I genuinely found it interesting that in the west, tempe is looked at as this trendy meat substitute when just as mike said, tempe is used as a meat complementary thing. Like meat and tempe combine is good and tasty. And tempe is genuinely the most inexpensive protein in Indonesia. Also a trick we use is tempe fried thin is basically protein chips. Genuinely try it. You won't be disappointed. Basically wether you a vegan or not. Try tempe. Think tempe as a something else that is hybrid of meat and vegetables.
It's so freaking delicious! I only see some people here in the West under seasoning or under cooking it sometimes. I've been eating it for years and am laughing a bit with peoples reactions.
I don't know why it really irk me, if someone market tempe as meat substitute/alternative. Because since i was kid i learn it as a plant base protein, not substitute or alternative. Just call it as it is, a plant base protein.
The reason why us SEA uses tempe as complementary rather than substitute is because (imo) our tolerance to spice and how we cook our meals with those spices. people i know from the west said that switching to vegan/vegetarian is a "trendy" thing they do, thus having the fat from meat makes them crave that sensation/ taste. Also the meme of "salt is too spicy" rings kind of true to the western
Its upset me when ppl in western cooked them as 'meat subtitue' rather than tempe itself. They need to learn cook a tempe dish, not a meat subtitue dish with tempe. Anyway garlic seasoned fried tempe (tempe bawang) superiority💪
As a vegan, I often hear the argument that Barry put forward at the end, the "If you're vegan why do you wanna eat meat" thing. My personal reason for not eating animal products is ethics, not taste, we all know that meat is delicious but I don't find the trade of life for taste to be worth it, so we try and get it wherever we can. As for marketing, I don't really think from a business perspective that calling them "Pea and wheat protein slices" would sell well at all.
Also, calling it a burger/sausage/milk/whatever is really helpful for quickly telling the consumer how it can be used and probably how it can be cooked
Additionally, I think that his opposition to vegan meat substitutes trying to substitute actual meat ignores vegans/vegetarians of different cultures who would still like to make their meat-forward cultural dishes. I think it’s also generally silly to just think people would eat nothing that they used to eat just because it had meat in it, like comfort foods etc ?
So are you the target consumer for lab grown meat? What I dont understand is what ethics are you subscribed to? nothing can die for me to eat it? Then why not drink milk since it doesn't hurt the cow to produce that? and eggs? If you're upset about farming practices then buy from responsible farmers. Good farmers still kill though right? What about honey? Thats the problem with veganism there are so many normal alternatives like vegetarians but instead you have to go extreme to stand out and then stand on your high horse and preach about how you're so ethical. Now you're pushing a bunch of nasty fake meat on people.
@@cricket9928 just my personal opinion when it comes to meat vs meat substitute and being korean. I have not yet found a meat substitute that can imitate Bulgogi, galbi or porkbelly without a lot of texture compromises. I'm not against change after seeing how it's done I enjoy kimchi fried cauliflower rice but when the mouth feel is all wrong it from the original it gets really hard to desire it personally and that's when I start questioning why would you want something that clearly doesn't have the flavor or texture.
@@deannamartin799 Exactly. It's really helpful for older folks like my parents who are trying to eat less meat. It's a lot more accessible to your average consumer because its terms they are familar with.
As someone who has followed you for about 7 years, and were a vegan for the first 5 of those. As a response to Barrys initial statement about just replacing with some vegetables etc. Most vegans are not vegan because they dislike the taste or texture of meat, hence having something thats tries to mimic meat can be very nice. Its also very nice when you're a new vegan to have some familiar textures or flavours. Not to mention that most vegans today get the main bulk of protein from meat substitutes (especially for new vegans). TL;DR a lot of vegans like the flavours and textures of meat but dont want to eat it for whatever their reason is. Meat substitutes can be a great way for them to achieve their goal of not eating meats. All love ✌️
In addition: meat alternatives often behave similar to meat when cooking. When I went vegan, I had about 15 years of cooking experience with meat-dishes. Without meat alternatives, I would have needed to learn a ton new recipes in one go and how to make beans et al tasty. Thats a huge hurdle for amateur cooks. Instead I was able to cook basically the same SpagBol, Fried Rice or Chili as before and learned how to love plant proteins more gradually.
I agree. I liked the taste of meat but now how it ended up on my plate so this way, you get the taste but not the suffering that is usually attached to it.
As a die hard prolific meat eater who has a diesel van and gas guzzling 4x4 who refuses to recycle, I haven't heard of either. Nor will I be eating it.
@@karimchahine4883 you sound vaccinated, I bet you believe everything the government tell you just like a small child who believes everything mummy and daddy say.
I have to respectfully disagree with Baz on this one! I absolutely love the taste of meat, I adore it - but ever since working with animals, I just couldn't bring myself to eat meat anymore. So finding things that are made from plant-based sources that try to replicate meat as close as possible is the best thing for me! And I think the Squeaky Bean pastrami is absolutely delicious, I'm so sad you didn't like it!
Absolutely love the Sorted guys, but as a veggie, I must say, I *do* want meat replacements to act as meat! I didn't give up meat because I didn't like it!
This is my issue with pretty much all their vegan themed vids. Their refusal to understand the place of meat substitutes is becoming really annoying to me. The argument of "just use vegetables" is fair as they can pick real meat, but to people who have chosen or been forced to stop eating meat despite liking the taste and texture the existence of substitutes can be a real blessing, especially mid-week.
@@joacimunicorn Nah but thats the point, there is so much out there u can make without meat I dont understand the obsession with meat alternatives, if u want meat it it, if u want to be veggi or vegan then dont, its that simple.
@@Gandorhar you are right that there is definitely a lot that can be done with veggies etc., alone! But I think that this doesn’t engage with the main argument here: there are a whole host of reasons why someone may choose not to eat meat that have nothing to do with taste. Personally, I grew up eating meat and loved it. I gave it up as an adult, but that doesn’t mean I don’t miss the taste, convenience etc. of eating meat. The main point of all of this is just to say that I don’t think it’s as simple as boiling it down to ‘if you like meat, eat it’/‘if you’re veggie/vegan, then you shouldn’t want to eat meat’. Someone could be lactose intolerant and still miss the taste of milk/want something that mimics the purpose and taste of milk in everyday life. I’d say the same idea goes for those who don’t eat meat.
YES THIS! Meat is freaking delicious and also horrible. I stopped eating it for the animals period. Doesn't mean I don't remember the taste and crave it.
@@chloeg2721 Exactly! or you might want an easy way to adjust a recipe to make it vegetarian/vegan by using a meat replacement that mimics meat so that it doesn't become something completely different.
Baz: "If you're a vegan, you don't want to eat meat" sure, there are some people who don't eat meat b/c they don't like the taste/texture of meat, but there are also people who don't eat meat for ethical, religious, financial, environmental, and medical/health reasons; and there are households with mixed dietary needs
I find this argument so dumb, because of what you said. I like these alternatives, because they try to replicate something that I really like the taste of, but without killing animals to make them
I'm the dietary restriction side. Had to give up red meat and pork back in 2018 and I miss out on so many charcuterie goodies 😢 I still do poultry and lean meat like deer but boy do I miss a good ol BLT. I'll have to look for This lol
Was about to say this. While I don't fall under any of these categories I think it is really important to recognise that there are other reasons as to why people don't eat meat other than they don't like the taste/texture! Thus I think it is totally legitimate wanting to have something that tastes/feels like meat but isn't.
Wow... Its baffling how this channel talks about vegan/vegetraian alternatives. Nearly every Challenge or Video with the 'Normals' has something in it with meat. And Baz said its been 5 years since he last tried some these alternatives...while having a job on TH-cam cooking channel. Damn thats narrow minded and this commentary of him proofed that
Funfact! In my hometown, Young Green Jackfruit is celebrated on it's own, if you don't see the appeals of Jackfruit as meat subtitute, you should try them as veggies/fruits. Like in 'Lodeh' soup, Gudeg (very specific local dish from my hometown). So in southeast asia, I can definitely see Jackfruit being celebrated on its own 🎉
Tempeh and seitan are absolutely delightful to work with, especially if you accept them for what they are instead of shoehorning them into an application that is intended for meat.
fun fact: in Bali, some vegan restaurants has been using Tempeh as an alternative to meat for quite some time for dishes with lots of sauce. and i really like it even though i normally wouldn't. personally i prefer slicing them thinly then fry them after they're battered. the dish is named "Tempe Mendoan" and its highly recommended for snack times over at my hometown.
Thinly sliced tempe fried to crisps is basically protein chips. Genuinely try sliced that tempe thin like you slice a potato when making chips. Add a bit of cassava flour in water with seasoning and you made a Indonesian snack.
Just to elaborate more to this, there are two kind of fried battered tempeh. One is fried tempeh which got crispy batter and slightly thin sliced tempeh. The other one as mentioned, mendoan is a little bit more soggy, not as thinly sliced. Fried tempe or tempeh usually eaten with bird eye chili while mendoan served with sweet soy sauce and chopped chili.
We've had it in stores in Oregon for >20 years. The good stuff hasn't made it down South yet, but if you see the Italian flavor, especially by Surata soyfoods, give it a try. Bolognese, sausage scrambles, and lasagna are all great vehicles for it.
We're using tempeh as the main ingredient in our main course (michelin starred). It's a really fun and unique ingredient, and you don't see it a lot in scandinavian cuisine
Think its important to consider that whilst Barry has said don't try to be meat/just each vegetables, often you don't have the time to make a dish full of 'natural ingredients' and sometimes you do just want a kind of cheat meal/something easy. Also got to consider that these aren't necessarily trying to appeal to every market (i.e. meat eaters). Whilst they are comparing to meat, if you've never had meat your not going to do that. You just use it as an alternative ingredient. Also got to consider the protein content in these things, as its very hard to get enough protein without alternatives for me!
On the flip side, as a meaty person who wouldn't mind adding more non-meat into my diet I gotta tell ya, all these products that say they're something akin to meat (or cheese, eggs, etc.) and then taste nothing like it just depresses me and makes me want to avoid it all together. I would be a thousand times happier if I was given a product that was fast and easy to use and tasted great. "Savory Sliced soy patties with a kick of pepper" or "Spicy Jackfruit tacos" doesn't bring me to that same depressed "I'm not eating meat" thought. And I do absolutely think these products are aimed at me, they're like a crutch... a tease... "See, you'll be fine here, you can still have sandwiches and carbonara". =P
@@DawnChatman completely fair perspective too! Think Barry was almost saying for some of them (not all of them to be clear!!) just don’t make them at all, but clearly has a place in the market to tempt meat eaters and to fulfil needs of non meat eaters 👍
@@DawnChatman I agree and in my experience the more processed the meat-containing product that is being imitated, usually the better the non-meat options. My favorite example of this is chicken nuggets that you buy at the grocery store, at least where I live there are several vegetarian products that imitate the chicken nugget taste and texture so well that I couldn't tell the difference if I had to do a blind taste test.
@@DawnChatman I disagree that it is aimed at you... I think it's great that you want to eat less meat, but if you want pulled pork you will just eat pulled pork. Non-meat eaters won't so even if these are second best, they're what we have. I see a lot of meat eaters that want the marketing changed because its not meat, but as someone who doesn't eat meat.. I sort of want to know what it is trying to replicate not just say "piece of soy". There are so many ways to flavour things... liquid smoke for "bacon", poultry spice for "chicken" etc. Like I said it's great if the processed alternatives do tempt you, but you can always just do a veg. dish for meatless days.. so many good ones like pasta dishes (not carbonara :P) , or general tso tofu... I could go on but you get the gist I'm sure!
Meat alternatives were an important step for me learning to eat/cook vegetarian because I didn't need to learn any more skills and it would stop me feeling left out when everyone else was eating sausages, burgers etc.
