displaced.vegan

I eat more burgers now than I ever did as a meat eater. But none of the ready made burgers on the market are exactly what I was looking for.  So after spending too much money on burgers that were just passable on the palette I decided to give a “from scratch” burger a try.

Ingredients in my burgers vary from batch to batch but in general they include: TVP, Vgn Bouillon, VWG, Rice, & Onion.  I suppose you could add other textural veggies in the mix, but I’ll leave that up to you.

If you are a newbie vegan or a meat eater reading this then you may not know what those initialisms up above mean.  TVP is Textured Vegetable Protein.  It is a soy product that is sold in dry granule (and chuck) form and is used as a substitute for ground meat.  It has a very subtle flavor.  So when you cook with it you  need to add in your own flavor.

VWG is Vital Wheat Gluten and is a very high gluten content (or hard) flour.  It is mostly used in making the faux meat Seitan because the high gluten content makes for a chewier dough.

The Vegan Bouillon that I used was “Edward & Sons” brand bouillon.  At Food4Less here this bouillon comes in “not-beef” and “not-chick’n” flavors.  The beef bouillon will give your burgers a smoky hearty flavor like some of the major brand vgn burgers.  If that is what you like then go for it.  I chose the chicken flavor.  This bouillon is not as good as Frontier brand chicken bouillon, but it does well in a pinch.  If you don’t have a faux meat bouillon then I suggest using vegetable broth to rehydrate your TVP.  Additional flavoring might be necessary.  You can add things like BBQ sauce into the mix later if you like.

I cooked my rice ahead of time.  I used Calrose rice because it is substantial and won’t get lost, texture wise, in the patties.  Why rice?  I like a little more body to my burgers than a traditional TVP burger provides.

While my rice was cooking I cooked up  some chopped Onion until super tender.  Some people might add uncooked diced onion to their burgers but, as I have mentioned before, I don’t like the texture of onions.

I combined the rehydrated TVP, rice & onion and then slowly added the VWG.  The goal was to make a mixture that could be shaped into a patty without falling apart.  I add more VWG than most recipes call for, but that is because I like the consistency.

rough estimate of ingredients:

• 1 cup dry tvp
• 1 cup vgn bouillon
• 1/2 cup cooked rice
• 1/4 onion, diced and cooked in a little vgn margarine
• 1/2 to 1 cup VWG (depending on consistency)

Another way my burgers diverge from the traditional TVP burger is in the cooking method.  Since I use more VWG in my patties they can be a bit gummy if cooked like a regular patty in a pan.  So I precook them with steam.  That’s right.  I steam them.

In a large pot I use water, a dash of soy sauce and a couple tiny drops of liquid smoke.  Why?  The steam can be used to impart additional flavor to the burgers as they cook.  Soy sauce is usually a good choice.  And the liquid smoke is to give it that hint of grilled flavor.  A little liquid smoke goes a VERY LONG WAY.  So be careful when choosing to cook with it.

I place the patties on a steam basket and steam them for 30 minutes minimum on both sides.  Yes, an hour of cooking time instead of just a few minutes in the pan.   Obviously, this is not an “I’m hungry now” kind of burger.  But the resulting patty is fully cooked, firm and well flavored.  And if you use a lot of VWG then you have more of a chicken patty than a beef patty.  So keep that in mind.

The fully cooked steamed patty can be served as is or cooked as you like.  I usually fry them up a little because I can.  But the solid shape would lend itself well to breading and frying like a wonderfully southern dish.  Because in the South we fried everything. ;)

I have no burger buns in the house and refused to take a picture of my ghetto burger made with two slices of bread. So imagine some delicious awesomeness that didn’t last long on the plate.

well, I have some cleaning up to do.
Much love.

Okay, so I woke up this morning and went straight to my finally cold fresh soymilk that I made last night and poured myself a big disgustingly bad for me bowl of generic chocolate cereal.  And you know what?  It was De.li.cious.

