How do you get that "meaty satisfaction" without meat?

Cafe Society
1

If you dunno, it’s ten to three am over here. Admittedly, I am quite often up until this time on this board. But that has been an abberation mostly cause because the last few weeks

actually, <blah> <blah> <blah> - you don’t care so I won’t waste my time typing out and your time telling you. All you really need to know is I’m a contractor of a kind as of today I’m now back with the original people.

But anyway, a main thing. Almost every time I’ve been making my own food, but for boring reasons today my late night meal contained no meat. Indeed, it was this simple: I boiled some pasta, and then added some tomato & basil (I think; not entirely sure but in any case it had neither meat nor cheese) sauce from lloyds grossman.

And it was absolutely delicious, it really was. I usually put more care into my cooking (although not hugely more) but for boring reasons I had no meat whatsoever. So I was eating a vegey thing.

But as I type this - it really is not a simplistic thing. I actually mess around with my food from any prepared jar usually and this was a rare one, probably not done for years, when I did in fact do nothing at all apart from boil some pasta and add this sauce. And it was GENIUS.

So taste wise, this was perfect. My question then is how to get the “I’ve eaten meat” satisfaction from stuff. Cause obviously one option is to eat meat. And that’s what I usually do, and in fact if this thread produces no useful replies, that’s what I’m gonna do, cook some meat (almost certainly meat coming from a pig) and not interfere with the sauce in any way given how delicious this was, and perhaps at least learn a somewhat more economical way of cooking because it is usually costing me a few quid per ready meal to add all this stuff. Especially, it seems like I really am too much of a garlic fiend.

But more to the point, and it is a point all of the above has skirted around, the meat above is mentioned but only to be “dunked” in the sauce. My cafe society question is what on earth do I do with meat? It occurs to me that if in a sense I could trick myself in some low low level into thinking I had eaten the meat somehow I may be satisfied. If not, then maybe something can be arranged. Is there some cool meaty trick?

I have various fits of conscience that make me wonder whether I should be eating any meat at all, ya’know.

2

Both egg plant and portobello mushrooms have a ‘meaty’ texture when cooked - perhaps add one or both of those in place of meat and see how it goes?

3

Thanks for your suggestion and I’m definitely not discoutning it* but I just want to be totally clear that what I’m after is the meaty satisfaction, that is to say the sensation of having eaten meat rather than the sensation of eating meat.

*I’ve no idea am gonna wait to see what comes in here and reddit before doing anything.

4

Humm - well I don’t typically eat meat as it doesn’t really agree with me, so I’m not totally sure what you mean; however, I do eat fish and a tuna steak has a lot of meaty properties - perhaps that would work?

5

sorry, I tried to explain it but have failed obviously - once again, it’s not about the properties of the food itself (necessarily) - it’s about the damn good sensation of having eaten meat

you can’t really call it an afterglow, as that wouldn’t be the right word. But it’s somewhat analagous

anyway if I had any sense I would have been in bed about 4 hours and 6 pints ago, so, er, I’ll clarify later if you need it :wink:

edit: just realised 4 hours ago I was at the pub and I won £140 from the slot machine so maybe not. but I have drunk too much…

eta2: if any UK readers are wondering how I won so much from the fruit machine, any pub in the Isle of Man can have a fruit machine that can give up to £500 out and most of them do! So come to the Isle of Man to gamble with reckless abandon and look me up while you’re here :wink:

6

So you want to feel like you’ve just eaten a bunch of meat without actually eating?

7

You’re looking for that “protein high.” That requires…wait for it…protein.

The closest you are going to get is stuffing a large portobello mushroom with tasty stuff and covering it with more tasty stuff.

8

Are you talking about the meat “flavor”, i.e. umami?

Like alice_in_wonderland says, there’s a few alternatives to meat to make dishes savory:

Many foods that may be consumed daily are rich in umami. Naturally occurring glutamate can be found in meats and vegetables, whereas inosinate comes primarily from meats and guanylate from vegetables. Thus, umami taste is common to foods that contain high levels of L-glutamate, IMP and GMP, most notably in fish, shellfish, cured meats, vegetables (e.g., mushrooms, ripe tomatoes, Chinese cabbage, spinach, celery, etc.) or green tea, and fermented and aged products (e.g., cheeses, shrimp pastes, soy sauce, etc.).