But actually. I have sold 2 types of burgers at 2 restaurants. One was a roast beetroot and goats cheese burger. And a burger that mimics meat. The beetroot one sold way better. Because non-veggies ordered it aswell. I wasn't trying to be meat but made an excellent dish
@@IrmaU94you're right that the veggie option doesn't need to match meat in flavour but it was burger shaped and called a burger so the idea that veggie dishes shouldn't copy meat products and need to be completely their own thing still applies that the meat eaters saw it recognised it and thought sounds nice I'll give it a go etc As by sorted standards your beetroot and goats cheese burger shouldn't have been called a burger and instead called a sandwich and that is what we're saying is wrong It is good to have veggie options that call themselves the meat product to help people fitting in at social events and ease family members into cooking for their vegan child etc
@@louise102nd no wait i understand you but i think calling it a burger is fine. I didnt say beef burger or chicken sandwich. I think beet burger is okay and i dont know how to call it otherwise
Love the video guys! One comment though, not sure I agree with Baz comment on saying that vegans don’t want to eat meat. I get what you’re saying but I wouldn’t say that is always the case, a lot of vegans have enjoyed meat and enjoy taste etc. of it but don’t want to eat it for ethical reasons, so I do think that trying to replicate peoples fave things whilst still being vegan is a good thing ! (Not saying they taste perfect but I appreciate what they’re trying to do!)
Yeah, i'm not a vegan but i appreciate the variation. Also most meat espacially sausages are more processed then the vegan alternatives so i dont think there is anything wrong with them looking the Part too🤷♂️
Takes just a millisecond of thought to work out why some vegans would sometimes want to eat meat-like food, even for those of us who haven't spent over a decade working in food media 🙄
I'll add that I can not eat meat because I lost the enzyme that breaks down meat due to a virus. I am not vegetarian for any reason other than that... so sometimes it's very nice to have a comfort food (like a good sandwich) or 'bacon/pancetta' in my pasta.
Actually vegans don't eat meat 100 precent out of ethical concerns not because of anything else, because veganism is an ideology it has 0 to do with allergies or illnesses etc
Yeah if it weren't for the moral hang ups I have I'd be eating rare steaks again, but surprise I still want a burger or chicken sandwiches. I don't cut out meat because I hate it, that shit is delicious.
As someone who has been vegetarian and then vegan for more than half of my life, I have to say while a lot of these have been around for a long time it is great to see them openly available in our everyday supermarkets and reasonably priced. Funnily enough the only thing that I missed was good deli slices but seitan has that covered. Come on boys bring on dairy alternatives and part two with banana blossom fish and king oyster mushroom calamari along with the humble tofu. Actually make that a whole episode the boys react to tofu 5ways, silken tofu in tempura batter to Korean fired chick’n.
My white whale was jerky because living in the south we had so many homemade and local ones. Pleather (I know the name isn't pleasing) is the best texturally and taste wise. Jerky Y'all is a close second and had better flavor, but a soft texture. If you like OG style do the first and if you like softer jerky do the latter.
I have been a vegetarian for five years, but grew up eating meat, do I miss it yes and when on occasion I go back and try meat it tastes crazy animally, so for me the vegetarian substitutes hit the spot! I love the squeaky bean ‘meat’, I also love a good mushroom burger or tempeh and tofu! Think they all have their own place and with a good chef they can smash the most amazing veg!
some people use king oyster mushrooms to sub out pulled pork. you 'pull' the shroom with a fork and then cook it, add a bit of bbq sauce and it looks like pulled pork and the texture supposedly works as well
@@helenswan705 i personally don't think of the pulled mushroom as faked. It still tastes like mushroom with a bbq sauce and isn't advertised as pulled not-pork. things like beyond meat or the impossible burger are faked imo.
One thing you're skipping is price, and I certainly find this an important thing to keep in mind. If the alternative is a vegetable (e.g. something made from peas), and its price isn't competitive with actual meat (which needs to be given vegetables for a long time), then I really don't see it taking off outside of niche markets. When you have to pay MORE for a vegetable based meat alternative, you won't get the masses to buy it. Like with oat milk. It's ground up oats and water. Yet it's somehow often more expensive than cow milk which is made by having a cow eat far more oats and drink far more water than what goes into the same amount of oat milk. Or worse - insects. Insects are animal protein, extremely cheap to farm, yet they often cost 10x what normal animal meats cost.
Another thing to note about insects is that they're chock full of parasites and due to their size it's impossible to process the bodies individually to remove any of them. Also they say they have all this protein, but it's 99% contained in their indigestible chitin shells so it's completely unusable by the human body.
Yes! The deep dives and analyses NEED price information included. Meat, dairy etc. alternatives will never catch on so long as they're marketed as niche, expensive lifestyle foods.
I love squeaky bean! I’ve been vegan 10 years and the whole ‘vegans don’t want meat’ isn’t true😂 we want the flavour and texture without it coming from an animal
This!!! And I'm fine with it not being as good as the real thing as at least this way something isn't butchered and given the worst life imaginable for better flavour
As a cooking channel, the boys should appreciate that sometimes people want to cook their recipes but have to swap in a meat alternative. For me, the allusions to real meats is just helpful for knowing what to sub into a recipe that will hit a similar mark. Most vegetarians and vegans aren't going to be able to tell the difference or even think to try, because for many they haven't eaten this stuff in years if ever!
Hi! A pointer: vegans and vegetarians, such as myself, can want to eat meat alternatives. 😀 I didn't go veg because I hated meat, only of ethical reasons. Loved you trying these substitutes! ❤
As a possible follow-up on this episode I'd like to challenge the food team: A blind test of three rounds of three dishes each. Each round focuses on a different 'star' of a dish. One where the taste of meat/fish is the focus (i.e. steak) , one where it's in combination with the rest (i.e. a bolognese sauce) and the third round where it is primarily there for texture. In each round there are 3 dishes, one with the actual meat/fish, one where the price is comparable but instead of meat/fish it's the alternatives and the third is where price is no concern and the 'best' alternative is used. As the blind testers I'd imagine Jamie and Ebbers are a good combo. A chef and a normal+, who's known to love his meat.
I would call it an "information deprived" testing, as I don't think that the main "problem" is sight. The main problem is that you expect meatiness from a meat alternative. I think a meat eater would still notice the difference between a beef burger and a bean patty burger, but one would not instantly try to evaluate the bean patty based on the beefy one without the knowledge that it is supposed to be a substitute. You instantly ask yourself "is this AS GOOD AS" if you know it is supposed to be an alternative. Otherwise, you would probably just state that the to are different. You could still have a favourite, but the knowledge behind would not affect your judgement.
It would be great to get someone on the sorted food team who is a vegetarian to review these products.I love you guys and love hearing mikes passion for chicken and barry's love of salmon(even though im veggie )but it would be great to get a non Meat eaters opinión about new veggie options
I was a vegetarian for 12 years, and while I have never regretted eating meat again, I do think it's time I started integrating things like tofu and tempeh into my diet again, not as meat substitutes like I used to, but as things that are delicious on their own. Gods know I can always figure out more things to include in noodles.
I'm trying to do the same for my diet, just celebrating ingredients as they are. It's not going to replace meat directly, but it doesn't have to if it's good.
I was vegetarian til Dr said if you want to get well please eat meat again...but still do ear those as items itself like you would ear chickpea curry etc...def agree worth it...only eat fake meat for the fake steaks cos they amazing or when at my friends house who is a vegetarian
On jackfruit, in Indonesia Nasi Padang one of the dish is jackfruit curry! I think it's important to think of some of these as source of proteins or plant based protein instead of meat alternative. Cause it does give a very different connotation
YES!! I hope this means more plentiful veg protein options on Sidekick. Thank you for doing this. Jackfruit is not my favorite but I love Tempeh (Temp-ay). It's best in my opinion when it's cut into small cubes to get crispy all around. Seitan is so good. I would love to see the guys make it - there are recipes where you can add like chickpeas or other things that give it diverse textures. Thanks for coming out on the side of people trying to be more plant-based!
Love these plant-based reviews! I grew up with my dad making "tempeh salad" where he basically combined egg salad ingredients (mayo, pickle relish, spices, etc) with crumbled tempeh. I still love it today and now, I pan-fry the tempeh bits first to dehydrate and crisp them before adding to the salad. It's honestly an incredible vegetarian or vegan (using vegan mayo) dish!
one point against barry's "vegans dont want meat" - for a lot of vegans its not necessarily the taste they dislike, rather the environmental, political and animal welfare catastrophes that follow from industrial farming. meat alternatives strive to offer alternatives for those who crave meat and chose not to eat it:)
Nice video! As someone who recently turned vegan, I will say that going from vegetarian to full vegan was surprisingly easy. Cheese and eggs the most difficult for me to give up, but at the end of the day, I'm more than willing to sacrifice a few creature comforts if it helps out with reducing the strain the agricultural industry puts on our world. Tempeh is great, as is seitan. They absorb flavour well and add a nice texture in dishes like stir fries and burgers. They also go very crispy when pan-fried. Another great one not in this video is vegan chicken pieces. Vegetarian butcher and This are good brands. They have a fibrous and slightly chewy texture that I think replicates chicken breast very well. An advantage is that products like these are bullet proof: with chicken breast you're always worrying about overcooking it, but these go nice and crispy when cooked on medium flame and stay tender inside. Chicken breast is much harder to get right! Vegan cheese is definitely not there yet with a lot of brands, but I've had very positive experiences with a brand named Gondino for faux-parmesan: it has a really nice nuttiness and savoury flavour. Can be a 1 to 1 replacement for parmesan in pasta and salads. Maybe a video on that would be interesting? For those who find it difficult to give up meat, try some of these! I absolutely agree that not everything has to try to copy meat, but many people grow up with the flavour and learn to love dishes centered around meat. It's logical that people get cravings for KFC, steak of charcuterie. Eating less meat and and animal products (or giving them up altogether) does not mean you can't eat nice food anymore, you just have to learn about new ingredients and how to use them. If you're curious about the climate impact the production of meat and other animal products, check out Our World in Data: it outlines the climate benefits very well in several articles (75% less land needed to feed the world!). But most of all: keep trying new things with food, and be aware of what's needed to get it to your table.
As someone who can't eat beef due to a health problem, and not as a choice, you start to lose the "taste memory" of the real thing. I get ground beef alternative because then I can use my mom's pasta sauce and sloppy joe recipes to make the "same" dishes, because sometimes I just get tired of ground turkey and chicken. Some are really good and I don't hardly see a taste difference in my brain anymore. I can understand them struggling, but it's not always about the not wanting to eat meat. Sometimes it's to find a way to balance fitting into the family bbq or a family event, or to find a joy or comfort in something familiar that you can't do any longer. Seeing a plate of fried "fish" can be more comforting than fried mushrooms.
In Indonesia, jackfruit is considered one of the ingredients to become a savory meal instead of using it only for dessert. Gudeg is pretty much a dish centered around jackfruit and then curryish jackfuit, another dish that when cooked right/ properly is a really good side everyday dish.
As a vegetarian who very much enjoyed meat when I was younger, I like when we find alternatives that replace and imitate the meat (hence the pulled pork, chicken names etc which is usually prefaced with jackfruit, tempeh etc) and its nice to find those dishes that we can say are 'our chicken' dishes or whatever it might be so we can have a cruelty free diet but with similar tastes of when we had meat. I don't know why people get so mad over how we name it 😂
I'll take a stab at this, if you don't mind! First, and most importantly, I think the most important thing is that you get the nutrition you need, and you like how it tastes. Those are the most important things. My opinion on this comes mainly from that second bit, the part about it tasting good. I think that food ingredients can reach greater heights when treated for what they are, instead of trying to imitate something else. Sure, a well executed imitation meat can be good. But I think you could make something better with the same ingredients if you weren't trying to mimic meat. Some other considerations, in no particular order. - Meat is expensive. Non-meat protein sources are less expensive. Imitation meat adds some of that expense back in because of the additional processing needed to make it more like meat. For cost conscious folks, this could be a big deal. - Labeling is important. If the package says "meat!" in big letters, and then discloses "made from plants" in tiny print at the bottom, that's misleading. Misleading labels are almost always a problem, regardless of context. Plants react to cooking differently in a bunch of ways, which could, if someone wasn't paying attention to what they were buying, ruin the food they are trying to make. - Definitions of words change over time. There will always be people who resist that change. If such a person defines a hamburger as "a disk of ground beef", they are going to disagree with a food item that claims to be a hamburger without the beef. - We have not yet arrived at the place where imitation meat is as good as actual meat (imo, your mileage may vary). A bad first impression can lead to someone giving up on the underlying ingredient(s). Imagine someone who had a bad "burger" made of chickpeas, who will then never try hummus because they think it'll be gross. or the way many people feel about tofu (which is a fantastic flavor sponge, great for saucy stir-frys). I do see the other side if this... If your friends are having a cookout, you still want to be able to participate. Meat is tasty, and people who can't or won't eat it could miss the experience. I think imitation meats are probably a good thing overall, they're just not for me.
