Topic: Plant based alternative products Review

[6pairsofshoes]

I've been slowly working my way through a series of plant based burgers and sausages.  Several of us limit meat intake or are vegetarians so I thought we could share experiences with various products.  I'm not 100% sure that the same items are sold on both sides of the pond, but I'll start.

Boca Burger (soy protein concentrate base w/wheat gluten)
original American burger:  very good, among some of the better alternative burgers.
Vegan version of burger:  not as good as the original American version
Chicken patty:  very good, kind of like a "Chickwich" which is a processed disc of chicken breaded and fried like a hockey puck.  I like these with salsa on them.
Spicy chicken patty:  a bit intense but still flavorful.

Beyond Meat Burger (pea protein base):  These are super rich and the closest thing to a regular hamburger that meat alternatives have produced.   I used to love one of these on a toasted English muffin with barbeque sauce.  I'd cut them in half because they're so dense.  Since they decided to substitute avocado oil in the mix, I don't care for them as much since they seem off, like maybe a bit rancid, which is a shame.  They are also pretty high in calories so not a great diet choice.

Impossible burger (soy protein concentrate)
These used to be my second favorite, but lately I prefer them after Beyond Meat switched to avocado oil.  Nice fried up on a bun with some barbeque sauce.

Quorn (mycoprotein)
regular burgers, no longer sold. These were among the best on the market, based on processed mold proteins. I'd expect to be eating these on an asteroid belt some day.  It's not clear why they discontinued these.  (Apparently, some people had allergic reactions and, like me, many in the U.S. thought they were derived from mushrooms, but that's not the case).
Chicken cutlets.  It was hard for me to choke one of these down, dry and flavorless.

Please add to the list any that you have tried and can recommend (either to buy or to avoid).

[8ullfrog]

First one I had was the Impossible Whopper. I enjoyed it, but I can taste and don't particularly enjoy soy.
Beyond I had at Carl's Jr, and the pea protein burger actually impressed me, but apparently they have massive business problems. I've never bought their ground product at the supermarket, and apparently I'm not alone.

Vegan products, I don't think I've ever been impressed, mostly egg replacements, and no dice. I don't think I've ever "enjoyed" any of the knockoff milks either.

I remember morning star hot dogs being pushed pretty hard in the 1990's, but they were HORRIBLE.

Quorn is a sin against humanity. It's sweet AND mushroomy, and apparently there wasn't any mushroom in it, which makes that WORSE.

[6pairsofshoes]

That reminds me, I have used Impossible fake ground beef for a substitute in turkey chili and it was a reasonable substitute.  I did it for vegetarians I know.  Generally, I prefer the turkey.  As processed as ground turkey is, at least I have a fundamental understanding of the ingredients.

Impossible sausages were surprisingly good.

Generally, the Morningstar Farms products don't impress me.  The spicy black bean burger is ok, I guess, but there's a point at which, I'd rather experiment with making it myself, since none of these products is inexpensive.

I like Gardein products, generally.  The Mandarin Chickin is good if you produce a stirfry of vegetables to go with the chicken strips and the sauce is nice, with all of it ladled over rice.  They used to have fake crabcakes and I was amazed that they actually tasted like crab cakes.  They have fishless fish sticks that are pretty good with cocktail sauce.  I think their porkless pork bites are ok, too.

We tried to use the Beyond Chicken chicken strips but they didn't seem worth the bother when put in a stir fry. 

We had Dr. Praeger's mushroom risotto burgers and they were crap.  I'd rather just have the mushroom risotto.  Why try to dress it up as a burger and fry it?  None of their other burgers ever did much for me, either.

[8ullfrog]

I love soy sauce, but sometimes "textured soy protein" makes me sick as a dog. And it's entirely too common as filler in a meat product.