Every year for the holidays the biggest question is what to serve as the main protein dish. This year a new option showed up at the grocery store, and I couldn’t resist giving it a try. The Vegan Whole Turkey from Vegetarian Plus is a four pound roast shaped a little eerily like a whole roast turkey. Along with the roast, the box contains “Himalayan Barley Fried Rice Stuffing” and gravy. I put my box in the refrigerator and waited eagerly (if a little hesitantly) for T-Day.
Opening the box, the roast did look incredibly turkey shaped, a far cry from the gluten football that is the Tofurky roast. The next discovery: the roast comes unstuffed. There is a cavity in the back of the bird and the “stuffing” is provided separately. This was incredibly exciting as it opens up many possibilities for future applications. As this was my first time trying the product, I decided to stick to the basic package directions, which were fairly simple: stuff the roast, wrap in foil and bake. An hour later it was ready to eat.
The roast itself was very good. As soon as I took a bite I instantly figured out what else the company made. Vegetarian Plus (Vege USA) makes the little vegan chicken drumsticks that can be found frozen, and at some restaurants, wrapped in a tofu skin and skewered with a sugar cane “bone.” The “whole turkey” was similarly, if not identically, composed of so fiber and soy protein wrapped with a tofu skin. The soy fiber makes for a grained texture very much like poultry. It was much lighter and cut much better than seitan or Tofurky. Most pleasently, the roast was exceptionally moist, even without any basting or marinating. Flavor wise, it was not particularly turkey like, but more like chicken in flavor. The “meat” does have a bit of an oddly sweet flavor to it, but covered in a nice gravy it balanced out nicely. If I get arround to making another one of these beasts I will probably experiment with spice rubs or basting to inject a little extra flavor. I might also try cooking it uncovered for a few min at the end to crisp up the skin a little better. Ultimately I would like to deep fry one of these, but I don’t think it will fit in my fryer, so I might actually need a turkey fryer. The size of the roast was great as well, as it allowed for easy carving and plenty of left overs.
One of the exciting part of the roast was carving off the "drumsticks." It would have been awesome if they had put the same sugar cane "bones" in that they use in the little chicken drumsticks.
The gravy didn’t fail to disappoint. Initially the pouch of gravy seemed a little ridiculously small, but further investigation revealed that it was more of a base, and it will take a good amount a water to thin down to proper gravy consistency. It was salty, tasty, and had a good consistency. Over all I found it much more enjoyable than the Tofurky “giblet gravy”
The stuffing was a little bit of a let down, but fortunately I had prepared some herbed chestnut stuffing.
Where things fell short was with the stuffing. The “Himalayan Barley Fried Rice Stuffing” was much more fried rice than stuffing. It appears it is a product that the company makes separately and just threw in rather than making a new stufing product. As a fried rice, it was OK. Some very decent mock ham and a curryish spice bled blended decent flavor. The barley is very toothsome, bordering on underdone, and did not stick together at all so it was very granular. The texture was one of the areas in which it most failed to fulfill the stuffing role. Also, the spice blend did not really jive with the turkey and gravy, let alone the rest of the meal. Luckily, the turkey comes un-stuffed, so next times I will use my own stuffing and save the fried rice for a later meal.
Over all we were all very pleased, including a couple of my meat eating friends that tried it. While it caries a bit of a heft price tag, ranging around $40-$50, the size of it makes it comparable to other vegetarian roasts on the market. I’ll be watching and will hopefully be able to grab a couple on sale late in the season.
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