You guys should make more video about tempeh. It's a wonderful ingredient to cook. My favorite way to cook it is just wet marinade it with garlic, salt, and crushed coriander seed or just dry marinade with salt and white pepper, and then deep fried it.
If you want to do more of these PLEASE do Impossible 'Beef' mince. It was a MAJOR factor in me becoming vegetarian recently and I'm trying to move to vegan. It's so good. If you want a recipe to try with it, make your Dan Dan Noodles from (I think?) CBA to Cook because that's literally what I did! I've made it countless times and it's too good. I love it so much. Like others have said I'd love to see dairy alternatives too, as that industry is... Difficult.
When Barry said "if you're a vegan, you don't want to eat meat"... I think it depends on why you chose to become a vegan. Personally, I would be doing it for health reasons, then environment. Instead of using "meat alternatives", I mainly tried using lentils and beans to make patties, etc. Couldn't do the Jackfruit, but I did try the pulled mushroom and it was amazing. Back on white meats now as I need to research more.
As someone who has never eaten pork in my life, I enjoy jackfruit tacos and "pulled pork" sandwiches. Tempeh is amazing and everyone should try it. It is not a meat substitute in most of the world, but often used together with meat, like tofu. If you really are looking for a "meat substitute" I would say Sietan is the way to go.
It’s cool that Sorted is checking this stuff out but you guys haven’t exactly been given the best meat alternatives available. Also, things like THIS bacon of course are going to taste bad raw 😒
@@SortedFood Thanks for asking! 🙂 Too many to name but just looking at my last shop; Tesco Cumberland-style bangers, The Bury Black Pudding Company’s vegan black pudding, Beyond Burgers, Vivera Plant Chicken Breast, Quorn Vegan Chicken-Free slices, even Quorn Fishless Fingers or Green Cuisine Chicken-Free dippers if your craving that nostalgic junk food fix. I do cook with plain tofu, tempeh, seitan, pea-protein, soy protein and textured vegetable protein much more often, but that’s because I know what I’m looking for when I go to the supermarket. A lot of people don’t. I think Mike made a great point. Pretty much anything served unprepared, raw and unseasoned is going to taste bland. A lot of enjoying vegan alternatives is just trying out different products in different dishes to see what works. For example, if I was making a cheese and pickle sandwich I’d use Cathedral City’s plant-based or Applewood’s vegan block. On a cheese board I’d use one of Tyne’s. In a cheese sauce I’d use a mixture of Violife’s Epic Mature and whatever other ones I fancy on the day.
@@ascendancy425 , I also love that you asked . The line from Impossible is very tasty. In North America there is a line from Gardein that are great (including a fish patty that is great when fried 😉and served with tartar sauce and chips) Quorn is great. Beyond Meat. Soft cheeses made from fermented cashew are perfect for a cheese board. Applewood is great too.
I love the channel and your videos but I think some of the comments in this video were slightly bias. Vegans don’t eat meat but not because they don’t like the tastes and the flavours but because they don’t want to eat animals. So often these meat replacements give us the flavours and textures we are missing but without having to eat an animal. I really appreciate you guys taking the time to make this video, so I really hope you don’t take this comment as a negative ❤
In Indonesia we have been using Tempe and Jackfruit for a long time for traditional dishes. They taste amazing (especially fresh cold jackfruit.. yummy 😋) and really versatile. You can cook a lot of different things with it. Try searching traditional indonesian dishes using this things and you will love them. 😆
When I worked at Whole Foods (2 iterations ago), we sold a “wheat roast Reuben sandwich.” (Seitan is sometimes called that.) We sliced it thinly, and used it in place of meat, all other ingredients being the same.🤗
i think one important thing to note about meat "replacements" is that they don't replace the same nutritional aspects. and when people start using these ingredients to just sub out meat, that can be a concern. plus the ingredients do deserve to be appreciated for what they are, rather than for how well they can imitate meat.
Tempe definitely can substitute meat. Because that thing is the cornerstone of low income Indonesian household protein source with tofu ( or college students).
Jack fruit are really easy to cultivate and yield so many for a little work. Meanwhile mushroom need special environment and care to produce and not to mention the labor you need to put into.
I think the problem is that as meat eaters who are trying to have more veggie meals we want the vegetables to be celebrated when we don't eat meat. Conversely, full time vegetarians often do miss meat, and do want their plant based food to attempt to replicate meat.
I completely agree with the comments on this post and, as a vegetarian for ethical reasons, I did find it very frustrating to watch 2 meat eaters complain about how meat substitutes are marketed and made. I love the taste of meat and if more meat-style substitutes mean that I can refrain from eating animals then I’m all for it. I love Sorted and I really enjoy their review videos but I’m not sure they had a place as meat consumers commenting on the need for plant-based meat substitutes. ‘If you’re a vegan you don’t want to eat meat’ - please don’t speak for dietary requirements that you are not part of Barry.
When I was growing up as a second son of dutch-indonesian parents, our family wasn't particularly well-off so we were practically raised on tofu and tempeh as one of our main sources of protein. Luckily our mother is a very imaginative cook. Years later I'm a professional chef and I regularly use tofu and tempeh in as many inventive ways as I can. They are so versatile they've become favoured ingredients with both guests and servers alike.
Even as a meat eater I must say that Barry is wrong, in him saying that vegans don't want to eat meat. Most don't want animals to die for their food. Some even can't eat animal based products but still would like the taste from time to time.
As someone who's really been trying to eat healthy lately but having trouble due to preconceived notions, I love videos like this, even if I can't find most of the more exotic ingredients you guys use (exotic to my palette, at least.)
I think the comments on this video already make it clear, we vegetarians and vegans want plant based meat substitutes. But I'm not sure if the most comments here display why that is. Recently I went out with a bunch of friends and they recommended we go eat at a vegetarian burger place since at least one of us is vegetarian. During dinner one friend questions me: "so why exactly do you enjoy meat substitutes? Like I get why you're vegetarian, but I eat meat and I don't really crave it that much." And that's where my brain kinda understood. If you do eat meat on a regular, you don't miss it because it's already there. However, I haven't eaten real meat in maybe 5 years, yet I'm used to eat meat. I ate meat on the daily until adulthood, that's just how most of us grow up. It's habit forming. Going from a 20%+ meat diet to a 0% meat diet is super habit breaking. It makes you uncomfy or unhappy. Being vegetarian shouldn't be uncomfy in any way. Being able to eat the same stuff (in terms of taste) is important. Now, I've been vegetarian for years and years, why do I still eat meat substitutes? I mean it's not a regular weeknight thing anymore, and frankly I think the same should go for people with unrestricted diets. Anyway, It's just easier and more sustainable as a human. Think about it. You're on TH-cam, Instagram, Tiktok, whatever, hell.. facebook. You see a recipe you crave. Oh no, it's currywurst. I guess tofu is kinda like sausage, you make some curry tofuwurst. It's tasty. Happy. Next day off. You saw this tasty shepherds pie. What's similar to minced meat? Dunno, lets shred tofu?? This goes on for a few days, weeks even. You ate 4 kilos of tofu, everything is tofu now. Actually, one day you had mushrooms instead of tofumeat. This gets so boring. There are only so many ways to imitate meaty recipes, and frankly most ways I could think of are tofu, seitan, mushrooms or if you are an actual good cook you come up with some other ideas like bean patties and stuff. Oh, you didn't notice, did you? Those were already meat-like substitutes because what else should we do? Many recipes are meat based and limiting yourself to only naturally vegan foods might not fit your lifestyle. So, why not? Why not eat pea protein based mince? Why not eat a walnut based burger patty? I still wanna enjoy all the flavours and textures. Being vegetarian or vegan shouldn't mean missing out.
sautéd tempeh, sliced garlic, shalot and chillies (optional), a piece of galangal, kefir lime leaf and add sweet soy sauce and a pinch or salt and pepper.
Can I just say, I'm so happy that you guys actually went into this with an open mind and weren't cruel about it. Also, props to Kush for actually preparing these ingredients as they are meant to be prepared, and doing his best to prepare a tasty dish that makes these ingredients work. I've seen a lot of other youtubers completely missing the mark on how vegan substitutes are meant to be used, or even just slapping random things together and pretending it's what vegans use as a substitute in order to poke fun at vegans. Remember, many of us haven't tasted meat in years, and these ingredients are close enough to what we remember. It's not a massive part of our diet, but it's nice to have here and there.
If it's such a small part of the vegan diet, why don't vegan restaurants have options where fake meat isn't the first ingredient? There's plenty of other ways to get appropriate protein into a meal, like tofu and tempeh which are whole products and not meat alternatives, make THOSE dishes. I want to see try that food.
In Malay cuisine we cook jackfruit in various ways, by putting it into fried doughy balls with jackfruit inside (think dutch bitterballen) and another favourite of mine is in lauk lemak (coconut milk-based gravy with lemongrass, ginger, coloured with tumeric) where the jackfruit is cooked down to a very soft texture. You're right about it being mushy when cooked down, but when it's in gravy it gives a different experience. By the way!! Tempeh is pronounced as 'tame-pé' - tame as in tame animal lol. My favourite way to eat it is by cutting it in long rectangular sticks like chips/fries but even thinner, coat it in tumeric and salt/a little chilli powder, then fry it. delicioussss
You can just search the Open Food Facts database yourself. For example This isn't bacon has a NOVA score of 4 (ultra processed), compared to Sainsbury's unsmoked back bacon's score of 3 (processed). But that's not the full picture. This isn't bacon has a Nutri-Score of C (average nutritional quality) and an Eco-Score of A (very low environmental impact), whereas the Sainsbury's bacon has a Nutri-Score of D (poor nutritional quality) and an Eco-Score of E (very high environmental impact).
@@kaspianepps7946 I know I can look it up myself. I mean, if I know what a Nova scores is then it's pretty obvious I can work it out. I think it would be a good thing for Sorted to give the Nova score when they are looking at ultra-processed food. I know there are other considerations, too. But I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about ultra-processed foods.
@@bugsygoo You may have seen a creator discuss Nova scores and not realised that the database is free to access - there's a lot of information out there locked behind paywalls.
For a lot of us who haven't eaten dairy and meat in a long time, very quickly you forget what the real thing tastes like and therefore the meat and dairy subs don't need to reach such a high standard as you guys have set in your video. So even if people who eat meat aren't convinced, a lot of us vegetarians actually love the alternatives because they remind us *enough* of the real thing :)
It would also be interesting to compare pricing with the normal ingredient it was replacing. I like a lot of vegetables in a meal but to buy one of the alternatives for the sake of being vegetarian unless I have a guest with a special diet would not do. Especially with whole grains and legumes I can create good spiced dishes with
@@helenswan705 yes I agree it is food but they did make dishes that would normally be made with a type of meat and a comparison in cost would be interesting for me.
Vegan home cook here. Jackfruit is all about the preparation. With canned unripe jackfruit, you have to squeeze out the excess water. I usually pop out the seeds and also cut off the hardest bit of the core. I like to "toast" mine either in the oven or in a frying pan to dry it out and give it better texture before adding to whatever I'm making. It holds the flavor better like that too. It should resemble soft stew meat (but with a bit of "crust" from the baking/frying) when you get the texture right, which takes a little practice.
