Vegetarian Soul Food

February 17, 2008 8:57 AM

Vegetarian substitutions four soul food dishes.

Looking for recommendations for what would make the best meatless alternatives to the constituent ingredient is many soul food dishes, including salt pork, tripe, bacon drippings, turtle meat, rabbit, and possum.

Also, if any of you have recipes for vegetarian soul food options, please share.

posted by Astro Zombie to food & drink (14 comments total)

Here are some recipes.

This cookbook is from the people behind the Soul Vegetarian restaurants.

Here's an MSN Group with more recipes.

Poking around the recipes, I don't see a lot of ideas for meat substitutes. Instead the focus, like in most vegetarian cooking, is on recipes that don't rely on meat for substance and flavor.
posted by hydrophonic at 9:31 AM on February 17

Extra firm tofu can be substituted for a lot of mild-flavored meat. It will take on the flavor of the dish.

Extra firm tofu that has been frozen and defrosted takes on the texture of coarse bread, which makes it good for stir-fries and stews, where it needs to hold its shape. Tofu that has not been frozen is silkier, and might be a good sub for the turtle meat in turtle soup (my only experience with turtle meat, sorry). You could "shred" it by pulling or cutting it into long strands.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 9:32 AM on February 17

I wholeheartedly second hydrophonics suggestion with the Black Hebrews' cookbook - this article has a few really nice recipes from their restaurant.
posted by watercarrier at 9:36 AM on February 17

I'm not veggie, but I don't always have the salt pork and bacon drippings my Southern grandmother makes such fine use of. To supply the smokey richness of pork in long cooked dishes like beans or greens, I've had good luck with dried mushrooms (preferably porcini, but shitake isn't bad and much cheaper) and Spanish smoked paprika. The paprika in particular mimics that smokey pork taste particularly well.
posted by mostlymartha at 9:43 AM on February 17 [2 favorites]

(I am vegan.) Replacing for specific meat products is usually going to fail because the replacements, while often tasty and well textured, are going to be differently textured and flavored than the original ingredients. You might have success with vegan/vegetarian bacons, but in my experience these are passable only when fried to a crisp (as for breakfast), and they won't work in the same way as bacon is probably used in a soul food context (e.g. the fat rendered off as a base of a stew).

Your best bet is to avoid soul food recipes which are meat-heavy, replace animal fats with vegan/vegetarian margarine or oil, and replace meat-based flavors with vegetables (vegetable broth, garlic, onions). If you must make vegetarian versions of meat dishes, you should try visiting a large asian market, where you should be able to find false ham, at least, or a whole foods/natural foods store where you should be able to find some seitan (wheat gluten-based) products which are intended as meat replacements. You will surely not find vegetarian products specifically targeting salt pork or possum.
posted by beerbajay at 10:04 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

Instead of meat, seitan is used.
posted by watercarrier at 10:05 AM on February 17

I've found that adding chipotle peppers to any veggie dish gives it a very nice smokey/bacon-like flavor.
posted by missjamielynn at 10:08 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

Soul vegetarian is the way to go. Kombu is a great way to replace salt pork.
posted by OmieWise at 1:06 PM on February 17

Vegetarian duck would be my favorite substitue for a heavy meat in just about any dish, it's wonderful.
It's enriched wheat flour (gluten), black mushrooms (shiitake), water, soybean extract, sesame oil, sugar, salt.
posted by DenOfSizer at 2:17 PM on February 17

On of the many masks I wear is that of a cook at the only (non-Asian) vegan restaurant & bakery in Dallas.

With a lot of meats used in soul food, more flavor comes from the seasonings instead of the meat. Liquid smoke, which is vegan, works wonders in making proteins taste more meat-like. It's very easy to overuse, though - I add it to dishes one or two drops at a time to taste. Worcester sauce works along the same lines, but is more subtle than liquid smoke. Be careful to check the label - most worcesters contain anchovies, though vegan varieties are available.

For vegan bacon drippings, sauté Bacos in the oil of your choice for a few minutes, as Bacos are vegan (as is Mefi's beloved bacon salt). Once again, be careful - Bacos brand bacon bits are vegan, but some other brands are not. I always just stick to Bacos.

Here's an informal recipe for a great vegan Caribbean jerk tempeh sandwich:

what you need:

- tempeh, cut into 1/4" thick strips
- bottled jerk sauce - most prepackaged jerk sauces are vegan (check the label yadda yadda). I like the World Harbors brand.
- fresh lime
- canned pineapple slices
- bread of your choice
- lettuce, pickles, onions

Marinate tempeh in sauce for 20-30 minutes. Heat skillet to medium/medium high & spray with cooking spray. Grill tempeh for 2 - 4 minutes (or until it turns darker brown), pouring a few teaspoons of jerk sauce over it in the process. Flip tempeh slices & squeeze lime juice onto them, cooking for about 2 more minutes - add a little more sauce if it's starting to dry out. Grill one pineapple slice for 2 minutes on one side only for each sandwich. Assemble sandwiches; place pineapple grilled-side up on top of tempeh & ass a bit more jerk sauce if desired.
posted by item at 7:45 PM on February 17 [1 favorite]

Ack - "add" a bit more jerk sauce, don't ass it. Assing food is not vegan.
posted by item at 7:46 PM on February 17

Man, my above comment is a typographical mess. Sorry about that.
posted by item at 7:49 PM on February 17

What you want is The Grit Cookbook (link goes to all text available through a Google book search, though you need to buy a copy to get to get all the content, including the sauces and gravies chapter, which is what you really need). You may already know, but The Grit is a vegetarian restaurant in Athens, Georgia, that's been around over 20 years; I've never got to visit, but I love southern food and these people have worked hard to get something of that flavor and texture down for vegetarians. They've also got a good pantry list to get you started, and preparation tips to best texture and prepare the meat substitutes to make them as crispy and light as possible.
posted by melissa may at 4:55 AM on February 18

Another good resource for vegan soul food recipes: The Yellow Rose Cookbook by Joanna Vaught.
posted by pxe2000 at 4:52 AM on February 24