[Sca-cooks] The Tofurky Report

[Philip & Susan Troy]

johnna holloway wrote:

> My husband thinks I should quit reading this
> list. He saw the description of this turkey and
> the fixings and made the most awful face.
>
> Johnnae llyn Lewis  Johnna Holloway
> (he has no reason to complain... I made a 4 pound
> prime rib roast for the three of us...)


Oh, the suffering... ;-)


I'm thinking that the basic concept of the tofurkey is slightly flawed,
because Buddhist approaches to vegetarianism are generally a bit
different from those of Western vegans, and the kind of ingredients
traditionally favored by Buddhist vegetarians don't necessarily mimic
foods like meat successfully, or only in a very superficial sense.

I make, about every other Thanksgiving (and this year wasn't one of
them), a Buddhist beancurd duck dish for my two vegetarian sisters and
the husband of one of them. It's wonderful. I would often rather have it
than roast turkey (almost always, in fact). Does it really, deep-down,
mimic turkey successfully, or does it even really attempt to? I don't
think so. I think it's just supposed to look vaguely like roasted
poultry, and on that score it does pretty well, I suppose.

I think a more successful imiturkey, then, especially one which is going
to utilize various Asian ingredients like seitan or yuba (it took me a
while to figure out what yuba was, although I have a freezer full of
Chinese beancurd sheets), might look more in the less literal, Buddhist
direction, and worry less about getting the exact flavor, texture, and
color exactly right, and failing on all counts.

I'll see if I can produce a generic beancurd duck recipe, if people are
interested. I usually just sort of throw it together without too much
thought going into it, but basically it is several flat rolls of yuba or
beancurd sheets (I prefer Chinese versions of this product; they seem
thinner and more delicate), loosely rolled around shredded, stir-fried,
firm, wintry vegetables such as carrot and bamboo shoots, shredded black
mushrooms or cloud ear fungus, scallion, etc. You then steam the rolls
to help flatten and compress the filling and wrapping, brown them in
oil, then braise them in stock (which could be vegetarian or not;
Buddhists seem to worry more about solid ingredients than about whether
soup is made from meat), dark soy sauce, a bit of sesame oil, and a
pinch of sugar. You serve this in chunky segments, at room temperature,
or sometimes even chilled, with just a bit of the cooking liquid spooned
over the top.


Wonderful stuff, and it doesn't fail on any level because it doesn't try too hard to be something that it isn't. Now, whether it would be as suitable for someone looking for the exact experience of the turkey, the stuffing, the gravy, etc., I don't know. But then my Thanksgiving tastes are notoriously weird; yesterday I tanked up primarily on my sister-in-law's bacalao and red onion salad with avocado and yucca...


Adamantius

--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com

"It was so blatant that Roger threw at him.  Clemens gets away with
things that get other people thrown out of games.  As long as they
let him get away with it, it's going  to continue." -- Joe Torre, 9/98