My First Tofurky

I've been vaguely curious about Tofurky for years but never seriously considered buying one. The other day at Trader Joe's there was a stack of Tofurky boxes, all thawed and ready to go. I had no plans for dinner. Why not?



I don't know what I expected but was a little surprised when I opened the box. Nobody warned me I'd have to skin the thing.



As suggested, it was basted with olive oil, soy sauce and sage leaves then baked about an hour and a half. It was smelling pretty good and I was getting hungry.



The Tofurky's appearance improved dramatically after cooking and it was as easy to carve as a hardboiled egg.



I served it with the included "giblet" gravy. Tofurkys are made from seitan and tofu, the texture tending more toward seitan. In some ways it was remarkably turkey-like, in others not even close. Someone must have spent a lot of time and effort developing this thing. I'm glad I tried it but I doubt I'll be buying too many in the future. The big question, yet to be answered, is how's a cold Tofurky sandwich?

I think you've finally found the thing that would make me want to try bolshevik lunchmeat.

HI,

Great post! Absolutely love the pictures.

I have always wondered about tofurky. While your's looked like a stuffed turkey breast. I have heard there are some variants which are even shaped like a turkey with wee drum sticks.

Rene G- I think you will have to take another for the team but eating it cold. You could do the classic Thanksgiving turkey leftover sandwich: bread, cranberry sauce, stuffing and turkey. Since the stuffing is already embedded, all you need is the cranberry sauce!

Thank you!

Regards,

Personally, I am waiting for the beef product that imitates the appearance of a soybean.

That really doen't look that good.

Do they offer a bacon-wrapped version?

don't be afraid of the tofurky! i would have never tried it if my husband (who is not vegetarian, i've been veg for 10 years) bought it one year to try it - i was very pleasantly surprised - along with all my in-laws. i was as skeptical as you were. haven't tried the "meal" though - just the tofurky itself. giblet gravy (fake or real) is not my cup of tea.

ok, it doesn't taste very much like turkey, but imo it's pretty good! i just wish it came without the stuffing in the middle - whose idea was that? i didn't realize that they had it at trader joe's - i would assume that they will have it cheaper than whole foods so i will have to check it out.

God, that is disgusting looking...and an insult to turkeys and tofu everywhere.

Please indulge my Borat-like simplicity. I know several vegetarians and truly appreciate their various commitments, willpower, and guiding tenets, whether moral, religious, ethical or health-based. However, I struggle to understand the alchemist's quest to turn tofu into meat and to permit the animal-loving vegetarian to fool herself -- even if only during a short, willing suspension of gustatory disbelief -- into thinking that a mass of vegetable protein looks, smells and tastes just like the remains of a dead animal. Or, in two words, why tofurky?

"What is legal?"..."What is illegal?"..."What is barely legal?"
Ali G

Jeff Jimmy "I have sinned in my heart" B

JeffB wrote:Please indulge my Borat-like simplicity. I know several vegetarians and truly appreciate their various commitments, willpower, and guiding tenets, whether moral, religious, ethical or health-based. However, I struggle to understand the alchemist's quest to turn tofu into meat and to permit the animal-loving vegetarian to fool herself -- even if only during a short, willing suspension of gustatory disbelief -- into thinking that a mass of vegetable protein looks, smells and tastes just like the remains of a dead animal. Or, in two words, why tofurky?

"What is legal?"..."What is illegal?"..."What is barely legal?"
Ali G

Jeff Jimmy "I have sinned in my heart" B

The bigger point to be made is that if a vegetarian is jonsing for turkey, she(?) should eat turkey. The world will not end.

JeffB wrote:Please indulge my Borat-like simplicity. I know several vegetarians and truly appreciate their various commitments, willpower, and guiding tenets, whether moral, religious, ethical or health-based. However, I struggle to understand the alchemist's quest to turn tofu into meat and to permit the animal-loving vegetarian to fool herself -- even if only during a short, willing suspension of gustatory disbelief -- into thinking that a mass of vegetable protein looks, smells and tastes just like the remains of a dead animal. Or, in two words, why tofurky?

"What is legal?"..."What is illegal?"..."What is barely legal?"
Ali G

Jeff Jimmy "I have sinned in my heart" B

I'm with you. Why pretend that tofu is flesh...unless it's supposed to be funny. I put turducken and turporken in the same category (and, incidentally, both those preparations bear some resemblance to tofurkey). Food that's kind of a joke. Kind of like McRib.

About your final Ali G question: I was in the Marion Street Cheese Market on Saturday, and I bought some raw milk cheese that I was told was 60 days old. "Barely legal," giggled the comely cheese maiden behind the counter.

Hammond

HI,

My sister's husband is an Indian who was raised vegetarian. He had an American vegetarian roommate who was always purchasing meat-like vegetable substitutes. Quite often the American vegetarian would claim it tasted just like meat. Eventually these almost-like-meat excursions drove my brother-in-law's curiosity to try meat. He is now a meat eater, though not as heavily as the rest of the family.

Regards,

LTH,

Not sure if it qualifies as misery loves company, but Mr. Tofurky himself, ReneG, brought, and I shudder to even type the words, Gardenburger Veggie Riblets to lunch at Tank today.



Unlike the McFib, which I ate a few bites of, the veggie riblets were completely inedible, at least to me. There were two, count em, two, types of artificial smoke flavor, both in the riblets and sauce.

In a humorous bit of irony, as I was spitting my bite of riblet into a napkin, I saw this street scene.



Of four I had the strongest reaction to the veggie riblets, but me and artificial smoke flavor really don't get along.

Thanks, I think, ReneG.

Enjoy,
Gary

Pho Xe Tang - Tank Restaurant
4953 N. Broadway
Chicago, IL
773-878-2253

HI,

Last year when a relative moved out of state, they gave us the contents of their freezer. Amongst the items is a bag of frozen meat substitute crumbles, which are supposed to imitate cooked ground beef. There is a part of me, who wants to toss it. Another part is Ms. Frugal who feels better keeping it in the deep freeze rather than tossing it. What is abundantly clear is my total lack of desire to include it in anything I cook. Why spend a lot of effort making something, then at the very last minute screw it up by adding something inferior.

I guess I need a convenient power outage to justify throwing it away.

Regards,

Eating something designed to remind you of ribs when you're a vegetarian is like taking your Pamela Anderson sheets with you when you join the monastery.

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

Last year when a relative moved out of state, they gave us the contents of their freezer. Amongst the items is a bag of frozen meat substitute crumbles, which are supposed to imitate cooked ground beef. There is a part of me, who wants to toss it. Another part is Ms. Frugal who feels better keeping it in the deep freeze rather than tossing it. What is abundantly clear is my total lack of desire to include it in anything I cook. Why spend a lot of effort making something, then at the very last minute screw it up by adding something inferior.

I guess I need a convenient power outage to justify throwing it away.

Regards,

Just toss 'em! Especially if they are made from soy. Soy meat subsitutes have (IMO) an obnoxious "bouncy" texture. The one exception is "soyrizo:" the texture works for that.

I've tried all the meat subsitutes since I've been on Weight Watchers. They are useful for tricking your body that you've eaten more, I guess because they are so high protein and fiber and low fat. The only one that really tastes good to me is Quorn. I'm also curious to try the fake meats in vegetarian Chinese restaurants, although I am sure those are very high-calorie.

If I were trying to rig up a vegetarian turkey, I would go with a Quorn roast.

MikeG wrote:Eating something designed to remind you of ribs when you're a vegetarian is like taking your Pamela Anderson sheets with you when you join the monastery.

Unless it is the monastery that gives you the sheets to entice you to spend the night there…
I've heard the Buddhist inspired fake meat dishes can be quite good. I was quite fascinated by the menu outside a fully vegetarian Chinese restaurant (can't remember the name) in Greenwich village a few years ago. Almost tempted to step in – but that was sushi day .

As for tofurky and other such products – I just don't understand a. the logic, b. the taste (and texture) compromise. I once bit into a tofu rib, also out of curiosity and because there was little else where I was visiting. Deceptive looking thing, sauce covered it seemed okay - until I bit down and tasted it - who are they trying to fool?).

If one is vegetarian – then there are great vegetarian foods (with adequate protein – lentils for example). If one wants meat, then eat meat. This tofu as a meat substitute is a disservice to meat and also to tofu (soy protein really).

Cathy2, possibly the veggie factor got your BIL to try it – but once over the barrier (which may have been possible with meat directly, though a higher barrier), I doubt he touches the tofustuff. A2Fay's Mum, born into a traditionally vegetarian family, only started eating meat late in life. She now likes chicken (and one time frog legs that were passed off to her as chicken) and also eats sushi in small doses – other meats are still too 'meaty' for her in taste and texture. I think if one is open to meat then one should stick to meat (real meat – not fiblets of imagination)
And Cathy2, if you are open to suggestion – pitch the meat substitute – your freezer space can be used for something more useful. If you do end up making the ground meat substitute, you'll use other ingredients and so if you taste and pitch it at that point – that's a much greater waste (let alone time and effort).

ReneG, you mentioned you tried the tofurkey out of curiosity. I know what you're thinking. Is it six mouthfuls or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But being as this is a tofurkey, the most powerful fib in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya punk?
couldn't resist

Rene G wrote:

The Tofurky's appearance improved dramatically after cooking and it was as easy to carve as a hardboiled egg.

I'll take haggis any day

Speaking as a vegan (for health reasons), I will be hosting my family for Thanksgiving and will be serving turkey and vegetables roasted with bacon and potatoes mashed with cream and butter, and all the stuff I made before turning to veganism. Maybe I'll eat it, maybe I won't (odds are good for the former). But there will me no imitation meats.

If my veganism were political or ethical, I probably wouldn't be making all that stuff. I suspect that I would be repulsed by the mere idea of eating flesh, therefore, I wouldn't want my food to imitate flesh. But to each his own, I guess. I frankly don't understand that tendency, when one can make perfectly delicious and satisfying dishes out of fresh vegetables and grains and tons of herbs and spices.

girlmoxie wrote:I frankly don't understand that tendency, when one can make perfectly delicious and satisfying dishes out of fresh vegetables and grains and tons of herbs and spices.

I wholeheartedly agree with the above. As a reformed 12 year vegetarian, I can say that fake meat products' only role in my life was to have something to eat at cook outs and tail gates and the odd restaurant occasion where a veggie burger was the only thing to eat. I rarely cooked with the stuff (and I don't include regular old tofu, tempeh, or seitan in the fake meat category). My only experience with a tofurky was the one thanksgiving my mother (thoughtfully) provided one for me and my (still) vegetarian brother. It went mostly uneaten. It is not something I would eat again.

Kristen

I suspect that I would be repulsed by the mere idea of eating flesh, therefore, I wouldn't want my food to imitate flesh.

Right, fundamentally it's saying "Meat is murder-- so try new Imitation Murder! So delicious, you'll swear it's really murder!"

A lot of vegetarians grew up enjoying meat. Even if eating animal flesh is against their values, they still may enjoy the taste. I think eating plant based foods that are prepared to imitate the taste and texture of meat is a way for them to try to revisit those foods without engaging in animal cruelty, contributing to the degradation of the environment, or whatever their reasons for eating vegetarian are. You can't really say it's healthy though, because these imitation meat products are generally loaded with sodium and other unhealthy ingredients.

Other vegetarians are repulsed by the idea of eating meat and foods that try to imitate it.

I asked one vegetarian why she eats imitation meat when she is against eating meat in the first place. She replied, "No animals were harmed and I enjoy the taste."