9

I know *exactly *what you’re talking about, and sadly, I have found nothing does it for me except eating actual meat.

What I *have *found is that I can cut way down on the volume required if I really max out the taste and mouthfeel - in other words, the juicy fatty goodness part.

So, really good sausage or kielbasa does it, or I’ll have one strip of bacon, but it’s thick-cut, mostly fat, and cooked so that it’s still chewy. Or I’ll have chicken, but have a really juicy leg or thigh with the skin on, instead of skinless boneless tasteless white meat. Or steak, but I’ll cut a tiny little thin bit with a wide fatty rim and eat that instead of a whole 3 or 4 oz cut.

The closest I have gotten to that “ahhh, meat” feeling is with really richly prepared potatoes - so a creamy sweet-potato dish, or mashed taters made of half taters and half butter and sour cream, or potatoes au gratin… it isn’t *quite *the same thing, but it’s pretty damn close. Still, I have a strong feeling that calorie-wise, I’m better with the smaller portions of meat than trying to fake myself out with a cup of butter and a cup of carbohydrates. :wink:

10

Humm - if it’s a protein high your after some firm grilled tofu in your meal can be ‘meaty’ in texture and has loads of protein. Perhaps that could be an option.

11

Back when I was broke I would use A-1 sauce and a small amount of oil on a baked potato. Had the whole umami thing going, and the oil reinforced the fat receptor needs. What the frell is the term, unctious? The sensation of something rich and fatty.

12

If you don’t want red meat you could try chicken, goes really nice in a pasta dish. But yeah protein is a tough one and mushrooms do it for me.

13

Meat gives you such a full feeling because it is more difficult to digest.
Meat is dense. Most veg food is not dense.
Your best bet is to eat several different foods. With grains, you need to eat proteins and an assortment of vegetables. Ive been a vegetarian for 20 years and food combining is huge to me.

14

You can try boca “meat”. The texture is very similar to ground beef.

15

What others have said. Your body has a particular reaction when you eat protein. If you don’t want to eat meat, try cheese, eggs, beans, nuts, etc.

16

I am not big on tofu but there was a place that sold it with their salads and i could have sworn it was meat …i loved it …it was baked …

17

Just don’t overdo it. I went to a Brazilian steak house in Colorado a few years back and never want to do that again. The waiters orbit around the table and offer you small pieces of different meats (fish, shrimp, fowl, pork, beef - basically, anything with eyes). I had been skiing so I stupidly decided to indulge myself to replace all the calories I’d burned, but I must’ve put away three pounds of meat during that three hour dinner. That night I had ugly dreams and got the “meat sweats”, which some say don’t exist, but I say they do. I felt like one of those nasty, greasy hot dogs you find at the gas station, even after I cracked a window to let the winter air in. I got what I deserved for my gluttony.

18

If I’ve got something that needs frying in a pan, I frequently use soy sauce instead of oil or butter. A reduction of soy sauce has a wonderful flavor that might help.

19

In my experience the closest thing to meat is beans, and actually that would probably be pretty good in your pasta sauce. Dump a can of kidney beans (drained and rinsed) into your tomato sauce and simmer a bit and I bet you would even like it.

20

Tempeh is an adequate universally-available meat-substitute - somewhat better than tofu.

If you are lucky enough to live in a community where there is a culture of Buddhist vegetarians, you can get eerily meaty fake meats. When I lived in Vancouver, I used to enjoy an imitation chicken breast manufactured and distributed by West Best Vegetarian Market. You buy it frozen and each piece is about 1/4 scale of a regular chicken breast, but it has the same taste, texture, and mouthfeel as actual chicken. I wish I could still get that stuff; it was awesome. Cheaper than chicken and actually better.

I make do with chicken now. :slight_smile: