Although I’m not a vegetarian, I like soy burgers and the like. I’m always on the lookout for good soy/vegetarian foods and meat-like products, so I would love to hear from fellow Dopers on foods they especially like.
I recently found one that is simply amazing. It’s called Soyrizo. It’s a vegan, soy-based chorizo “sausage” that the package claimed was so good you couldn’t tell the difference between the two. Well, they were right. I like using chorizo sausage to make a recipe found in the Betty Crocker cookbook called Southwestern Eggs. But if you’ve ever had chorizo sausage, you know it’s incredibly greasy. Soyrizo is better in every way. It tastes just like the sausage only it’s nowhere near as greasy.
Gardenburger Meatless Riblets. An amazingly convincing meaty texture, covered with a yummy, sweet barbecue sauce. Every time I cook 'em for lunch at work, the luscious smell drives everyone crazy.
Hmm, I’ll have to try these. Tofurkey’s Italian Sausage? Nasty stuff when treated as a hot dog; but if you slice it and fry it in a lot of olive oil and bury it in a plate of spaghetti, it’s not half bad, as I discovered last night.
Most of my soy intake is from tofu, which I still think is the best. Marinate in tamari, garlic, ginger, and peppers, and then fry it up in a spicy peanut sauce, and it’s good stuff!
Tofu’s texture is nasty, textured soy protein (fake meat) is worse, and “hydrolized vegetable protein” (soy, yeast, or whatever) tastes foul. I’ll take beans and corn if I want to go veggie, thanks.
I love Silk soymilk the best.
Soy yogurt rocks.
Tempeh rules.
I love tofu too.
Sometimes nothing works for me but miso soup. If half the health claims made for it by Akiko Aoyagi and William Shurtleff in The Book of Miso are true, miso is one amazing substance.
For dessert: soy ice cream. I love all these things. Soy “meat” is OK once in a while, but I don’t make a habit of it. Being vegan, I get most of my protein from soy in one form or another.
I wonder how much phytoestrogen I’m getting from it all. Mmmm, estrogen.
I cook up tofu with a recipe similar to Left Hand of Dorkness’s, and then toss in some blanced green beans and cashews for a quick stir fry. Yum.
Lately, with the colder weather, I’ve been making a yummy vegetable filled tomato sauce, frying up some Yves meat-less meat balls, and slicing up a baguette. Mmmm, tomato sauce and not-meatballs on toast…
Actually, it’s got the best flavor of any veggie sausage I’ve tried: it’s very heavily spiced, and has sun-dried tomatoes in it (I’m not sure why they’re there). The texture was the awful part, like eating a Nerf Dildo. Sliced and fried, the texture was much more acceptable.
However, I’ve always wondered about the water. I keep tofu in a container of water and change the H2O daily. I do it cause I heard that is what I am supposed to do. Really?
I’m not even vaguely vegetarian, but I am lactose intolerant (or as I prefer to think of it, “successfully weaned” ). So I have Silk plain soy milk over cereal at least 6 days a week. I can’t stand the taste of real milk, but this stuff is OK.
My children’s opinion is just the opposite, of course. Fine with me - keeps 'em out of it.
I hate processed soy foods made up to imitate meat. They all taste like poor imitations of meat. There are countless better ways to prepare soy.
Tofu is not a meat substitute, so don’t use it as one. You can just boil them and eat with a bit of soy sauce; this is the best way to enjoy the natural flavor of tofu. Tofu also works well in certain stir fry dishes. One of my favorite tofu dishes is a kimchi soup/stew: just boil tofu, nappa cabbage, kimchi and a small amount of bacon in chicken broth. It’s not a vegetarian dish, but it’s easy, tasty and very healthy. You can also add onions, bean sprouts, etc.
