Cooking with meat substitutes I've found that flavour is generally less important than getting the right texture (as long as you're cooking it in to something and not just eating it on it's own). If you can find ones with good texture and flavour, that's even better. But with so many different products available I forget which ones I've tried and which ones I like. Here's my own guide for what kind of meat substitute to use for a recipe. Only stuff I've been able to buy in the UK is included.
I guess technically these are meat analogues (a meat-like substance made from plants). Meat substitutes could include tofu, lentils, or seitan. I'm focusing on meat analogues, but when we are using them it is a substitute for actual meat, so I prefer the term meat substitute.
I need to come up with some kind of rating system to show whether things are worth buying. Sometimes just because something is at the top of it's table you would assume it is good, but that's not the case. In some categories there just isn't a good product yet. Or some categories you might think the fifth item in the table is bad but actually it's good, it's just in a category filled with great products.
Something like this:
ⓥ denotes the product is vegan (but always check the packaging!).
Bacon seems to come in either shreds/pieces or in rasher-style shapes. Bacon is the one of the meat substitutes where I would say flavour is equally important as texture. I should really separate these in to either Danish or Streaky bacon, but with some of the substitutes it's hard to tell which they are trying to emulate. Some seem like they could be either depending on how long you cook them for.
Rashers
Shreds
I never really eat non-minced beef, unless I get a Chinese takeaway and order beef with green pepper and black bean sauce. So I'll be a poor judge.
Beef Jerky isn't really a thing in the UK, it's very distinctly American. We used to stock up on it whenever we went to the US (before they started selling it in supermarkets). Not something I'd bother buying these days, but will try them when we see them.
We normally just eat homemade bean burgers, but we've tried all the burgers we could find now. Most of them are ok. Only a few are really good.
I used to love getting tower burgers from Chicago Chicken in Tufnell Park. Unfortunately they no longer exist, so I've been using our chicken burger tests as an opportunity to try to recreate Chicago Chicken at home. When I refer to a burger having a "junk food taste" I probably just mean "fried", but almost all of these burgers cook in the oven, so it's hard to mimic that experience.
Not sure this needs it's own category. Might move it in to something else.
In a way it doesn't really matter what chicken nuggets are like, they're just a vehicle for ketchup (or your sauce of choice). But there is a noticeable difference between brands. Some are breaded and some have a kind of batter coating similar to what you'd get at a fast food restaurant.
Breaded
Battered
I'm splitting this in to a separate table from the chicken nuggets because we've come across a few now and they are just bigger (except popcorn chicken) and a different shape to nuggets they feel like a separate category.
Chicken pieces seem to come as either cubes / chunks or in strips / shreds. The shreds have a much more believable texture when chewing it. The pieces can sometimes go a bit soft, but they are versatile and useful in many dishes. Mostly just the strips seem to be edible without cooking so can be used in sandwiches and salads and things like that, but it's not always clear, so I've added it in. I might move chicken pieces clearly meant for sandwiches (and wraps etc.) in to Lunch Meats at some point, I can't decide at the moment.
Chunks
Strips
I have never been a fan of chicken wings, and never really eat them, so I'll be a poor judge.
Crispy Duck! Crispy Duck! Crispy Duck! That's basically all I'm interested in doing with this.
Fish substitute products don't seem to be as common as other meat alternatives. So far the majority we've tried have not been great, but we'll try them when we see them. I might split fillets and fingers out in to separate tables eventually.
These seem to come in either small thin smooth skinned frankfurters or big hulking sausages for US style hot dogs (Bratwurst?). I have grouped these together because we eat them in roughly the same way (at least in this house). For frankfurters, like bacon, I think flavour is as important as texture here. I only ever ate Herta frankfurters growing up so that's what I compare these to.
Frankfurters
Hot Dog Sausages (Bratwurst?)
I would never make my own kebabs at home, I'd just buy them. But we tried these and they work pretty good as a lunch option (serves 2 but we stretched it to 3 with lots of cucumber, tomato and salad leaves).
I don't normally bother making sandwiches with meat in. If I make a sarnie at home I'd just use cheese. But we've been testing these to see what they're like just for fun.
Meatballs seem to be either super firm, or soft. They hardly ever specify whether they are trying to mimic pork or beef.
Minced meat seems to come in two texture types: chewy or soft. They both seem to tend to retain their original texture when cooked. The soft type is useful for shaping meat into meatballs or burgers etc. as it can be pressed together to form one big mass. For any other use I prefer the chewy kind. Soft kind is usually refrigerated, and chewy is usually (but not always) frozen.
Chewy
Soft
It seems different enough from other minced meats to list separately. Not really sure what to do with it other than use in Chinese dishes (I'm definitely not making my own sausages). I need to find a good recipe where I can make a comparison.
Not something I'd normally buy but we saw them so thought we'd give them a try.
Not something I'd normally buy or eat but we saw them so thought we'd give them a try.
I feel like reviewing pre-made pizzas is a waste of time. I'm more interested in reviewing the meat on them, which you can normally buy separately anyway. But we tried this one so I thought I'd put it here to remind me I've tried it.
I used to eat pork pies fairly often, but haven't had one in years.
I love pulled pork, but who ever bothers to make it themselves? I have it only rarely when we eat out.