"If you're a vegan, you don't want to eat meat." Barry, this simply isn't true. As someone who has been vegan for years, I loved meat. It isn't the meat that I don't want to eat, it is the cruelty, abuse, and unsustainability of it all. So your persistent argument that things should not try to be like meat because they won't stack up ignores the fact that for many people, this is the closest we can get to eating something that we love, but, either for health, sustainability, or ethical reasons, can no longer have. It might not be your cup of tea as someone that still eats meat, but I hope you can learn to understand why replacements are genuinely important to people. Vegans didn't stop eating meat because they didn't like the taste.
As a vegetarian who loved eating meat before, I sometimes crave it and in the last few years the alternatives became way better. The are still some things I miss but at least I can have now really good burgers which look and taste like real ones
Coming from the region and culture where jackfruit, tempeh, wheat gluten, tofu, tofu skin, and many other vegetarian/vegan ingredients, I don't understand westerner's weirdness in making them into fake meat/cheese. These ingredients are great cooking ingredients by themselves. Jackfruit curry from unripe fruit is amazing. The fruit is floral, sweet, and so tasty. Tempeh is good just fried crispy with a little bit of salt and spices. I would love to see the chefs/normals try to cook them as they were traditionally cooked in their home country to better appreciate these beautiful ingredients.
Try dehydrating the jackfruit and then using it in a rehydrated format, the texture really does change. An alterntive if you want pulled pork, King Oyster mushrooms. Simply run a fork down then and shred them.
I had a tempeh orange chicken at a vegan restaurant and it was fantastic. Seemed to fry up into nice chunks and the batter probably does a lot to hide any texture differences.
On Jackfruits: I totally agree with finding the best alternative that suits you, however I have to note something on Barry’s comment that “you should just do a mushroom burger instead” As someone from Brazil, where Jackfruits are a very sustainable fruit and a much cheaper option, sometimes you just can’t get mushrooms because they’re too expensive. So to be honest, I’d like to see the guys try this again (maybe a vegan cooking challenge as well, for some research)!
Wait what, tempeh and seitan are new? In Canada I've had tempeh and seitan regularily for more than a decade. There's a vegan restaurant here that serves an INCREDIBLE chicken and waffles where the chicken is made with seitan.
It would be great if you did an episode where you're making seitan from scratch with the WTF method. It really demistyfies it as an ingredient and lets you play around with your own flavors.
The interesting thing is, other than Jackfruit fresh or canned (been here forever) and Tempe (also forever) all the others are pretty much out. Just last week when shopping at one of the local retailers they had put ALL their meat alternatives into clearance bins and no longer carried at all. And while a year ago we had half a dozen or more 'vegetarian/vegan' small dinner shops, we now have only one and passing it through the week for the dark and empty feel of that shop I will say soon there will be none.
Barry doesn't seem to get it. Imagine you can not eat meat, but want the experience, you don't want a burger of mush, or a mushroom, you want something that acts like a hot dog, burger, bacon or fish fillet.... you want it as close to meat, without all that death. I eat meat, but my husband does not, so when i make a meaty version of a meal, he wants theequivalent but without the meat. Pumpkin katsu is not the same as pork, a mushroom on a bun is not like a burger, especially if you don't like mushrooms! My husband eats many of these things, and enjoys them, but he's also not much of a foodie, but not eating meat for 20 years means he doesn't remember what its actually like, so its close enough to be enjoyable. Also, the jackfruit must have been overcooked if it was mushy, pop it under a broiler to crisp up some bits like carnitas before putting it in sauce.
I totally agree with the statement that these "meat replacements" are often far better when not promoted as a substitute for a particular meat. Promote them for what they are, a different source of protein. I don't mind having these products prepared and cooked like the meats they're trying to replace, but they're often set up to fail when comparing "facon" to bacon, for example, instead of just saying "try these delicious smoked breakfast strips". The other point of failure is that way too often, these alternatives cost twice what they're trying to replace, which is an absolute no-go if you're on a tight budget. On top of that, as a home cook, I'm going from my familiar meat protiens to having to learn how to prepare something like jackfruit, that I've never encountered before. So it's a large leap of faith, especially when more expensive than what Im trying to replace. I'm all for adding new foods to my repertoire, too, but sometimes the bar for entry is just set too high.
It really annoys me when people think that the only reason we veggies/vegans don't eat meat is because they don't like it so why would they want alternatives that look and taste like meat. They never review it as an alternative for someone who is wanting to reduce their meat consumption gradually without going cold turkey on meat
Exactly this!! Easy swaps for my busy brain who just wants to do my same autopilot recipes whilst reducing my meat consumption - it is the most frustrating argument to hear “why call it pulled pork” - because people know what that is and what sort of recipes to do with it
Fresh unripe jackfruit has a better tecture than canned ones. The fresh ones has so much texture. As for the ripe jackfruit, the smell is very pungent. So if you leave the fruit in the fridge uncovered with plastic wrap, quite a lot of your food will likely absorb the smell. I love it as it is but also cooked with plantain im a Filipino turron
That is an unfortunate problem. It would be nice to have a fresh one in the states but it doesn't sound like it would be grown close enough and would only get canned versions.
well they dont grow in the western world and the market isnt big enough to cultivate them here. so far we get them in cans or very rarely "fresh" in an asian market
Would also like to add, as a fellow Filipino: unripe jackfruit is better treated as it’s own thing like a Vegetable instead of a meat alternative. Using it to ‘substitute’ for pork or chicken in a dish won’t work very well because jackfruit has its own flavour profile. Treat it like it’s own protein in a dish that heavily features it, and the jackfruit is excellent, like in curried jackfruit or as part of a salad.
Why is all this replacement stuff still a thing? If anyone chooses to only eat what my food eats, just eat it. Well done, good on ya. Plants don't need to pretend to be anything else. They are healthy, often tasty, and provide things humans need that isn't in some or all animal bits. Great and entertaining vid, as always, fellas.
frustrating to watch as someone that's vegetarian - i LOVE the taste of meat but i stopped eating it because i dont want to eat animals. so things trying to emulate meat & having meat-like names is actually very helpful with knowing what to pick. if im trying to make a normal recipe and trying to replace the meat 1 on 1 with a meat alternative, it being called ''fake mince meat'' is very helpful !!
The Green Cuisine fake fish fingers are pretty close, IMO. I think they're made with rice flakes? The regular Squeaky Bean ham isn't bad. I got a chemically aftertaste from This, but only on the thicker side. - Followed the instructions, but I think it needed a bit longer.
Nice to see the sorted crew turn towards sustainability. Wouldn‘t it be a great motto for 2024: sorting sustainably? Imagine the normals bending over backwards in a battle - shopping and then cooking the dish that hurts the planet the least? Or Ben and Kush in: Allotment vs. A lot bought. Also, if the recipes in the app developed in a sustainable direction, the impact on the planet could be massive.
As a fan of the channel and a vegetarian, I definitely think there’s room for improvement in this video. I appreciate the willingness to try and rate, but some comments rubbed me the wrong way. Yes, we do want meat substitutes, not just stuff that’s veggie/vegan in its own right. By having it formed into a burger or fish-style fillet, it makes it easy to pair it with other foods to create meals. It’s also easy for restaurants to serve it that way. “If you’re a vegan, you don’t want to eat meat” - respectfully, no. I loved burgers. I still love them, they’re just different now (try Beyond Burgers!). Please get a vegan chef on the channel to show some great dishes and you and the viewers can all learn more about what veggies and vegans actually eat and like! And if you guys are ever in Liverpool, I can show you round the best veggie/vegan places. Much love! ❤ Elle
I also meant to add, I really appreciate how you guys focus on minimising food waste and it would be great to feature more veggie/vegan meals every so often to reflect the growing demand for these and also the environmental impact of meat-free dishes. If everyone ate vegan for just a few meals a week, the environment would be in much better shape! And vegan doesn’t mean jackfruit, even beans on toast is vegan.
Whenever the adults in my life see a jackfruit tree with unripe fruit they get excited. We usually have it in a coconut milk based soup. I have always wanted to try making it into a pulled pork like thing. Sounds like a quicker way to get pulled pork
Wow, I was surprised at how unknown tempeh was. I've been eating tempeh reubens from festival food trucks for 20 years at this point, and I'm not even vegetarian! It's sometimes really shocking to me how things can be so different country to country (or even in the same country!) (I'm in the US, by the way.)
Ooh would love to see further exploration of free from style products! I'm allergic to milk, egg, soy, peanuts and tree nuts so finding workarounds for certain items/cooking techniques has been quite a learning curve 😅
The sad thing is that a lot of people think that intentional abuse is common in the factory farming industry when any abuse would ruin the product. They also see death spasms and think that they indicate that the animal is suffering and not that the animal is actually unconscious and death throes are uncontrollable actions.
If you’re vegan you don’t want to eat meat, yes, but for a lot of vegan it’s rather for ethical reasons and not because we don’t like the taste. Most vegan grew up eating meat and dairy, so it can be quite nostalgic trying to cook your favorite childhood comfort foods with imitation meat. I think that is a concept a lot of non-vegans don’t understand, I don’t want to eat a dead animal, so having the option of cooking something similiar my mom used to cook for me is very nice 😊
I gave up meat 44+ years ago, not because I didn't like it - oh how I did like it - but as a response to the cruelty of intensive animal husbandry. I have never looked back, but every now and then I do fancy eating something that gives me the texture of meat between my teeth. Most products have been disappointing, a scant few have hit the spot but then they’ve gone out of production. The only solution has always been to cook meatless recipes from around the world. My meals are never boring and you should see my vast worldwide herb and spice collection! The excess (overly large packets) are available free upon request 😊
giggling from all these tempe pronunciation 😁 as an Indonesian who used to eat tempe almost everyday, I loved it so much I could eat it steamed without any seasoning we also make a dish called "gudeg" with unripe jackfruit
I genuinely found it interesting that in the west, tempe is looked at as this trendy meat substitute when just as mike said, tempe is used as a meat complementary thing. Like meat and tempe combine is good and tasty. And tempe is genuinely the most inexpensive protein in Indonesia.
Also a trick we use is tempe fried thin is basically protein chips. Genuinely try it. You won't be disappointed.
Basically wether you a vegan or not. Try tempe. Think tempe as a something else that is hybrid of meat and vegetables.
It's so freaking delicious! I only see some people here in the West under seasoning or under cooking it sometimes. I've been eating it for years and am laughing a bit with peoples reactions.
I don't know why it really irk me, if someone market tempe as meat substitute/alternative.
Because since i was kid i learn it as a plant base protein, not substitute or alternative.
Just call it as it is, a plant base protein.
The reason why us SEA uses tempe as complementary rather than substitute is because (imo) our tolerance to spice and how we cook our meals with those spices.
people i know from the west said that switching to vegan/vegetarian is a "trendy" thing they do, thus having the fat from meat makes them crave that sensation/ taste. Also the meme of "salt is too spicy" rings kind of true to the western
Yeah I was so confused, I really don't think tempeh fits into a category of meat sub at all.
Its upset me when ppl in western cooked them as 'meat subtitue' rather than tempe itself. They need to learn cook a tempe dish, not a meat subtitue dish with tempe.
Anyway garlic seasoned fried tempe (tempe bawang) superiority💪
As a vegan, I often hear the argument that Barry put forward at the end, the "If you're vegan why do you wanna eat meat" thing. My personal reason for not eating animal products is ethics, not taste, we all know that meat is delicious but I don't find the trade of life for taste to be worth it, so we try and get it wherever we can. As for marketing, I don't really think from a business perspective that calling them "Pea and wheat protein slices" would sell well at all.
Also, calling it a burger/sausage/milk/whatever is really helpful for quickly telling the consumer how it can be used and probably how it can be cooked
Additionally, I think that his opposition to vegan meat substitutes trying to substitute actual meat ignores vegans/vegetarians of different cultures who would still like to make their meat-forward cultural dishes. I think it’s also generally silly to just think people would eat nothing that they used to eat just because it had meat in it, like comfort foods etc ?
So are you the target consumer for lab grown meat? What I dont understand is what ethics are you subscribed to? nothing can die for me to eat it? Then why not drink milk since it doesn't hurt the cow to produce that? and eggs? If you're upset about farming practices then buy from responsible farmers. Good farmers still kill though right? What about honey? Thats the problem with veganism there are so many normal alternatives like vegetarians but instead you have to go extreme to stand out and then stand on your high horse and preach about how you're so ethical. Now you're pushing a bunch of nasty fake meat on people.
@@cricket9928 just my personal opinion when it comes to meat vs meat substitute and being korean. I have not yet found a meat substitute that can imitate Bulgogi, galbi or porkbelly without a lot of texture compromises. I'm not against change after seeing how it's done I enjoy kimchi fried cauliflower rice but when the mouth feel is all wrong it from the original it gets really hard to desire it personally and that's when I start questioning why would you want something that clearly doesn't have the flavor or texture.
@@deannamartin799 Exactly. It's really helpful for older folks like my parents who are trying to eat less meat. It's a lot more accessible to your average consumer because its terms they are familar with.
Dairy alternatives next please guys, it’s brutal trying to find nice ones! 😭🙏
Absolutely agree
Lactose intolerant 😂
Great shout!
@@SortedFoodamazing🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤
@@SortedFood Thank yoooou 🥹
As someone who has followed you for about 7 years, and were a vegan for the first 5 of those. As a response to Barrys initial statement about just replacing with some vegetables etc. Most vegans are not vegan because they dislike the taste or texture of meat, hence having something thats tries to mimic meat can be very nice. Its also very nice when you're a new vegan to have some familiar textures or flavours. Not to mention that most vegans today get the main bulk of protein from meat substitutes (especially for new vegans). TL;DR a lot of vegans like the flavours and textures of meat but dont want to eat it for whatever their reason is. Meat substitutes can be a great way for them to achieve their goal of not eating meats.
All love ✌️
In addition: meat alternatives often behave similar to meat when cooking. When I went vegan, I had about 15 years of cooking experience with meat-dishes. Without meat alternatives, I would have needed to learn a ton new recipes in one go and how to make beans et al tasty. Thats a huge hurdle for amateur cooks. Instead I was able to cook basically the same SpagBol, Fried Rice or Chili as before and learned how to love plant proteins more gradually.
I agree. I liked the taste of meat but now how it ended up on my plate so this way, you get the taste but not the suffering that is usually attached to it.
Can't believe this still needs explaining to meat eaters
Tempeh and seitan are hardly the "latest" meat alternatives, they've been around for years in the UK.
As a die hard prolific meat eater who has a diesel van and gas guzzling 4x4 who refuses to recycle, I haven't heard of either. Nor will I be eating it.
Seitan has been featured on this channel a few times before as well
@@markjones1337cringe
@@karimchahine4883 you sound vaccinated, I bet you believe everything the government tell you just like a small child who believes everything mummy and daddy say.
@@markjones1337 That's nice dear, now run along the adults are talking.
I have to respectfully disagree with Baz on this one!
I absolutely love the taste of meat, I adore it - but ever since working with animals, I just couldn't bring myself to eat meat anymore.
So finding things that are made from plant-based sources that try to replicate meat as close as possible is the best thing for me!
And I think the Squeaky Bean pastrami is absolutely delicious, I'm so sad you didn't like it!
exactly, he missunderstood why many people are vegan... alot like meat they just dont want to eat it...
Absolutely love the Sorted guys, but as a veggie, I must say, I *do* want meat replacements to act as meat! I didn't give up meat because I didn't like it!
This is my issue with pretty much all their vegan themed vids. Their refusal to understand the place of meat substitutes is becoming really annoying to me. The argument of "just use vegetables" is fair as they can pick real meat, but to people who have chosen or been forced to stop eating meat despite liking the taste and texture the existence of substitutes can be a real blessing, especially mid-week.
@@joacimunicorn Nah but thats the point, there is so much out there u can make without meat I dont understand the obsession with meat alternatives, if u want meat it it, if u want to be veggi or vegan then dont, its that simple.
@@Gandorhar you are right that there is definitely a lot that can be done with veggies etc., alone! But I think that this doesn’t engage with the main argument here: there are a whole host of reasons why someone may choose not to eat meat that have nothing to do with taste. Personally, I grew up eating meat and loved it. I gave it up as an adult, but that doesn’t mean I don’t miss the taste, convenience etc. of eating meat. The main point of all of this is just to say that I don’t think it’s as simple as boiling it down to ‘if you like meat, eat it’/‘if you’re veggie/vegan, then you shouldn’t want to eat meat’. Someone could be lactose intolerant and still miss the taste of milk/want something that mimics the purpose and taste of milk in everyday life. I’d say the same idea goes for those who don’t eat meat.
YES THIS! Meat is freaking delicious and also horrible. I stopped eating it for the animals period. Doesn't mean I don't remember the taste and crave it.
@@chloeg2721 Exactly! or you might want an easy way to adjust a recipe to make it vegetarian/vegan by using a meat replacement that mimics meat so that it doesn't become something completely different.
Baz: "If you're a vegan, you don't want to eat meat" sure, there are some people who don't eat meat b/c they don't like the taste/texture of meat, but there are also people who don't eat meat for ethical, religious, financial, environmental, and medical/health reasons; and there are households with mixed dietary needs
I find this argument so dumb, because of what you said. I like these alternatives, because they try to replicate something that I really like the taste of, but without killing animals to make them
I'm the dietary restriction side. Had to give up red meat and pork back in 2018 and I miss out on so many charcuterie goodies 😢 I still do poultry and lean meat like deer but boy do I miss a good ol BLT. I'll have to look for This lol
Was about to say this. While I don't fall under any of these categories I think it is really important to recognise that there are other reasons as to why people don't eat meat other than they don't like the taste/texture! Thus I think it is totally legitimate wanting to have something that tastes/feels like meat but isn't.
Wow... Its baffling how this channel talks about vegan/vegetraian alternatives.
Nearly every Challenge or Video with the 'Normals' has something in it with meat. And Baz said its been 5 years since he last tried some these alternatives...while having a job on TH-cam cooking channel. Damn thats narrow minded and this commentary of him proofed that
Well said! 👏
Funfact! In my hometown, Young Green Jackfruit is celebrated on it's own, if you don't see the appeals of Jackfruit as meat subtitute, you should try them as veggies/fruits. Like in 'Lodeh' soup, Gudeg (very specific local dish from my hometown). So in southeast asia, I can definitely see Jackfruit being celebrated on its own 🎉
Tempeh and seitan are absolutely delightful to work with, especially if you accept them for what they are instead of shoehorning them into an application that is intended for meat.
fun fact: in Bali, some vegan restaurants has been using Tempeh as an alternative to meat for quite some time for dishes with lots of sauce. and i really like it even though i normally wouldn't.
personally i prefer slicing them thinly then fry them after they're battered. the dish is named "Tempe Mendoan" and its highly recommended for snack times over at my hometown.
That's super interesting!
Crispy tempeh is freaking delicious!
Thinly sliced tempe fried to crisps is basically protein chips.
Genuinely try sliced that tempe thin like you slice a potato when making chips. Add a bit of cassava flour in water with seasoning and you made a Indonesian snack.
Just to elaborate more to this, there are two kind of fried battered tempeh. One is fried tempeh which got crispy batter and slightly thin sliced tempeh. The other one as mentioned, mendoan is a little bit more soggy, not as thinly sliced. Fried tempe or tempeh usually eaten with bird eye chili while mendoan served with sweet soy sauce and chopped chili.
We've had it in stores in Oregon for >20 years. The good stuff hasn't made it down South yet, but if you see the Italian flavor, especially by Surata soyfoods, give it a try. Bolognese, sausage scrambles, and lasagna are all great vehicles for it.
We're using tempeh as the main ingredient in our main course (michelin starred). It's a really fun and unique ingredient, and you don't see it a lot in scandinavian cuisine
If you were looking for a soybean-based substitute for surströmming you should have gone with natto :-D ...
@@markstyles1246 good luck getting any scandinavian that’s not into Japanese culture and cuisine to eat natto xd
@@10Jones01 I don't know. They already eat surströmming and salmiak liquorice so... :-D
Think its important to consider that whilst Barry has said don't try to be meat/just each vegetables, often you don't have the time to make a dish full of 'natural ingredients' and sometimes you do just want a kind of cheat meal/something easy. Also got to consider that these aren't necessarily trying to appeal to every market (i.e. meat eaters). Whilst they are comparing to meat, if you've never had meat your not going to do that. You just use it as an alternative ingredient. Also got to consider the protein content in these things, as its very hard to get enough protein without alternatives for me!
All about the protein for me too! Considering that its beans and tofu all the way
On the flip side, as a meaty person who wouldn't mind adding more non-meat into my diet I gotta tell ya, all these products that say they're something akin to meat (or cheese, eggs, etc.) and then taste nothing like it just depresses me and makes me want to avoid it all together. I would be a thousand times happier if I was given a product that was fast and easy to use and tasted great. "Savory Sliced soy patties with a kick of pepper" or "Spicy Jackfruit tacos" doesn't bring me to that same depressed "I'm not eating meat" thought. And I do absolutely think these products are aimed at me, they're like a crutch... a tease... "See, you'll be fine here, you can still have sandwiches and carbonara". =P
@@DawnChatman completely fair perspective too! Think Barry was almost saying for some of them (not all of them to be clear!!) just don’t make them at all, but clearly has a place in the market to tempt meat eaters and to fulfil needs of non meat eaters 👍
@@DawnChatman I agree and in my experience the more processed the meat-containing product that is being imitated, usually the better the non-meat options. My favorite example of this is chicken nuggets that you buy at the grocery store, at least where I live there are several vegetarian products that imitate the chicken nugget taste and texture so well that I couldn't tell the difference if I had to do a blind taste test.
@@DawnChatman I disagree that it is aimed at you... I think it's great that you want to eat less meat, but if you want pulled pork you will just eat pulled pork. Non-meat eaters won't so even if these are second best, they're what we have. I see a lot of meat eaters that want the marketing changed because its not meat, but as someone who doesn't eat meat.. I sort of want to know what it is trying to replicate not just say "piece of soy". There are so many ways to flavour things... liquid smoke for "bacon", poultry spice for "chicken" etc.
Like I said it's great if the processed alternatives do tempt you, but you can always just do a veg. dish for meatless days.. so many good ones like pasta dishes (not carbonara :P) , or general tso tofu... I could go on but you get the gist I'm sure!
Meat alternatives were an important step for me learning to eat/cook vegetarian because I didn't need to learn any more skills and it would stop me feeling left out when everyone else was eating sausages, burgers etc.
That's a very big part that is ignored food is social so wanting a veg burger at a BBQ is very understandable
But actually. I have sold 2 types of burgers at 2 restaurants. One was a roast beetroot and goats cheese burger. And a burger that mimics meat. The beetroot one sold way better. Because non-veggies ordered it aswell. I wasn't trying to be meat but made an excellent dish
@@IrmaU94you're right that the veggie option doesn't need to match meat in flavour but it was burger shaped and called a burger so the idea that veggie dishes shouldn't copy meat products and need to be completely their own thing still applies that the meat eaters saw it recognised it and thought sounds nice I'll give it a go etc
As by sorted standards your beetroot and goats cheese burger shouldn't have been called a burger and instead called a sandwich and that is what we're saying is wrong
It is good to have veggie options that call themselves the meat product to help people fitting in at social events and ease family members into cooking for their vegan child etc
@@louise102nd might be because 'beetroot and goatscheese hockey pick shaped thing in a sandwich' doesnt really sound appetizing.
@@louise102nd no wait i understand you but i think calling it a burger is fine. I didnt say beef burger or chicken sandwich. I think beet burger is okay and i dont know how to call it otherwise
Love the video guys! One comment though, not sure I agree with Baz comment on saying that vegans don’t want to eat meat. I get what you’re saying but I wouldn’t say that is always the case, a lot of vegans have enjoyed meat and enjoy taste etc. of it but don’t want to eat it for ethical reasons, so I do think that trying to replicate peoples fave things whilst still being vegan is a good thing ! (Not saying they taste perfect but I appreciate what they’re trying to do!)
Yeah, i'm not a vegan but i appreciate the variation. Also most meat espacially sausages are more processed then the vegan alternatives so i dont think there is anything wrong with them looking the Part too🤷♂️
Takes just a millisecond of thought to work out why some vegans would sometimes want to eat meat-like food, even for those of us who haven't spent over a decade working in food media 🙄
I'll add that I can not eat meat because I lost the enzyme that breaks down meat due to a virus. I am not vegetarian for any reason other than that... so sometimes it's very nice to have a comfort food (like a good sandwich) or 'bacon/pancetta' in my pasta.
Actually vegans don't eat meat 100 precent out of ethical concerns not because of anything else, because veganism is an ideology it has 0 to do with allergies or illnesses etc
Yeah if it weren't for the moral hang ups I have I'd be eating rare steaks again, but surprise I still want a burger or chicken sandwiches. I don't cut out meat because I hate it, that shit is delicious.
As someone who has been vegetarian and then vegan for more than half of my life, I have to say while a lot of these have been around for a long time it is great to see them openly available in our everyday supermarkets and reasonably priced. Funnily enough the only thing that I missed was good deli slices but seitan has that covered. Come on boys bring on dairy alternatives and part two with banana blossom fish and king oyster mushroom calamari along with the humble tofu. Actually make that a whole episode the boys react to tofu 5ways, silken tofu in tempura batter to Korean fired chick’n.
My white whale was jerky because living in the south we had so many homemade and local ones. Pleather (I know the name isn't pleasing) is the best texturally and taste wise. Jerky Y'all is a close second and had better flavor, but a soft texture. If you like OG style do the first and if you like softer jerky do the latter.
I have been a vegetarian for five years, but grew up eating meat, do I miss it yes and when on occasion I go back and try meat it tastes crazy animally, so for me the vegetarian substitutes hit the spot! I love the squeaky bean ‘meat’, I also love a good mushroom burger or tempeh and tofu! Think they all have their own place and with a good chef they can smash the most amazing veg!
Completely amazed you guys have never seen tempeh before 😆
some people use king oyster mushrooms to sub out pulled pork. you 'pull' the shroom with a fork and then cook it, add a bit of bbq sauce and it looks like pulled pork and the texture supposedly works as well
It has a better chew to it, being a mushroom
why try to fake anything, just eat it as is
@@helenswan705 i personally don't think of the pulled mushroom as faked. It still tastes like mushroom with a bbq sauce and isn't advertised as pulled not-pork.
things like beyond meat or the impossible burger are faked imo.
@@serenetiv I am sure you are right, the mushroom will win through! I am objecting to 'calling' it pork.
@@helenswan705 oh absolutely! It would also cost an arm and a leg if they'd call it not-pork xD
One thing you're skipping is price, and I certainly find this an important thing to keep in mind.
If the alternative is a vegetable (e.g. something made from peas), and its price isn't competitive with actual meat (which needs to be given vegetables for a long time), then I really don't see it taking off outside of niche markets. When you have to pay MORE for a vegetable based meat alternative, you won't get the masses to buy it.
Like with oat milk. It's ground up oats and water. Yet it's somehow often more expensive than cow milk which is made by having a cow eat far more oats and drink far more water than what goes into the same amount of oat milk.
Or worse - insects. Insects are animal protein, extremely cheap to farm, yet they often cost 10x what normal animal meats cost.
Case in point is tempe. That thing is the Indonesian staple of broke college kids. High protein, inexpensive and taste good.
@@peacechan4500 What does it cost in the UK?
Another thing to note about insects is that they're chock full of parasites and due to their size it's impossible to process the bodies individually to remove any of them.
Also they say they have all this protein, but it's 99% contained in their indigestible chitin shells so it's completely unusable by the human body.
@@MrMartinSchoulast I heard is expensive because they market it as a meat substitute. It's genuinely not
Yes! The deep dives and analyses NEED price information included. Meat, dairy etc. alternatives will never catch on so long as they're marketed as niche, expensive lifestyle foods.
I love squeaky bean! I’ve been vegan 10 years and the whole ‘vegans don’t want meat’ isn’t true😂 we want the flavour and texture without it coming from an animal
This exactly! ☺️
This!!! And I'm fine with it not being as good as the real thing as at least this way something isn't butchered and given the worst life imaginable for better flavour
Exactly. My reason for trying to be fully plant-based/vegan is not because I don't like the taste of meat.
As a cooking channel, the boys should appreciate that sometimes people want to cook their recipes but have to swap in a meat alternative. For me, the allusions to real meats is just helpful for knowing what to sub into a recipe that will hit a similar mark. Most vegetarians and vegans aren't going to be able to tell the difference or even think to try, because for many they haven't eaten this stuff in years if ever!
i have a question, what if it was found that plants feel pain and know about it what would you do then ?
Seitan is used as stuffing in Laphing it's a Tibetan dish. Laphing is really popular in Delhi and Nepal as Street food
Hi! A pointer: vegans and vegetarians, such as myself, can want to eat meat alternatives. 😀 I didn't go veg because I hated meat, only of ethical reasons. Loved you trying these substitutes! ❤
As a possible follow-up on this episode I'd like to challenge the food team:
A blind test of three rounds of three dishes each. Each round focuses on a different 'star' of a dish. One where the taste of meat/fish is the focus (i.e. steak) , one where it's in combination with the rest (i.e. a bolognese sauce) and the third round where it is primarily there for texture.
In each round there are 3 dishes, one with the actual meat/fish, one where the price is comparable but instead of meat/fish it's the alternatives and the third is where price is no concern and the 'best' alternative is used.
As the blind testers I'd imagine Jamie and Ebbers are a good combo. A chef and a normal+, who's known to love his meat.
I would call it an "information deprived" testing, as I don't think that the main "problem" is sight. The main problem is that you expect meatiness from a meat alternative. I think a meat eater would still notice the difference between a beef burger and a bean patty burger, but one would not instantly try to evaluate the bean patty based on the beefy one without the knowledge that it is supposed to be a substitute. You instantly ask yourself "is this AS GOOD AS" if you know it is supposed to be an alternative. Otherwise, you would probably just state that the to are different. You could still have a favourite, but the knowledge behind would not affect your judgement.
It would be great to get someone on the sorted food team who is a vegetarian to review these products.I love you guys and love hearing mikes passion for chicken and barry's love of salmon(even though im veggie )but it would be great to get a non Meat eaters opinión about new veggie options
good point
Agree!
frozen jackfruit is available in the UK and it's better than the tinned I find.
I was a vegetarian for 12 years, and while I have never regretted eating meat again, I do think it's time I started integrating things like tofu and tempeh into my diet again, not as meat substitutes like I used to, but as things that are delicious on their own. Gods know I can always figure out more things to include in noodles.
I'm trying to do the same for my diet, just celebrating ingredients as they are. It's not going to replace meat directly, but it doesn't have to if it's good.
I was vegetarian til Dr said if you want to get well please eat meat again...but still do ear those as items itself like you would ear chickpea curry etc...def agree worth it...only eat fake meat for the fake steaks cos they amazing or when at my friends house who is a vegetarian
On jackfruit, in Indonesia Nasi Padang one of the dish is jackfruit curry!
I think it's important to think of some of these as source of proteins or plant based protein instead of meat alternative. Cause it does give a very different connotation
An episode of pass it on with the alternatives would be fun I think
YES!! I hope this means more plentiful veg protein options on Sidekick. Thank you for doing this. Jackfruit is not my favorite but I love Tempeh (Temp-ay). It's best in my opinion when it's cut into small cubes to get crispy all around. Seitan is so good. I would love to see the guys make it - there are recipes where you can add like chickpeas or other things that give it diverse textures. Thanks for coming out on the side of people trying to be more plant-based!
Love these plant-based reviews! I grew up with my dad making "tempeh salad" where he basically combined egg salad ingredients (mayo, pickle relish, spices, etc) with crumbled tempeh. I still love it today and now, I pan-fry the tempeh bits first to dehydrate and crisp them before adding to the salad. It's honestly an incredible vegetarian or vegan (using vegan mayo) dish!
This sounds so tasty. Definitely gonna try it.
Very interesting. Would never have thought of that.
one point against barry's "vegans dont want meat" - for a lot of vegans its not necessarily the taste they dislike, rather the environmental, political and animal welfare catastrophes that follow from industrial farming. meat alternatives strive to offer alternatives for those who crave meat and chose not to eat it:)
Agree. The team are showing their ignorance here.
Nice video! As someone who recently turned vegan, I will say that going from vegetarian to full vegan was surprisingly easy. Cheese and eggs the most difficult for me to give up, but at the end of the day, I'm more than willing to sacrifice a few creature comforts if it helps out with reducing the strain the agricultural industry puts on our world.
Tempeh is great, as is seitan. They absorb flavour well and add a nice texture in dishes like stir fries and burgers. They also go very crispy when pan-fried. Another great one not in this video is vegan chicken pieces. Vegetarian butcher and This are good brands. They have a fibrous and slightly chewy texture that I think replicates chicken breast very well. An advantage is that products like these are bullet proof: with chicken breast you're always worrying about overcooking it, but these go nice and crispy when cooked on medium flame and stay tender inside. Chicken breast is much harder to get right!
Vegan cheese is definitely not there yet with a lot of brands, but I've had very positive experiences with a brand named Gondino for faux-parmesan: it has a really nice nuttiness and savoury flavour. Can be a 1 to 1 replacement for parmesan in pasta and salads. Maybe a video on that would be interesting?
For those who find it difficult to give up meat, try some of these! I absolutely agree that not everything has to try to copy meat, but many people grow up with the flavour and learn to love dishes centered around meat. It's logical that people get cravings for KFC, steak of charcuterie. Eating less meat and and animal products (or giving them up altogether) does not mean you can't eat nice food anymore, you just have to learn about new ingredients and how to use them.
If you're curious about the climate impact the production of meat and other animal products, check out Our World in Data: it outlines the climate benefits very well in several articles (75% less land needed to feed the world!).
But most of all: keep trying new things with food, and be aware of what's needed to get it to your table.
Highly recommended "Honestly Tasty" as another vegan cheese brand. Their stuff is excellent! Especially the brie and blue alternatives.
I've tried a couple of the things in this video and I always find myself going back to black beans.
I love tempeh! Use it about once a week, even though I'm not a vegetarian. Nice to see it did well w/Mike and Baz.
As someone who can't eat beef due to a health problem, and not as a choice, you start to lose the "taste memory" of the real thing. I get ground beef alternative because then I can use my mom's pasta sauce and sloppy joe recipes to make the "same" dishes, because sometimes I just get tired of ground turkey and chicken. Some are really good and I don't hardly see a taste difference in my brain anymore. I can understand them struggling, but it's not always about the not wanting to eat meat. Sometimes it's to find a way to balance fitting into the family bbq or a family event, or to find a joy or comfort in something familiar that you can't do any longer. Seeing a plate of fried "fish" can be more comforting than fried mushrooms.
In Indonesia, jackfruit is considered one of the ingredients to become a savory meal instead of using it only for dessert. Gudeg is pretty much a dish centered around jackfruit and then curryish jackfuit, another dish that when cooked right/ properly is a really good side everyday dish.
Need to be unripe jackfruit though
Yes it is
@@peacechan4500 ya kan tadi dibilang klo yang "meaty" texture yang unripe
Baz as a vegan we dont want to harm animals and the environment, it's not that we dont like the flavour and texture!
As a vegetarian who very much enjoyed meat when I was younger, I like when we find alternatives that replace and imitate the meat (hence the pulled pork, chicken names etc which is usually prefaced with jackfruit, tempeh etc) and its nice to find those dishes that we can say are 'our chicken' dishes or whatever it might be so we can have a cruelty free diet but with similar tastes of when we had meat. I don't know why people get so mad over how we name it 😂
I'll take a stab at this, if you don't mind!
First, and most importantly, I think the most important thing is that you get the nutrition you need, and you like how it tastes. Those are the most important things.
My opinion on this comes mainly from that second bit, the part about it tasting good. I think that food ingredients can reach greater heights when treated for what they are, instead of trying to imitate something else. Sure, a well executed imitation meat can be good. But I think you could make something better with the same ingredients if you weren't trying to mimic meat.
Some other considerations, in no particular order.
- Meat is expensive. Non-meat protein sources are less expensive. Imitation meat adds some of that expense back in because of the additional processing needed to make it more like meat. For cost conscious folks, this could be a big deal.
- Labeling is important. If the package says "meat!" in big letters, and then discloses "made from plants" in tiny print at the bottom, that's misleading. Misleading labels are almost always a problem, regardless of context. Plants react to cooking differently in a bunch of ways, which could, if someone wasn't paying attention to what they were buying, ruin the food they are trying to make.
- Definitions of words change over time. There will always be people who resist that change. If such a person defines a hamburger as "a disk of ground beef", they are going to disagree with a food item that claims to be a hamburger without the beef.
- We have not yet arrived at the place where imitation meat is as good as actual meat (imo, your mileage may vary). A bad first impression can lead to someone giving up on the underlying ingredient(s). Imagine someone who had a bad "burger" made of chickpeas, who will then never try hummus because they think it'll be gross. or the way many people feel about tofu (which is a fantastic flavor sponge, great for saucy stir-frys).
I do see the other side if this... If your friends are having a cookout, you still want to be able to participate. Meat is tasty, and people who can't or won't eat it could miss the experience. I think imitation meats are probably a good thing overall, they're just not for me.
You guys should make more video about tempeh. It's a wonderful ingredient to cook. My favorite way to cook it is just wet marinade it with garlic, salt, and crushed coriander seed or just dry marinade with salt and white pepper, and then deep fried it.
If you want to do more of these PLEASE do Impossible 'Beef' mince. It was a MAJOR factor in me becoming vegetarian recently and I'm trying to move to vegan. It's so good. If you want a recipe to try with it, make your Dan Dan Noodles from (I think?) CBA to Cook because that's literally what I did! I've made it countless times and it's too good. I love it so much. Like others have said I'd love to see dairy alternatives too, as that industry is... Difficult.
so nice trying to move to a vegan diet or a whole vegan lifestyle. hope u reach it soon 💪
@@LSGIEddi Thanks! I hope I can too. 😊
When Barry said "if you're a vegan, you don't want to eat meat"... I think it depends on why you chose to become a vegan. Personally, I would be doing it for health reasons, then environment. Instead of using "meat alternatives", I mainly tried using lentils and beans to make patties, etc. Couldn't do the Jackfruit, but I did try the pulled mushroom and it was amazing. Back on white meats now as I need to research more.
I really appreciate these deep dives into a foodie category. How about doing something like this for yoghurt, honey or chocolate?
As someone who has never eaten pork in my life, I enjoy jackfruit tacos and "pulled pork" sandwiches. Tempeh is amazing and everyone should try it. It is not a meat substitute in most of the world, but often used together with meat, like tofu. If you really are looking for a "meat substitute" I would say Sietan is the way to go.
It’s cool that Sorted is checking this stuff out but you guys haven’t exactly been given the best meat alternatives available. Also, things like THIS bacon of course are going to taste bad raw 😒
What are your favourites?
@@SortedFood Thanks for asking! 🙂 Too many to name but just looking at my last shop; Tesco Cumberland-style bangers, The Bury Black Pudding Company’s vegan black pudding, Beyond Burgers, Vivera Plant Chicken Breast, Quorn Vegan Chicken-Free slices, even Quorn Fishless Fingers or Green Cuisine Chicken-Free dippers if your craving that nostalgic junk food fix.
I do cook with plain tofu, tempeh, seitan, pea-protein, soy protein and textured vegetable protein much more often, but that’s because I know what I’m looking for when I go to the supermarket. A lot of people don’t.
I think Mike made a great point. Pretty much anything served unprepared, raw and unseasoned is going to taste bland. A lot of enjoying vegan alternatives is just trying out different products in different dishes to see what works.
For example, if I was making a cheese and pickle sandwich I’d use Cathedral City’s plant-based or Applewood’s vegan block. On a cheese board I’d use one of Tyne’s. In a cheese sauce I’d use a mixture of Violife’s Epic Mature and whatever other ones I fancy on the day.
@@ascendancy425 , I also love that you asked . The line from Impossible is very tasty. In North America there is a line from Gardein that are great (including a fish patty that is great when fried 😉and served with tartar sauce and chips) Quorn is great. Beyond Meat. Soft cheeses made from fermented cashew are perfect for a cheese board. Applewood is great too.
I love the channel and your videos but I think some of the comments in this video were slightly bias. Vegans don’t eat meat but not because they don’t like the tastes and the flavours but because they don’t want to eat animals. So often these meat replacements give us the flavours and textures we are missing but without having to eat an animal. I really appreciate you guys taking the time to make this video, so I really hope you don’t take this comment as a negative ❤
In Indonesia we have been using Tempe and Jackfruit for a long time for traditional dishes. They taste amazing (especially fresh cold jackfruit.. yummy 😋) and really versatile. You can cook a lot of different things with it. Try searching traditional indonesian dishes using this things and you will love them. 😆
When I worked at Whole Foods (2 iterations ago), we sold a “wheat roast Reuben sandwich.” (Seitan is sometimes called that.) We sliced it thinly, and used it in place of meat, all other ingredients being the same.🤗
I’m glad you mentioned the sustainability aspect, even if only very briefly, because it is a problem for many items in this category.
i think one important thing to note about meat "replacements" is that they don't replace the same nutritional aspects. and when people start using these ingredients to just sub out meat, that can be a concern. plus the ingredients do deserve to be appreciated for what they are, rather than for how well they can imitate meat.
This was the first thing that came to my mind too.
Tempe definitely can substitute meat. Because that thing is the cornerstone of low income Indonesian household protein source with tofu ( or college students).
Eating these amounts of red meat the western sociaty eats nowadays isn't healthy either.
Felt like Mike was trying to be nice (because he's a sweetheart).
But Barry was being honest.
Loving this new format, keep them coming 💛
Thank you! 🙏
Jack fruit are really easy to cultivate and yield so many for a little work. Meanwhile mushroom need special environment and care to produce and not to mention the labor you need to put into.
I think the problem is that as meat eaters who are trying to have more veggie meals we want the vegetables to be celebrated when we don't eat meat.
Conversely, full time vegetarians often do miss meat, and do want their plant based food to attempt to replicate meat.
I completely agree with the comments on this post and, as a vegetarian for ethical reasons, I did find it very frustrating to watch 2 meat eaters complain about how meat substitutes are marketed and made. I love the taste of meat and if more meat-style substitutes mean that I can refrain from eating animals then I’m all for it. I love Sorted and I really enjoy their review videos but I’m not sure they had a place as meat consumers commenting on the need for plant-based meat substitutes. ‘If you’re a vegan you don’t want to eat meat’ - please don’t speak for dietary requirements that you are not part of Barry.
When I was growing up as a second son of dutch-indonesian parents, our family wasn't particularly well-off so we were practically raised on tofu and tempeh as one of our main sources of protein. Luckily our mother is a very imaginative cook.
Years later I'm a professional chef and I regularly use tofu and tempeh in as many inventive ways as I can. They are so versatile they've become favoured ingredients with both guests and servers alike.
Even as a meat eater I must say that Barry is wrong, in him saying that vegans don't want to eat meat. Most don't want animals to die for their food. Some even can't eat animal based products but still would like the taste from time to time.
Squeaky Bean Chargrilled Steak Strips are very good. As a Vegan, Barry, of only 2 years in, I like the taste just not the death and cruelty!
As someone who's really been trying to eat healthy lately but having trouble due to preconceived notions, I love videos like this, even if I can't find most of the more exotic ingredients you guys use (exotic to my palette, at least.)
great video need some more veggie recipes!!
We have hundreds on the Sidekick app if you want to check it out :)
I think the comments on this video already make it clear, we vegetarians and vegans want plant based meat substitutes.
But I'm not sure if the most comments here display why that is.
Recently I went out with a bunch of friends and they recommended we go eat at a vegetarian burger place since at least one of us is vegetarian. During dinner one friend questions me: "so why exactly do you enjoy meat substitutes? Like I get why you're vegetarian, but I eat meat and I don't really crave it that much."
And that's where my brain kinda understood. If you do eat meat on a regular, you don't miss it because it's already there. However, I haven't eaten real meat in maybe 5 years, yet I'm used to eat meat. I ate meat on the daily until adulthood, that's just how most of us grow up. It's habit forming. Going from a 20%+ meat diet to a 0% meat diet is super habit breaking. It makes you uncomfy or unhappy. Being vegetarian shouldn't be uncomfy in any way. Being able to eat the same stuff (in terms of taste) is important.
Now, I've been vegetarian for years and years, why do I still eat meat substitutes?
I mean it's not a regular weeknight thing anymore, and frankly I think the same should go for people with unrestricted diets. Anyway, It's just easier and more sustainable as a human. Think about it. You're on TH-cam, Instagram, Tiktok, whatever, hell.. facebook. You see a recipe you crave. Oh no, it's currywurst. I guess tofu is kinda like sausage, you make some curry tofuwurst. It's tasty. Happy. Next day off. You saw this tasty shepherds pie. What's similar to minced meat? Dunno, lets shred tofu?? This goes on for a few days, weeks even. You ate 4 kilos of tofu, everything is tofu now. Actually, one day you had mushrooms instead of tofumeat.
This gets so boring. There are only so many ways to imitate meaty recipes, and frankly most ways I could think of are tofu, seitan, mushrooms or if you are an actual good cook you come up with some other ideas like bean patties and stuff.
Oh, you didn't notice, did you? Those were already meat-like substitutes because what else should we do? Many recipes are meat based and limiting yourself to only naturally vegan foods might not fit your lifestyle. So, why not? Why not eat pea protein based mince? Why not eat a walnut based burger patty? I still wanna enjoy all the flavours and textures. Being vegetarian or vegan shouldn't mean missing out.
Seitan, be careful with this. It can work great in dry situations or thick sauces. But in really wet cooking it can just turn to complete mush.
That's because Satan doesn't like holy water.
sautéd tempeh, sliced garlic, shalot and chillies (optional), a piece of galangal, kefir lime leaf and add sweet soy sauce and a pinch or salt and pepper.
Can I just say, I'm so happy that you guys actually went into this with an open mind and weren't cruel about it. Also, props to Kush for actually preparing these ingredients as they are meant to be prepared, and doing his best to prepare a tasty dish that makes these ingredients work. I've seen a lot of other youtubers completely missing the mark on how vegan substitutes are meant to be used, or even just slapping random things together and pretending it's what vegans use as a substitute in order to poke fun at vegans. Remember, many of us haven't tasted meat in years, and these ingredients are close enough to what we remember. It's not a massive part of our diet, but it's nice to have here and there.
If it's such a small part of the vegan diet, why don't vegan restaurants have options where fake meat isn't the first ingredient? There's plenty of other ways to get appropriate protein into a meal, like tofu and tempeh which are whole products and not meat alternatives, make THOSE dishes. I want to see try that food.
In Malay cuisine we cook jackfruit in various ways, by putting it into fried doughy balls with jackfruit inside (think dutch bitterballen) and another favourite of mine is in lauk lemak (coconut milk-based gravy with lemongrass, ginger, coloured with tumeric) where the jackfruit is cooked down to a very soft texture. You're right about it being mushy when cooked down, but when it's in gravy it gives a different experience. By the way!! Tempeh is pronounced as 'tame-pé' - tame as in tame animal lol. My favourite way to eat it is by cutting it in long rectangular sticks like chips/fries but even thinner, coat it in tumeric and salt/a little chilli powder, then fry it. delicioussss
Be interesting to get the Nova score for each of these products. I think some of them would be off the scale.
You can just search the Open Food Facts database yourself. For example This isn't bacon has a NOVA score of 4 (ultra processed), compared to Sainsbury's unsmoked back bacon's score of 3 (processed). But that's not the full picture. This isn't bacon has a Nutri-Score of C (average nutritional quality) and an Eco-Score of A (very low environmental impact), whereas the Sainsbury's bacon has a Nutri-Score of D (poor nutritional quality) and an Eco-Score of E (very high environmental impact).
