[Sca-cooks] And now for... UnTurkey

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

I'm sure you all remember my Tofurkey Report after Thanksgiving. I
hope it gave some folks a chuckle.

In the interest of science, well, ok, my curiosity, for Christmas i
bought an UnTurkey. I will spare you and won't go into the same
detail as i did with the Tofurkey.

UnTurkey is made by "Now and Zen", a San Francisco vegan restaurant
and bakery. I've never eaten there, but i have occasionally purchased
some of their baked goods. Made with soy products rather than dairy,
they're pretty good. Not as good as those made with butter and cream,
but with all the other high quality ingredients in their pastries,
they are infinitely better than the nasty sheet cakes one gets at the
supermarket frosted with hydrogenated vegetable fat or cakes made
from boxed mixes.

So i had some hopes that the UnTurkey would be better than the
Tofurkey. It was. Like the Tofurkey, the basic pseudo-bird is made of
seitan, wheat gluten protein. Like the Tofurkey it was wrapped in
yuba, soy milk skin. In short, it was similar in ingredients and
basic concept.

In actuality, however, the UnTurkey was much much better than the
Tofurkey. I basted my UnTurkey with some soy sauce to enhance the
flavor, and, since i'm not a vegan, real butter. The yuba skin on the
UnTurkey was very thin and got nice and crispy - whereas the
Tofurkey's was thick and tough. The UnTurkey was sprinkled with herbs
and seasonings, so it had more flavor than the Tofurkey. While the
UnTurkey's stuffing wasn't as good as homemade, it was much much
better than the goo that was in the Tofurkey. It even had chunks of
celery and carrot and tasted of a mixture of herbs, unlike the
Tofurkey stuffing-glop that tasted primarily of sage.

It came with a container of gravy, some damp spongy stuff like the
Tofurkey "Giblet" Gravy. I heated it in a microwave. Like the
Tofurkey gravy, i had to put a little elbow grease into it, but it
did get soft much more quickly and with less effort. It wasn't like
real gravy - and i think the Tofurkey gravy tasted better - but it
was acceptable, if a bit thick.

So while UnTurkey is no replacement for a tender, juicy, flavorful
roast turkey with good home made stuffing and fresh gravy, it was
tolerable, and a durn sight better than the Tofurkey.

After my Tofurkey Report, Master Adamantius asked why would people
bother to make these things and why would people want them.

I'm no vegan, and i'm not even a vegetarian any more. But when i was
a vegetarian i did NOT want my chief protein sources to be fake-meat
substitutes. I hated the fake hot dogs i bought once because they
tasted too much like actual hot dogs for me. When i made my own meals
i didn't cook dishes that were like meat dishes - well, ok, so i made
moussaka with ground soy stuff and made taco filling with it, but i
didn't want it to taste like meat, and it didn't. I made a wide
variety of foods from a wide variety of cultures and seasoned it all
well - i've never understood when people have complained, "Vegetarian
food is bland". It only means that whoever was cooking just didn't
season it well.

When i went to my parents' house for the holidays, i ate what i could
and passed on the turkey and i was content. But i can understand why
some vegetarians or vegans might long for a holiday meal that reminds
them of what they used to eat with their family when they were a kid
- or at least, when they were still an omnivore.

One of these "turkey substitutes" might be good for vegetarians
nostalgic for the old family meal. And it might be good for omnivores
feeding several vegetarians or vegans at a holiday meal. If anyone on
this list finds themselves in this sort of situation, and really
wants something that vaguely resembles turkey, i recommend the
"UnTurkey", which, i'm given to understand from the label, is
available for sale around the US.

If you desperately want one and can't find one near you, you can visit:
http://www.nowandzen.net

If all you can find is the Tofurkey... well, it will need a lot of
help - like, thaw it out, cut into it and remove the paste they call
stuffing and refill it with your own. Make a marinade with a nice
array of seasonings for it. And let me know what you think of the
"tempeh drumsticks" and the "tofurkey jerky wish stix" (fake
wishbones). I bought the little one and it didn't have either - and i
think i'm glad.

Anahita
who has quite a few more days of "UnTurkey" to eat