SMOKED TURKEY SALAD SANDWICH SPREAD
Ground Veggie Brats combined with celery and onion, herbs and spice. Mixed with a cheddar flavored soy cream cheese and Vegenaise sauce.
Makes 3-1/2 cups
13.4 oz. pkg. Veggie Brats by Yves; cut each brat into 1/2 inch wide chunks
1 c. sliced celery
2 sm. yellow onions, peeled and coarsely cut
1 T. sugar
3/4 t. salt
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. dried oregano, crushed
1/2 t. ground allspice
lots of freshly ground black pepper
1/2 c. cheddar flavored soy cream cheese by Tofutti
1/2 c. Vegenaise, soy mayonnaise
Place cut brats into food processor and process till crumbly/mealy. Transfer to large mixing bowl.
Place celery and onion into food processor and process into a very small dice, but not mush. You want to see the shapes. Transfer to same mixing bowl. If you process too long the veggies will turn to water.
Add sugar, salt, garlic powder, oregano, allspice, black pepper. Stir to evenly distribute.
Combine soy cream cheese and Vegenaise in small mixing bowl. Stir with sturdy spoon till thoroughly mixed and creamy.
Pour sauce over Veggie Brat and veggie mixture. Stir to evenly coat all surfaces. Transfer to covered container and chill till cold.
Notes: Serve on bread of choice with or without additional Vegenaise spread on the bread, and with or without mustard. This makes a quick sandwich, when you don’t want to spend much time making one. Easy as peanut butter and jelly–once it’s made.
Steve likes his on a soft sub roll with mustard, pickle and lots of black pepper. A toasted roll is best. I prefer mine on a hotdog bun with mustard and pepper, no pickle—also toasted. He likes volume. I like to taste the spread more. When I don’t have rolls, I simply use one slice of any other bread I do have and fold it in half like a hot dog bun. Makes a great simple, yet filling snack.
This has the texture and taste of smoked turkey salad. Most soy meats are smoked. They vary in texture and in some flavors.
I didn’t use turkey soy meat, because I didn’t know I was making turkey salad, until that’s what I created. Even so, soy meats made to taste and feel like turkey aren’t that great. I’d rather something else. But then again, I was never a big turkey fan to begin with. I always preferred the stuffing.
You have to wonder how soy manufacturers can mimic the taste of a hot dog, using soy products, when the hot dogs, or brats contain such a wide variety of animal organs and even different species of animals: snouts, feet, skin, brain, intestines, bladders, spleens, testicles, teats, muscles, nerves, blood, bones, cartilage all thrown into the same bin and we call it a hot dog. Obviously, it’s not all those things that the soy mimics. It’s the flavor that the hot dog people put into the hot dog, to make all those organs palatable. It’s the texture of tissue that the soy people replicate. Kinda like faux fur or leather. It’s easy to replicate something that’s all ground up–burgers, hotdogs and sausage, as well as deli luncheon (sandwich) meats: ham, bologna, chicken, Canadian bacon, salami, pepperoni, and yes turkey this way is good, thin slices.
Chicken cutlets and the lower grade cuts of meat that one might make a stew with or put in a gravy are pretty good, though I’d rather keep the soy meats mainly to sandwiches. Crumbles replicating beef and sausage are good for spaghetti meat sauces and chilies, and dishes that use ground meats. One of the best veggie burgers I’ve ever had is one made from eggplant. The texture and flavors are perfect.
Steaks, lobster, pork chops don’t fare well. One company makes a pretty good barbecued riblet. Fall off the bone type, so you get the strands, plus the soft texture, with the barbecue sauce. Actually, those aren’t pretty good, they’re really good. Expensive though. Microwave that. Put it on a toasted or grilled bun with a slice of sauteed sweet onion topped with a simple coleslaw made with Vegenaise and Wow.
The problem still though is the egg white and casein in some of the products that don’t need them, and once they do that, they’re back to the blood. So, I don’t buy any soy product with egg white in it. I can do without meatballs. Besides, I figured a way to make them, whereby I get that old time satisfaction of sitting in an Italian restaurant with checker tablecloths. Those restaurants are all gone anyway–except in Chicago. They’ve got to justify their slaughter by celebrating it. That’ll change. The memory isn’t the meat; it’s something else that nobody can remember, so they try to bring it back to life by eating the same dish as they did way back when. I’d go for keeping the old decor and introducing some new animal-free recipes.
You know my husband and I are always saying, after we’ve cooked and eaten a dish at home, ‘now if I could only get this out at a restaurant’. I don’t think it’s just that it’s animal-free. It’s that it tastes so darned good.
Anyway, the brats work best for the texture of turkey salad; dark meat is probably what I’d compare it to.
This SMOKED TURKEY SALAD SANDWICH SPREAD can also be used as an hors d’oeuvre sandwich. Serve on small finger rolls, and garnish with a little fresh chopped cilantro.
Process ingredients separately as instructed to avoid a mushy texture.
CHEF DAVIES-TIGHT™ 