We are a couple who prefers to avoid fake meat product to make it through Great Lent. But every once in a while, we find a product that seems so interesting that we want to try it. Or, we run across someone who speaks so highly of a product, that we want to taste what that person tastes. That's what happened to us today. We were having conversation with several people who are following the strict fast like we do, and they were talking about the various things they eat for breakfast. One lady started raving about these breakfast sausages that she buys at the health food store. She stated that the texture was just like meat, and she has a few sausages when she is feeling weak, wanting to beak the fast. This lady claimed that once she eats a vegan sausage, she knows that she can continue fasting.
It is odd to talk about sausage, when the sausages we are discussing are completely vegan. There are absolutely no animal products of any kind in these sausages, nor in the casing. So, what can we expect out of these fake meat sausages? We took our time to find out what it's all about.
Before we go on, we must share the memory of a beloved uncle who is no longer with us. Theio Steve (Stavros was his actual Greek name) was the owner of a very famous hot-dog restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio. Steve's Lunch, the name of his restaurant, served hot dogs so legendary that comedian Drew Carey used Steve's Lunch in one of this show's infamous opening credits. Husband loves good quality hot dogs and regrets that he never got to meet our beloved uncle Steve. (We had written this entry a few weeks ago and have a very sad update: Steve's Lunch burned down completely on St. Patrick's Day, 2015 - two days ago! We wish all the best to all the families affected by this loss!)
Alright now-back to discussing vegan breakfast sausages. We want you to know that these are not inexpensive. At the health food store, the Yves brand package cost $ 4.30 CDN, whereas the Tofurky brand package cost $ 4.00 CDN. Most of the other products in this section cost between 4 and 5 dollars. The section included lunch meats, hamburger patties, sausages, and seasoned tofu strips to simulate chicken. We chose the breakfast sausage links because they were directly comparable. The Tofurky brand of sausages ranged from breakfast links, hot Italian style sausage, and Polish style sausage. The Yves brand of sausages included breakfast links, sausage patties, hot dogs, and lunch meats. We wanted to compare apples to apples… or sausages to sausages in this case.
When you look at the two packages, you can immediately notice the Tofurky sausage is less expensive for more product ($ 4.00 for 227 grams) than is the Yves sausage ($ 4.30 for 200 grams). This would have swayed our decision if we did not know what we wanted out of buying these.
Next, you can see that the Tofurky brand sausages are a much darker colour, and larger in size than the competing Yves brand. Although there are more sausage pieces in the Yves brand package, the Tofurky sausages are longer, thicker, and heavier.
 |
| Yves brand on the Left, Tofurky brand on the Right. |
When we cut the sausages raw, we noticed that they had very different textures. Surprisingly, the Yves brand breakfast sausages had a very flat and processed texture -- just like a hot dog! The Tofurky sausages had a more granular texture that, surprisingly, were rather satisfying. A couple of the people who tasted these uncooked were surprised at the difference in textures. What they wanted to know was if the textures would change once the sausages were cooked.
So, we cooked them. We read the directions on the packages. Both offered directions to heat these in the microwave or pan fry them. We thought that the microwave would just warm up the already soft sausages, and that did not sound too appealing to us. To pan fry the sausages offered an opportunity to make the outside a little crispy to change the textures, and that is what we chose to do.
To pan fry these, put a little oil in the frying pan and get it nice and hot. We cooked at a medium high heat. Put the sausages in the hot oil and cook until they are browned all around. You will have to turn them several times to make sure that all sides are browned. Serve them hot.
We had the same people taste the cooked (fried) sausages. First, we liked the look of the Yves brand sausages. They looked like genuine meat sausage. We thought the look of the Tofurky brand sausage had not changed significantly.
What was interesting about having cooked these sausages is that the Tofurky brand sausage was the same cooked as it was uncooked, with a little crispiness on the outside. The Yves brand, however, actually changed textures inside! We keep referring to the similarity of a hot dog, because that is what we thought of with each bite -- not the taste, that's something else-- but for texture, colour, mouthfeel - this was a small sized vegan hot dog! We actually hoped that it would taste like a hot dog, but it did not. It tasted more like a creamy paste with a slightly crispy outside. Neither the texture nor the taste changed from the cooking process for the Yves brand sausages.
The Tofurky brand sausages did not change, either. However, they had a very meaty feel to them, and had some flavouring similar to a spicy meatball. These sausages were considered to be "pretty good" by those who tasted, and one person claimed that he would eat these again, even if it were not a fasting period. That said everything we wanted to know!
If you are looking to replace some protein with a substitute, tofu can be useful. We enjoyed the process of tasting these new items, and are thrilled that we tried something different. If we were to use more "fake meat" products, the breakfast sausage may be one we would include. After all, we would pay $4.00 for meat sausage, so paying for tofu sausages is the same thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment