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Turkey Alternatives: A Review of Four Meatless Roasts
Grist

11-23-09tofurky.jpg

Are you trying to cook with less meat this Thanksgiving, but still want the essense of Turkey at the table? Grist has done a great review of four meatless turkey roasts – find out our favorite and their's after the jump!

 
 

Grist reviewed Tofurky Vegetarian Feast, Quorn Turk’y Roast, Field Roast Celebration Roast, Gardein Stuffed Turk’y Roast. Their favorite was the Quorn Turk'y Roast because it was the most "turkey-like," juicy and "pure." We've had the Quorn roast before and while it was quite tastey, we prefer the classic Tofurky Vegetarian Feast, which includes a Tofurky Roast, Tofurky giblet & mushroom gravy, cranberry apple potato dumplings, rice and bread stuffing and a Turfurky Jurky wishbone. We've served the Tofurkey every Thanksgiving for at least the last decade or so and it's loved by both vegetarians and carnivores alike. Sometimes we even eat it during the non-holiday season for a special treat!

Read the full Grist review here if you're interested in going meatless this Thanksgiving.


(Image: Flickr member JP Puerta licensed for use under Creative Commons)

• Related: Roundup: More Vegetarian Thanksgiving Ideas

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food and cooking, books, guides & resources, entertaining, personal health, meat, vegetarian, vegan, turkey, meatless, Thanksgiving, Tofurky

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Comments (10)

I would love some ideas for people who are going meatless but don't want a fake meatish type thing entree...

No offense to anyone who is into that. Just looking for new ideas.

posted by plumeria on November 23rd 2009 at 4:07pm
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I like veggie haggis. It is just full of kidney beans, lentils, nuts (peanuts, almonds, walnuts), carrots, turnip, onions, mushrooms, oatmeal, salt, pepper, spices. I love the spicy flavour. It is not meat like at all. I love it with all the traditional sides - especially cranberry sauce.

posted by wallaby on November 23rd 2009 at 5:11pm
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If you don't want to have fake meat, you can always stuff a vegetable... squashes and pumpkins are the first things that come to mind. They can be stuffed with a bread-based filling, other vegetables such as cabbage, or rice pilafs. To the stuffing base you can add fruits and nuts for extra bursts of flavor and texture.
You could also do lentils in puff pastry or something similar. Or one of the seasonal vegetable lasagnas (chard and butternut squash). Or some other yummy casserole.
I hope that helps!

posted by jls6fq on November 23rd 2009 at 5:14pm
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Plumeria, a few ideas:

Cajun Mushroom Loaf (Food Network): http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/dan-smith-and-steve-mcdonagh/cajun-mushroom-loaf-recipe/index.html

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie (Gourmet): http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Vegetarian-Shepherds-Pie-355994

Here's a list of results from epicurious, using the search criteria main course, vegetarian, and Thanksgiving:

http://www.epicurious.com/tools/searchresults?att=161&att=155&att=122&type=advanced&operator=All&threshold=52&sort=1

posted by heather77 on November 23rd 2009 at 5:25pm
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Plumeria,

Another option is to just have all the sides you would have, and call it good - there is usually so much food that an "entree" isn't necessary. I know once I finish the sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, salad, cornbread, rolls, corn custard, stuffing, and roast beets, there isn't going to be room for much more (until the pie course, of course...)

posted by lemonadefish on November 23rd 2009 at 6:49pm
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I also like Celebration Roast http://www.fieldroast.com/fieldroast_celebrationroast06.pdf It's meaty, with out trying to imitate a certain meat. I think a lot of meat eaters who try faux meat are expecting a certain taste and texture. With this you aren't expecting anything. What you get is tasty and it doesn't contain soy like a lot of imitation meats. Tofurky's and Quorn's imitation turkey is good. It helps though when you haven't had real turkey in a while to compare it with.

posted by sarahc123 on November 23rd 2009 at 6:52pm
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I would prefer to eat something that is obviously vegetarian, made from wholesome ingredients and tasty, than something concocted in a food science lab to impersonate a Thanksgiving icon and fatten a company's botton line. Who needs all the food additives in the artifical turkey products????

posted by lona on November 23rd 2009 at 11:47pm
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As an omnivore, I'm also on the side of the anti-faux-meat folks - if I'm having a veggie meal, 'fake' meat just doesn't cut it, whereas some of the truly vegetarian dishes out there are just delicious (this coming from someone who happily eats simple Indian dals for lunch pretty much every day and can demolish a good lentil burger in a disturbingly short space of time!).

Some of the suggestions on here look fantastic for anytime really - being in Melbourne, Aus, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving, and the weather's pretty warm, but the veggie shepherd's pie still looks yummo :-)

posted by FoodieGreenie on November 24th 2009 at 3:05am
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I like to make bbq tofu for the holidays, but my partner loves her once-a-year tofurkey! we are big fans of the faux meat products of all kinds anyway, all year round. i don't live the tofurkey taste and texture, but that's my own thing - they're sausages are pretty great (especially the kilebasa), but their fake turkey is off to me.

posted by Merm on November 24th 2009 at 1:27pm
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tofurkey is good but i don't like their stuffing or gravy. i prefer to cook just the tofurkey roast, and then we make our own gravy and stuffing separately. although field roast might take center stage at our holidays this year... we'll see. 17 meatless thanksgivings and counting... i've only served faux turkey once before, but it does round out the meal in a nice "traditional" way, if you're into untraditional traditions.

posted by jess thrift on November 24th 2009 at 4:01pm
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