Not something I eat that often, but I have a pretty good memory of them. I think it will be hard to make these feel realistic without some kind of fake bone.
The best veggy sausage rolls come from Greggs, but you can't buy them from the supermarket (Update: now you can, but they're not the same). I don't tend to buy them in general so doubt we'll be testing many.
Sausages are a pretty broad category, but this is for the kind you'd refer to as a "banger", and use in toad in the hole, or a fry-up. It seems sausages come in two types of textures. One is really dense and smooth / uniform and the other is less uniform with bits of varying texture and can seem a bit looser. From what I have read up on sausages I thought Cumberland were the non-uniform texture (because the meat is chopped rather than minced) and Lincolnshire were the uniform ones (and tend to be more herb-dominated, particularly with Sage). I think I prefer Cumberland, but Anne and James prefer Lincolnshire. But what I've found is that different brands sausages vary in texture regardless of whether they call them Linconshire-style or Cumberland-style. So I've just decided to separate them out by my experience of their texture.
The good news is of all the ones we've tried, none of them were bad. I'd happily eat any of these.
Non-Uniform
Uniform
Neither
Basic veggy sausages that don't fall under either of the above categories. I'm keeping track of them here so I know I've tried them and don't keep buying them by mistake.
This is for what Anne calls breakfast sausage. It's got a very particular flavour from whatever herbs and spices they use and you get it a lot in the US (especially in big sausage shapes and you slice and fry it as patties) in like an Egg McMuffin or with pancakes, etc.
I think cocktail sausages are pretty rubbish at the best of times, so it's a pretty low bar.
A category that's for anything that's not a normal sausage or frankfurter. I might split this out in to separate categories in future.
I have to admit it's been so long since I've had schnitzel, I couldn't really judge this properly.
I really don't care about steak. To me it's the least interesting kind of meat. I haven't had a real one in 10 years so I'm going to be a poor judge.
Cut up chicken chunks work well. Specifically Iceland No Chick Strips (but I defrost them so I can cut the pieces up smaller). I haven't tried Heura chunks but I imagine they'd be just as good (with no defrosting needed).
This Isn't Chicken also works quite well. Also if adding bacon I would use Quorn bacon, although I haven't tried it with the new Richmond bacon.
Chewy mince is best. I haven't picked out a preferred brand yet. Texture is the real deciding factor, because the flavour is masked quite a bit by all the spices. Beyond Meat and Future Farm are both good because there is a meatiness that is noticeable among the spices, but they are both expensive and the packets are small (so you need more vegetables to bulk it up) so I'd go with something cheaper in a bigger packet unless it's a special occasion.
For chicken fajitas either Heura strips or chunks or No Chick Strips work best. I prefer Heura Strips because they are already the right shape. You can just cut the Heura or No Chick chunks in to strips, but because the shape and size of the chunks vary a lot you get a lot more random little pieces instead of strips. Which doesn't matter (or is preferred) in something like chicken pie, but for fajitas I think proper strips work best. This Isn't Chicken also works really well as long as you marinate it first and as long as you don't mind fairly big chunks of chicken.
This Isn't Pork Sausages work really well if you mash them up with a fork in a bowl, then break it up again as you are cooking it in the wok. You can use chilled, or get the frozen ones and defrost them, but I find the defrosted ones are a bit drier and harder to mash.
I tried with soft mince and the meatloaf formed up well but the texture at the end was a bit soft. I tried with chewy mince and had trouble getting it all to stick together, then once it was cooked it was very crumbly. I found the best results came from mixing both chewy and soft minces together. The last one was 400g Meatless Farm and 300g Quorn. It worked well. It would be interesting to try 50 / 50. I did try it with 520g Taste & Glory 400g Plant Pioneers. it was crumbly coming out the oven, but a lot firmer the following day. Would be worth trying Quorn with Taste & Glory. But more 50 / 50. Plant Menu was in between Taste & Glory and Meatless Farm (seemed the best result?). Beyond Mince 300g and Quorn 350g worked ok, but it was fairly soft (but not crumbly). I think if I put in less milk in to make it less wet that may have helped, but it was still one of the best tasting so far. Would like to try Quorn and Future Farm mix.
This Isn't Streaky Bacon works really well as a substitute for the pork belly topping on the Okonomiyaki.
Beyond Mince is my new favourite. If you want to push the boat out Future Farm mince has the beefiest flavour. But the packs are small so it gets expensive if making a decent amount. Otherwise Quorn mince is always a solid choice.
Chicken: Most chicken pieces go either spongy or soft when simmered in liquid. The only one that doesn't seem to do this is This Isn't Chicken, (and it loses it's chalkiness which is bonus), so I would pick it for Thai curries. It is expensive though. Heura or No Meat Company would also be fine (they aren't cheap either though), but they do soften slightly.
Although I think the Richmond sausages have the best flavour, there's something about the Cauldron Cumberland Sausages that work really well in Toad In The Hole. They are the most like a real sausage. No matter what sausage I use, if they are frozen I defrost them before cooking because if they are frozen the batter doesn't cook properly. I would like to try the This Isn't Pork Sausages, it's just a shame they're a bit small. Or Beyond Meat sausages, but they are too big!