What is the best meat substitute for a veg head?!
Answers: I loooovvveeee gluten it is my favorite meat substitute if prepared correctly it can taste like anything.
tofu and penut butter
tofu
portobello mushrooms-they are big thick and meaty
you could also try chickpea burgers
Firm tofu is good. It absorbs the flavors of anything you cook with it.
Another good one is "Garden Burgers" available in the freezer section of your local grocery store. They're entirely vegetarian hamburgers.
Soya mince. This is what is used in vegetarian dishes such as lasagne, chilli con carne and cottage pie.
Hope this helps.
boca burgers are great.
Buzz is funny, eh ?
Since when has an animal been disc shaped like a burger, or cylindrical shaped like a sausage. Those shapes are not the preserve of meat-eaters. Its a bit scary to think that people actualy think those shapes are "meat" shaped.
The tastes vary widely so you really need to go on personal preference. I rarely use them but when i do I only use the cut "ham" type products from Quorn or Quorn mince to make home made burgers with chillies, oinion, peppers etc...eeemmmm hungry now.
these products are the highest in protein:
* tofu and soy milk
* green soy beans (edamame in Japanese)
* nuts, seeds, and sprouts
* legumes and lentils
* gluten of wheat (seitan) (the best I know comes from the Chinese store; packed in oil, flavored with toasted sesame)
*** so, you get nice things like Trail Mix (dry fruit and nuts), or Pita Bread stuffed with Falafel w/ lettuce & tomato with tahini sauce ..or stuffed with avocado and alfalfa sprouts ...and all the delicious vegetable wraps which can be made with mashed beans and some sliced fresh vegetables, sprouts ...or good old Baba Ganouj with lots of good olive oil and fresh or roasted garlic, put into a pita or served with chips & crisps
* if you want, you can make your own vegetable patties of grated vegetable held together with besan (chic pea) flour
* check on YouTube for
Besan Puda - Manjula's kitchen
....that is a great little dish, also called an Indian Omlette......Manjula has a lot of Indian recipes on YouTube ...she is a very careful cook and makes everthing very clear and simple... all sorts of recipes including how to cook paneer (a fresh cheese like farmer cheese) in Indian dishes ...really good !!
* don't understimate the value of all kinds of different food ... it is not really all that much
"meat substitute" that you need, but a fresh, healthy choice of things to eat: like fresh papaya and some pumpkins seeds, drinks of juices made with fruit & fresh greens with a dish of some wheat crackers and a handful of sunflower seeds ... or some of the lovely salads with the mesclun and micro greens, a good healthy dressing made of olive oil, lemon & garlic, and a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds / served with some whole wheat bread sticks.....or you can make a vegetable broth of dried vegetables (found in the health food stores), with vegetables you add yourself, like grated zucchini or carrots, pieces of potato, a small handful of corn ....and don't forget popcorn, which is a whole grain.....and you can get pasta made of cornmeal, or make polenta of cornmeal ......
* Martha Stewart.com .... has a very nice recipe for a Lentil Pate ....really good, with lentils and nuts, and mushrooms, if you like
'shrooms !!....to serve with wheat crackers or health bread
** if you do not mind eating dairy, you will find all sorts of things to eat like:
** baked potatoes served with sides of grated cheddar, cream cheese & chives / scallions, butter, sour cream ...
** quiche made with cheese and eggs but no ham (hardly a problem) or a lovely onion tart, which is just delicious, or an asparagus quiche .....
** little gougeres made with various things like cheese or herbs ...
The trouble with eating meat is that it calls such attention to itself that it dominates your diet. Once you subtract meat, fish, poultry from your diet and look for good things to eat, you discover a large cache of recipes for things to eat that have been developed throughout the centuries, all over the world.
For example, without strain the French have developed wonderful recipes for Whole Wheat Bread with Walnuts, breads made with herbs and cheese, or Whole Grain Boules (a round French bread made with a sourdough starter ..... Martha Stewart.com has recipes for a trio of French Breads.....simply delicious ...and don't forget, just because you give up meat does not say you may not have wine .... it can be a very head addition to your ordinary diet, and a healthy one, too .... many a Greek has lived off feta cheese, great salads, rough country bread and country wines....and some honey pastries with pignoli, don't forget those.
I am sorry my answers are in such higgelty-piggelty order, but I hope they are helpful. It certainly has been cheer-making for me to type it all out !!
Have a good day !!
x
Soya beans.
If you're talking analogs, my favorites are Gardenburger ribs and Quorn naked cutlets and roasts--pretty much anything Quorn makes!
Ignore comment from Buzz, why is he bothering to answer a question he blatantly knows nothing about!
Quorn, Soya-meat and tofu are by far the best meat substitutes I have tried. The soya mince is convincingly like real meat, taste, texture - I have fooled many people by cooking them meals like lasagne with it in, without them knowing!
It depends for what really.
I like using TVP (textured vegetarian protein) for chili and sometimes burgers.
I love tofu for stir frys and tofu parmesean, in soups and silken tofu in smoothies.
I haven't perfected seitan (gluten) yet but like it.
I try not to buy too much fake meats, like burgers but sometimes I do and like them.
:)
I like Morningstar products, in the freezer section. They make a fake bacon that tastes like bacon, tofu dogs that I like better than I ever liked hotdogs, beef crumbles that work great for tacos and sloppy joe's. They fake chicken is really good too.
I haven't been impressed by Boca products.
I also like tofu- if you put it in the freezer it changes the texture and makes it seem chickenlike.
My favorites are Nate's Meatless Meatballs, Tofurkey Deli Slices, Boca Chik'n Patties, and Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Chik'n Strips.
Here's a list of popular meat substitutes:
http://www.vegcooking.com/guide-favs.asp
buzz d- what are you talking about? do you know? yes i want the taste of meat, but i don't want an animal that feels pain just like i do to be tortured, abused, and suffer in a factory farm for all it's short miserable life so that i can have it. if i can have the taste without causing all that pain and suffernig to another living being what is wrong with that?
if your okay with causing pain and suffering and torture so you can have a hamburger then i hope your happy with yourself. others don't want to inflict such misery. we can be perfectly happy have all the tastes we enjoy and know there was no pain involved :)
the best substitute- a variety of differnt foods for protein in general. (tofu, beans, veggies, nuts, pb, etc.)... for something that taste like meat... i typically prefer morninstar farms products, but it really really depends on your taste. i'd try a few out and see what you like.
If you still want the round patty on your plate, Morningstar Farms and other companies make great veggie burgers. Read the labels. Some have cheese. I like the mushroom burgers and the pizza spice burgers.
Looks like you want to eat meat. You complain that you don't want to hurt animals but desire to eat something that looks like one. How contradicting.
Try 85% hamburg. It looks just like meat. Well it is meat. Make a huge hamburger. Add cheese. Bacon. Then after you eat it ask yourself, "Why did I become a vegetarian?"