@@kaspianepps7946 I know I can look it up myself. I mean, if I know what a Nova scores is then it's pretty obvious I can work it out. I think it would be a good thing for Sorted to give the Nova score when they are looking at ultra-processed food. I know there are other considerations, too. But I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about ultra-processed foods.
@@bugsygoo You may have seen a creator discuss Nova scores and not realised that the database is free to access - there's a lot of information out there locked behind paywalls.
For a lot of us who haven't eaten dairy and meat in a long time, very quickly you forget what the real thing tastes like and therefore the meat and dairy subs don't need to reach such a high standard as you guys have set in your video.
So even if people who eat meat aren't convinced, a lot of us vegetarians actually love the alternatives because they remind us *enough* of the real thing :)
It would also be interesting to compare pricing with the normal ingredient it was replacing. I like a lot of vegetables in a meal but to buy one of the alternatives for the sake of being vegetarian unless I have a guest with a special diet would not do. Especially with whole grains and legumes I can create good spiced dishes with
I dont think of it as replacing anything! it's just food!
@@helenswan705 yes I agree it is food but they did make dishes that would normally be made with a type of meat and a comparison in cost would be interesting for me.
@@trevorshaw9255 you have more choice there than vegetarians do. Plenty of cheap cuts of meat.
Vegan home cook here. Jackfruit is all about the preparation. With canned unripe jackfruit, you have to squeeze out the excess water. I usually pop out the seeds and also cut off the hardest bit of the core. I like to "toast" mine either in the oven or in a frying pan to dry it out and give it better texture before adding to whatever I'm making. It holds the flavor better like that too. It should resemble soft stew meat (but with a bit of "crust" from the baking/frying) when you get the texture right, which takes a little practice.
you are right, squeeze that water out.
"If you're a vegan, you don't want to eat meat."
Barry, this simply isn't true. As someone who has been vegan for years, I loved meat. It isn't the meat that I don't want to eat, it is the cruelty, abuse, and unsustainability of it all. So your persistent argument that things should not try to be like meat because they won't stack up ignores the fact that for many people, this is the closest we can get to eating something that we love, but, either for health, sustainability, or ethical reasons, can no longer have. It might not be your cup of tea as someone that still eats meat, but I hope you can learn to understand why replacements are genuinely important to people. Vegans didn't stop eating meat because they didn't like the taste.
As a vegetarian who loved eating meat before, I sometimes crave it and in the last few years the alternatives became way better. The are still some things I miss but at least I can have now really good burgers which look and taste like real ones
I really hope the seitan udon dish makes it to Sidekick. Looks delicious!
Coming from the region and culture where jackfruit, tempeh, wheat gluten, tofu, tofu skin, and many other vegetarian/vegan ingredients, I don't understand westerner's weirdness in making them into fake meat/cheese. These ingredients are great cooking ingredients by themselves. Jackfruit curry from unripe fruit is amazing. The fruit is floral, sweet, and so tasty. Tempeh is good just fried crispy with a little bit of salt and spices. I would love to see the chefs/normals try to cook them as they were traditionally cooked in their home country to better appreciate these beautiful ingredients.
Try dehydrating the jackfruit and then using it in a rehydrated format, the texture really does change. An alterntive if you want pulled pork, King Oyster mushrooms. Simply run a fork down then and shred them.
I had a tempeh orange chicken at a vegan restaurant and it was fantastic. Seemed to fry up into nice chunks and the batter probably does a lot to hide any texture differences.
On Jackfruits: I totally agree with finding the best alternative that suits you, however I have to note something on Barry’s comment that “you should just do a mushroom burger instead”
As someone from Brazil, where Jackfruits are a very sustainable fruit and a much cheaper option, sometimes you just can’t get mushrooms because they’re too expensive. So to be honest, I’d like to see the guys try this again (maybe a vegan cooking challenge as well, for some research)!
Wait what, tempeh and seitan are new? In Canada I've had tempeh and seitan regularily for more than a decade. There's a vegan restaurant here that serves an INCREDIBLE chicken and waffles where the chicken is made with seitan.
i dont like bean foods much, but growing up sambal tempe served with nasi lemak is my favourite food
It would be great if you did an episode where you're making seitan from scratch with the WTF method. It really demistyfies it as an ingredient and lets you play around with your own flavors.
The interesting thing is, other than Jackfruit fresh or canned (been here forever) and Tempe (also forever) all the others are pretty much out. Just last week when shopping at one of the local retailers they had put ALL their meat alternatives into clearance bins and no longer carried at all. And while a year ago we had half a dozen or more 'vegetarian/vegan' small dinner shops, we now have only one and passing it through the week for the dark and empty feel of that shop I will say soon there will be none.
Baz and Mike trying to pronounce tempeh is perfect. 😂 Also, I want to try that recipe.
Barry doesn't seem to get it. Imagine you can not eat meat, but want the experience, you don't want a burger of mush, or a mushroom, you want something that acts like a hot dog, burger, bacon or fish fillet.... you want it as close to meat, without all that death. I eat meat, but my husband does not, so when i make a meaty version of a meal, he wants theequivalent but without the meat. Pumpkin katsu is not the same as pork, a mushroom on a bun is not like a burger, especially if you don't like mushrooms! My husband eats many of these things, and enjoys them, but he's also not much of a foodie, but not eating meat for 20 years means he doesn't remember what its actually like, so its close enough to be enjoyable. Also, the jackfruit must have been overcooked if it was mushy, pop it under a broiler to crisp up some bits like carnitas before putting it in sauce.
I totally agree with the statement that these "meat replacements" are often far better when not promoted as a substitute for a particular meat.
Promote them for what they are, a different source of protein.
I don't mind having these products prepared and cooked like the meats they're trying to replace, but they're often set up to fail when comparing "facon" to bacon, for example, instead of just saying "try these delicious smoked breakfast strips".
The other point of failure is that way too often, these alternatives cost twice what they're trying to replace, which is an absolute no-go if you're on a tight budget.
On top of that, as a home cook, I'm going from my familiar meat protiens to having to learn how to prepare something like jackfruit, that I've never encountered before.
So it's a large leap of faith, especially when more expensive than what Im trying to replace.
I'm all for adding new foods to my repertoire, too, but sometimes the bar for entry is just set too high.
I've tried a lot of this stuff and it's often twice the price and half as nice 😭
tofu is way cheaper than meat or just cook up some lentils. bolognese with lentils is epic
It really annoys me when people think that the only reason we veggies/vegans don't eat meat is because they don't like it so why would they want alternatives that look and taste like meat. They never review it as an alternative for someone who is wanting to reduce their meat consumption gradually without going cold turkey on meat
Exactly this!! Easy swaps for my busy brain who just wants to do my same autopilot recipes whilst reducing my meat consumption - it is the most frustrating argument to hear “why call it pulled pork” - because people know what that is and what sort of recipes to do with it
Fresh unripe jackfruit has a better tecture than canned ones. The fresh ones has so much texture. As for the ripe jackfruit, the smell is very pungent. So if you leave the fruit in the fridge uncovered with plastic wrap, quite a lot of your food will likely absorb the smell. I love it as it is but also cooked with plantain im a Filipino turron
That is an unfortunate problem. It would be nice to have a fresh one in the states but it doesn't sound like it would be grown close enough and would only get canned versions.
well they dont grow in the western world and the market isnt big enough to cultivate them here. so far we get them in cans or very rarely "fresh" in an asian market
Would also like to add, as a fellow Filipino: unripe jackfruit is better treated as it’s own thing like a Vegetable instead of a meat alternative. Using it to ‘substitute’ for pork or chicken in a dish won’t work very well because jackfruit has its own flavour profile. Treat it like it’s own protein in a dish that heavily features it, and the jackfruit is excellent, like in curried jackfruit or as part of a salad.
Why is all this replacement stuff still a thing? If anyone chooses to only eat what my food eats, just eat it. Well done, good on ya.
Plants don't need to pretend to be anything else. They are healthy, often tasty, and provide things humans need that isn't in some or all animal bits.
Great and entertaining vid, as always, fellas.
frustrating to watch as someone that's vegetarian - i LOVE the taste of meat but i stopped eating it because i dont want to eat animals. so things trying to emulate meat & having meat-like names is actually very helpful with knowing what to pick. if im trying to make a normal recipe and trying to replace the meat 1 on 1 with a meat alternative, it being called ''fake mince meat'' is very helpful !!
I'm honestly surprised you guys aren't already deep into meat alternatives. I swear all the foodies I know are already using them a ton.
The Green Cuisine fake fish fingers are pretty close, IMO. I think they're made with rice flakes? The regular Squeaky Bean ham isn't bad. I got a chemically aftertaste from This, but only on the thicker side. - Followed the instructions, but I think it needed a bit longer.
Nice to see the sorted crew turn towards sustainability. Wouldn‘t it be a great motto for 2024: sorting sustainably? Imagine the normals bending over backwards in a battle - shopping and then cooking the dish that hurts the planet the least? Or Ben and Kush in: Allotment vs. A lot bought.
Also, if the recipes in the app developed in a sustainable direction, the impact on the planet could be massive.
As a fan of the channel and a vegetarian, I definitely think there’s room for improvement in this video. I appreciate the willingness to try and rate, but some comments rubbed me the wrong way. Yes, we do want meat substitutes, not just stuff that’s veggie/vegan in its own right. By having it formed into a burger or fish-style fillet, it makes it easy to pair it with other foods to create meals. It’s also easy for restaurants to serve it that way. “If you’re a vegan, you don’t want to eat meat” - respectfully, no. I loved burgers. I still love them, they’re just different now (try Beyond Burgers!). Please get a vegan chef on the channel to show some great dishes and you and the viewers can all learn more about what veggies and vegans actually eat and like! And if you guys are ever in Liverpool, I can show you round the best veggie/vegan places. Much love! ❤ Elle
I also meant to add, I really appreciate how you guys focus on minimising food waste and it would be great to feature more veggie/vegan meals every so often to reflect the growing demand for these and also the environmental impact of meat-free dishes. If everyone ate vegan for just a few meals a week, the environment would be in much better shape! And vegan doesn’t mean jackfruit, even beans on toast is vegan.
agree
Whenever the adults in my life see a jackfruit tree with unripe fruit they get excited. We usually have it in a coconut milk based soup. I have always wanted to try making it into a pulled pork like thing. Sounds like a quicker way to get pulled pork
Wow, I was surprised at how unknown tempeh was. I've been eating tempeh reubens from festival food trucks for 20 years at this point, and I'm not even vegetarian! It's sometimes really shocking to me how things can be so different country to country (or even in the same country!) (I'm in the US, by the way.)
me too, tempeh for years, UK.
Ooh would love to see further exploration of free from style products! I'm allergic to milk, egg, soy, peanuts and tree nuts so finding workarounds for certain items/cooking techniques has been quite a learning curve 😅
The sad thing is that a lot of people think that intentional abuse is common in the factory farming industry when any abuse would ruin the product. They also see death spasms and think that they indicate that the animal is suffering and not that the animal is actually unconscious and death throes are uncontrollable actions.
If you’re vegan you don’t want to eat meat, yes, but for a lot of vegan it’s rather for ethical reasons and not because we don’t like the taste. Most vegan grew up eating meat and dairy, so it can be quite nostalgic trying to cook your favorite childhood comfort foods with imitation meat. I think that is a concept a lot of non-vegans don’t understand, I don’t want to eat a dead animal, so having the option of cooking something similiar my mom used to cook for me is very nice 😊
"Garnered? That's a fish, isn't it?" I live for Barryisms and Benuendos.
I gave up meat 44+ years ago, not because I didn't like it - oh how I did like it - but as a response to the cruelty of intensive animal husbandry. I have never looked back, but every now and then I do fancy eating something that gives me the texture of meat between my teeth. Most products have been disappointing, a scant few have hit the spot but then they’ve gone out of production. The only solution has always been to cook meatless recipes from around the world. My meals are never boring and you should see my vast worldwide herb and spice collection! The excess (overly large packets) are available free upon request 😊
giggling from all these tempe pronunciation 😁
as an Indonesian who used to eat tempe almost everyday, I loved it so much I could eat it steamed without any seasoning
we also make a dish called "gudeg" with unripe jackfruit