They are currently developing the technology to produce lab grown meat which may present a dilemma for some vegetarians. Surprisingly, a survey in Vegnews asking vegetarians if they would consider eating lab grown meat returned a resounding "no." I don't think that sounds appetizing to anybody. What if they get it right though?

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

Last year when a relative moved out of state, they gave us the contents of their freezer. Amongst the items is a bag of frozen meat substitute crumbles, which are supposed to imitate cooked ground beef. There is a part of me, who wants to toss it. Another part is Ms. Frugal who feels better keeping it in the deep freeze rather than tossing it. What is abundantly clear is my total lack of desire to include it in anything I cook. Why spend a lot of effort making something, then at the very last minute screw it up by adding something inferior.

I guess I need a convenient power outage to justify throwing it away.

I have used these "meat" crumbles before in an attempt to appease a vegetarian friend's desire to have an old favorite: The Sloppy Joe. To be honest, it was not THAT bad. The texture is a bit odd compared to beef, but I think a sloppy joe is a good application for such a product. I have certainly never made them again.

Now, coming from a household with several Garden Burger products in the freezer at any one time, I have tasted my fair share of fake meat (the irony in me marrying a vegetarian will never be lost on me). My fiancée only likes original garden burgers that "don't taste like meat". I happen to really like the Boca Spicy Chicken Patties, because let's be honest, there is probably no less chicken in these things than the original they are copying.

I do however CRAVE the seitan from Blind Faith Cafe in Evanston. I would gladly forgo a big juicy steak for an order of seitan Bib Bim Bop from Blind Faith...
Jamie

Blind Faith Cafe
525 Dempster St.
Evanston, IL 60201-4728
847-328-6875,

mark wrote:They are currently developing the technology to produce lab grown meat

I'm curious, what are you referring to - and what stage of development is it in?

The article I saw is here. https://vegnews.com/pdf/06.01_lab-grown.pdf

Keep in mind, that's from a vegetarian magazine and shows that perspective. I'm sure there are a lot of other articles out there marking the progress and sharing different viewpoints.

At the bottom of this article is a bunch of links on the topic of lab grown meat from mainstream media.

http://www.animalrighter.org/Feature_Article.html

There was a little discussion of lab-grown clonemeat here:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=8572

A lot of vegetarians grew up enjoying meat. Even if eating animal flesh is against their values, they still may enjoy the taste.

"Oh Lord, grant me purity, but not yet." --Saint Augustine

mark wrote:The article I saw is here. https://vegnews.com/pdf/06.01_lab-grown.pdf

mark wrote:At the bottom of this article is a bunch of links on the topic of lab grown meat from mainstream media.

http://www.animalrighter.org/Feature_Article.html

Oh, good! I only looked briefly at some of the articles linked to, but I'm happy with the realization that this is not going to transpire in my lifetime. At the very least it isn't going to happen within a timeframe in which I'll have my teeth may be intact (with apologies to orthodontic research).

"Tofurkey" -- I heard they wanted to do a duck version, but were having problems with the name ...

Cathy2 wrote:I think you will have to take another for the team by eating it cold. You could do the classic Thanksgiving turkey leftover sandwich: bread, cranberry sauce, stuffing and turkey. Since the stuffing is already embedded, all you need is the cranberry sauce!

I regret to report the Tofurky wasn't as good cold; it squeaked when chewed. I didn't bother to make a sandwich as I had no cranberry sauce (how could I have forgotten that?) and I'd already eaten all the stuffing. The stuffing was quite good and I wish they'd given me more. I think I got a mutant Tofurky. As you can see in the above picture, it had a plug of "meat" in its abdominal cavity that took up valuable space.

G Wiv wrote: Unlike the McFib, which I ate a few bites of, the veggie riblets were completely inedible, at least to me.

I'd pretty much agree. The Tofurky may have had a redeeming feature or two but the Riblets had none.

sazerac wrote:I'll take haggis any day

Vegetarian haggis, I assume. It looks an awful lot like a Tofurky, doesn't it?

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, no matter what you chose to eat.