I love making my own soymilk and I can’t thank Peter enough for buying a soymilk maker for me.  By making my own soymilk I am avoiding additives and tetrapack cartons that can’t be recycled.  Plus, I have unsweetened soymilk on hand for things like gravy.  As a girl who spent her formative years in the South I cannot stress how important gravy is to me.  I could use it as a condiment the way crazy people use Ranch dressing.  *retch*

After downing far too much sugary cereal goodness I set about making some Mac (shells) & Cheese.  See?  You thought I’d never get to my point, didn’t you?

This isn’t really so much a recipe because there’s nothing to it.  But I’ll explain what went into making this delicious golden concoction of comfort.  I sautéed a handful of onions in some vegan margarine until they were tender.  I then tossed in a bunch of shredded Vegan Gourmet cheddar cheese and a dash of soymilk and stirred until melted and smooth.  I then poured it over the freshly cooked pasta and dished it.

The onion adds a good deal of flavor to this that I heartily recommend.   I don’t like the consistency of onions, but I like the flavor.  That’s why I cook them until they practically fall apart.  This way their texture blends in with the mac & cheese.  Also, when the cheese cools it begins to solidify, much like regular cheese does.  But I’ve yet to find a component to add to my cheese sauce to keep it from doing so.  So if you use Vegan Gourmet cheese in your mac & cheese I would recommend dishing it up in an already warm bowl and eating it quickly.  But doesn’t it look good fresh?  Go ahead and scroll back up.  I’ll be here waiting for you.

On the Vegan Cheese Front, I just learned what many of you probably already knew.  Daiya is now available at the retail level without having to special order it from a website who bought it through food service channels.

Daiya is, in my opinion, the absolute BEST vegan cheese on the market.  And if Food4Less carried it my life would be complete.  At the moment, the only retailer in my area that does carry Daiya is the Ashland Food Coop.  It’s a bit of a drive but worth it in my book.  However, since driving is not something that I do, I have to rely on the understanding of my mother to make the trip to Ashland.  I’m hoping to convince Food4Less to carry Daiya.  They’ve done an excellent job so far of stocking more vegan foods than I ever though I’d find in The Valley.

Well, I have things to do.  So I guess that’s all for now.  Oh, and don’t worry.  I still plan on making that tofu pepperoni and blogging about it.  But I still haven’t been shopping.

Much love

When I was still eating animal I loved pizza.  It was, without having to quibble, my favorite meal.  My absolute favorite pizzas where the ones with an absurd variety of cheeses on them.  Now that I’m vegan and unwilling to give up pizza, I have found that the traditional “cheese” pizza just doesn’t cut it.  Vegan cheese aren’t readily enough and in enough flavorful varieties to make a cheese pizza tasty enough for me.  Add to that the fact that I am a picky eater and you can imagine that a “veggie” pizza suggestion is followed up with me rolling my eyes and saying, “Why bother?”  So, I usually top my pizza with vegan meat alternatives like Gimme Lean Sausage and Yves Pepperoni.  But the store I went shopping at the other day doesn’t carry my meatless pepperoni.  Despite that, I still made pizza yesterday.  I’m also out of olives.  Though that may be for the best because I like to wear them on my fingertips and do Jazz Hands in the kitchen.

toppings:

• Vegan Gourmet Mozarella cheese
• Vegan Gourmet Cheddar cheese
• Gimme Lean Ground Sausage

I had a picture.  I swear I took one.  but I’ve misplaced the camera that I took it with.  I’d take another picture with my phone but I’ve already eaten the leftovers today.  But don’t fret, more picture will be forthcoming in a few days after I have completed my newest cooking experiment: Tofu Pepperoni.

I LOVE TOFU.  Srsly.  I have a shirt that says so, so it must be true!

Tofu gets a bad wrap.  But that is mostly from people who don’t know what to do with it and tried to eat it unflavored.  But it is one of the most versatile and amazing ingredients that you can have in your fridge.  But getting the best results with it usually involves pressing it to extract it’s extra fluid, freezing, or both.

Pressing tofu is essential when trying to imbue it with outside flavors, like with a marinade.  Think of unpressed tofu as a saturated sponge.  If you want to get new fluid into the sponge the old fluid needs to be removed.

