Chili does seem like a good vehicle for plant based protein. There’s alot of non meat options that I like, but almost none are “meat replacements.”
Just let it be it’s own thing FFS. What’s terrible as a ““burger”” might be delicious in chili.
100% agree. There is tons of delicious vegetarian/vegan food, but vegetarian/vegan substitutions of traditionally meat based dishes range from terrible to just okay.
Carb replacement dishes have the same problem. Spaghetti Squash is delicious when cooked as a vegetable, but throwing Ragu on it and pretending it is pasta is just sad.
This is a good take. You can’t replace a steak with plant based, but we eat a lot of meat in things where it doesn’t matter as filler. Most ground beef recipes can be replaced easily with plant based alternatives with no difference. I know I feel less bloated after eating something with soy crumbles over ground beef.
I just want to take the pepsi challenge on this, if you think your meat-free chilli tastes better PM me that recipe. I’ll give it a honest (omnivore) review.
Just replace your ground beef with imitation meat ground, the texture works so much better, while not effecting the flavor, you just dont need to drain it like the normal meat.
I’d rather just use more beans than imitation meat because beans are already plenty tasty. That said, I’m not likely to make a meatless chili unless I’m having to feed someone who doesn’t eat meat.
This. Don’t build vegan meals with meat replacements. Build vegan meals that never had or wanted meat. Cheaper, better for you, and made with ingredients you can get at the shitty neighborhood grocer. My partner and I started doing meat free Fridays for Lent as we’re both recovering Catholics, and we decided it was a fun challenge to keep it up and try to do it with all raw ingredients. I’ve learned a ton about south Asian and east Asian cooking, eaten a lot of truly excellent veg* food, saved buckets of money and now I have a healthy respect for beans and lentils.
I made the best pulled pork Sandwich last weekend using Chicken-of-the-woods mushroom in place of the pork.
I shredded the mushroom, dry sauteed until the tips began to brown. I added just a splash of oil, cumin, paprika, and oregano. Once the aromatics started smelling great I put in a light amount barbecue sauce for the last couple of moments. Then onto a toasted bun with some fried onions. Delicious!
The government doesn’t want you to know this but the food in the woods is free, you can just take it home.
You made vegetable soup.
