How do I work with these veggie crumbles?

February 2, 2018 5:57 AM

I need help working with a veggie meat substitute in a dish that would normally have meat.

So this cauliflower mac and cheese recipe is a favorite of mine which I make all the time, but I brown and then stir in a pound of ground pork (or occasionally burger) before it goes into the oven. (It was originally just a way of using up some pork that was about to go bad but it works so well that it just became how I make it.) Tonight I'm making it for a vegetarian, so I bought these "beef" crumbles to replace the meat, but it's been such a long time since I've cooked with veggie crumbles that I've forgotten what's necessary to work with them. Can I just thaw them and throw them into the casserole like I would the browned ground pork, or do I need to do some kind of preparation analogous to browning the meat before adding them?

posted by Pope Guilty to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

I would brown with oil, salt, pepper. I also use smoked paprika to give it extra depth.
posted by Corpus Callosum at 6:06 AM on February 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

Yep, brown them first, maybe with a little bit of diced onion too. You could also use a saturated fat like butter or coconut oil to give it bit more richness (which you might not need with all that cheese and cream in the recipe).
posted by slogger at 6:09 AM on February 2, 2018

Aren't they kind of already browned? They're already cooked--you could eat them raw out of the package if you wanted. I cook with veggie crumbles all the time and usually I just microwave them to thaw then throw them in whatever I'm making.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:14 AM on February 2, 2018

Looking at the website's recipes, it looks as if a quick saute with oil & spices is part of the process for this particular meat substitute. And as it's frozen, I'd think a quick saute might be better for the end product's texture/substance than just throwing them in as-is (water content), faster than thawing it slowly, and less potentially negatively impactful on the meat substitute's texture than thawing it in a microwave (I've found some meat substitutes get chewy when microwaved, and not in a yummy way). Sounds yummy! As my father would say, "I'll be right over!"
posted by pammeke at 6:29 AM on February 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

With some Beyond Meat products, you have to be careful not to overcook them. You don't mention looking at the package directions. Is there anything helpful there? If not, what pammeke said.
posted by FencingGal at 7:06 AM on February 2, 2018

As others have said, oil is essential - most vegetarian meat substitutes don't have anywhere near the fat content that actual equivalent meat would have*, and they're more delicious & look a bit less weird when cooked if you add some fat during cooking.

*I have a whole separate rant about vegetarian food often being made healthy-by-default even though we still need fat to live even though we might not eat meat, not to mention low-fat not actually being the amazing health benefit the 80s promised us, but that is for another day.
posted by terretu at 7:38 AM on February 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: With the Beyond crumbles, I just set them out to thaw enough that I can break them up into evenly-distributable crumbles. They'll cook plenty in the casserole, and should get plenty of fat and moisture (for protection, because they will dry out) from the sauce, though you might consider adding a few tablespoons extra water or similar.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:14 AM on February 2, 2018

Best answer: so I bought these "beef" crumbles

That website has a recipe for a mac and cheese using the product: In a separate pan, heat up Beyond Beef crumbles as instructed on package with olive oil. So looks like it isn't looking for you to brown it per se, just get it thawed and hot before adding to the other stuff.
posted by solotoro at 8:18 AM on February 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: We usually try to throw in a little extra umami since that seems to be the thing lacking compared to meat. We sometimes put in a little beef bouillon but since you're keeping it veg you could use vegetable broth, soy sauce, MSG, marmite.
posted by nakedmolerats at 8:26 AM on February 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

You can just throw them in. Because they aren't meat, browning isn't necessary and won't do anything for the flavor or texture. Attempts to brown veggie crumbles usually result in needing copious amounts of oil and even then they still stick to the pan and gum up rather than brown.

I would just leave them out altogether, though, since the recipe is already vegetarian.
posted by Polychrome at 8:54 AM on February 2, 2018 [1 favorite]