Freezing tofu is usually done after a cursory pressing, though that’s not entirely necessary.  Tofu that has been frozen changes in texture, becoming chewier and more resilient.

This recipe for Tofu Pepperoni looks promising.  Unfortunately, my spice rack is missing a few items so I need to go shopping again.  So expect a follow up blog post.  And next time, it will have pictures.

At this time I would like to talk about a giveaway my fellow blogger & twitterer the Voracious Vegan is doing.  She is giving away a TofuXpress tofu press.  This handy dandy little device would make my life a whole lot easier.  And if you are as serious about tofu as I am then you should enter too.  So.. Go read this blog.  Then leave a comment, post to twitter about it, write a blog about it, or all three.

see you next time… hopefully with pictures.

In my local supermarket there are only two holiday turkey substitutes: Tofurky & Field Roast.  For Thanksgiving this last year I bought the small Tofurky.  As laziness would have it, I didn’t cook it for Thanksgiving.  But a few days later when I was housesitting I brought my Tofurky with me and cooked it there.  And then for Christmas I decided to give the Field Roast product a try.

Now, let me say, I like Tofurky.  But I think a lot of the variation in people’s taste experience is in the preparation.  So it can be a hit or miss ordeal.  Unfortunately, it is cost prohibitive to purchase Tofurky with the sole intention of experimenting until you get it just how you like it.

Field Roast’s Celebration Feast is smaller than even the small Tofurky log, but unless you are feeding a large vegan family then it shouldn’t matter.  Field Roast is DELICIOUS no matter how you might cook it.  It’s savory and the stuffing is yummilicious.  It’s uncanny in that the method they use to prepare it makes it outwardly resemble actual meat.  I had to look at the label several times to reassure myself that is was in fact Vegan. Of all the pictures that I am sure I have taken, this picture of the cut up Field Roast is all I can manage to find:

In my opinion, Field Roast’s Celebration Feast is the BEST of the two options.  But the journey doesn’t end there.  I have an out of print cookbook that has a recipe for creating your own un-turkey.  And I think I have just about everything I need.  So in the very near future I will be doing some experimentation with that.  Stay tuned!

I am fortunate enough to have Vital Wheat Gluten in my grocery store of choice. But were I not, I guess I would have to make my own gluten-y goodness. Gluten is a protein of sorts that exists in wheat. When you overwork wheat you work up the gluten. That is why you don’t overmix batters. If you did, you would have too much gluten and the end product would be chewy. For the fake meat seitan, this is a good thing. The chewiness of gluten creates a meaty texture.

I recently picked up a used copy of the now out of print ‘The Now & Zen Epicure’ which has many many wonderful recipes in it. And it also has instructions for making your own gluten-y dough in place of that made with Vital Wheat Gluten. I’m sure you can find this elsewhere, but here, poorly transcribed for the lazy is the Homemade Gluten recipe:

3 lbs (or more) high gluten whole wheat flour
3 cups (or more) water

The author notes that regular whole wheat flour will not work and tells you to ask for a good bread making flour.? I learned from Alton Brown that bread machine flour? is very high in gluten.

This “recipe” calls for 3lbs of flour, but if your bowl will hold more then add more.? The gist is that it takes the same amount of work so you might as well do as much as you can while you’re at it.

Place all your flour in your large bowl and mix in your water to form a very firm dough and allow it to rest for at least an hour.? Then move your bowl to your sink.? You’ll probably be here for a while.

Fill your bowl with water and start massaging your dough.? As the water washes out the starch it will begin to turn white.? Discard this water and replace, repeating this process over and over again.? THe author suggests 10-15 minutes.? Your dough should start to shrink as the bran and starch wash away and at some point it may seem to be falling apart.? Don’t fear, that part is expected.

“When it looks like you have a giant wad of well-chewed bubble gum, you have transformed flour into raw gluten.”

this will yield a rather bland gluten dough which will be dependent upon your cooking method for adding flavor.? And this book has several cooking suggestions that I will share in the future as I try them.? For now, that’s all you get.