Beyond "Beyond": The vegan sausage journey reaches a tasty milestone!
TVP? I don't know her.
Hello all,
It’s only been a couple of weeks, but I’m back again with another update on the homemade vegan sausage journey! This round of testing is the best yet, but first some personal news.
I don’t really get into my personal relationships in this newsletter—I figure we all get enough of that micro-celebrity, parasocial performing on Instagram and other social apps. But I do want to confirm something that I’ve been alluding to in some of my previous newsletters:
TVP and I are going through a separation.
I know, I know. This whole journey began with me spouting praise for TVP. But, as with all relationships, you have to be able to grow together. And the fact is that TVP and I have simply grown apart. I’m sure we’ll meet again in the future, but for now, we’re taking a break.
Jokes aside, I am truly excited about how my new vegan mince base is turning out. Not only is the texture getting better and better, but the ingredients taking the place of TVP are easier to prep and more readily available! Gluten flour continues to be the magic ingredient for meaty, bouncy chew, but now the bulk of the base is made from good ol’ cauliflower and fresh mushrooms.
I went into this round of testing so confident that I decided to make two flavors simultaneously, rather than waiting to assess test results before committing to another batch. I revisited the chorizo spice blend from previous tests and did a first round of an Italian sausage-inspired blend. Spoiler: the Italian immediately made it into dinner that night. Better than Beyond!!
An updated method:
By eliminating TVP and transitioning from dried mushrooms back to fresh, I’ve eliminated the soaking step. It’s not that it was hard, but it was yet another “mix and wait” step that I’m glad to bypass. In fact, I’ve developed a simple method that allows all of the ingredients to be added raw!
Seitan generally needs to be par-cooked in order to set the gluten structures. The cooking method can be swapped in and out, but regardless of the path you choose it’s important to reach a certain internal temperature. Any kind of moist cooking is going to allow the mince to absorb water, whereas a dry cooking (such as baking) will dry out the mince, creating a crust. I’ve even seen a number of recipes that have you sauté small meatballs or crumbles right after making them, with the assumption that the interiors of each morsel will cook enough to set the gluten and give you a springy, meaty texture.
I’ve been testing primarily with steaming, which takes about 30 minutes depending on the thickness of the seitan block. That 30 minute cook time is plenty long enough to cook any minced veggie that I’ve added to the seitan, which eliminates the need to pre-cook any of the ingredients.
The main structure of my vegan mince is vital wheat gluten, but in order to achieve a “ground” texture I’ve been including minced onion, minced mushroom, and minced cauliflower. I’ve been mainly testing with the stems of king oyster mushrooms. They are mild in flavor, unlike button mushrooms which tend to be loudly earthy. They are also firm and uniformly white, which ends up making a mince that is much more visually appealing. As you’ve seen in some of my previous tests, brown mushrooms tend to nudge the mince towards—let’s be honest—dog food. As you can see in the photo below, the starting blend is a nice, neutral color!
(I’ve been using my food processor to keep the process quick, but you can certainly mince the veggies by hand if you prefer.)
Once the cauliflower, mushroom, and onion are minced, they get mixed together with grated garlic, the spice blend du jour, fresh aromatics like herbs, and the remaining wet ingredients. The total volume of wet ingredients is less than 4 tablespoons—most of the liquid that hydrates the vital wheat gluten will be pulled out of the fresh minced veggies.
The last step is to mix in the vital wheat gluten. I like to use my hands, since it will make a pretty stiff dough that a spatula or wooden spoon struggles with. If you don’t want to smell like garlic, wear a glove!
For these two test batches, I formed each into a log then wrapped it tightly in parchment. Then I wrapped the logs in foil, to try to block out excess steam from permeating the parchment while it cooks.
Once steamed, they looked kind of like…naked sausage. The lack of casing or seared spots can look a bit odd, but the texture was bouncy!
You can see below that the texture of the chorizo is finer than that of the Italian. That comes from just a few extra pulses of the cauliflower and mushroom in the food processor.
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Hey there! Cooking for friends and family is a love-language, am I right? Well, let’s take that love and spread it as far as we can! Especially now, with an uncertain future looming, I suggest seeking out local nonprofits that support mutual aid endeavors like community fridges and advocacy for your unhoused neighbors? Or perhaps supporting organizations that provide critical support for Trans youth? I also encourage finding ways to support anti-genocide efforts and relief aid in Palestine, such as through organizations like Anera.
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Vegan Italian Sausage: Officially better than Beyond
The Italian sausage was a huge success. I still want to tweak the overall flavors a bit, increasing the fennel and adding some fresh herbs to augment the dried. However, it tasted GREAT.
I sliced a few pieces from the log and crumbled it up before tossing it into a hot skillet. It browned well, and the flavor was savory, herby, and garlicky, with only the barest hint of bready-gluten flavor. It was mild, but it tasted like an Italian sausage! I found myself nibbling happily on the morsels after I took photos. I would never have wanted to do that with Beyond brand Italian sausage—it always has an odd flavor that needs to be masked by a robust tomato sauce or lots of melted cheese. The texture of Beyond is also juuuuust shy of meaty…kind of pasty, really.
I used this batch of Italian sausage for dinner immediately (see the first photo of this newsletter), making an easy pasta with sautéed kale, garlic, diced tomato, and sautéed Italian sausage crumbles. It was as delicious as it looks in the photo!
Interestingly, I tried the sausage again the next day, and noticed that an overnight sit in the fridge intensified the flavors, almost eliminating that bready nuance entirely. Once the herbs are bumped up a bit I think that gluten flavor will disappear completely!
Vegan Chorizo: Decidedly tasty, room for improvement
While this batch of chorizo was definitely delicious, it didn’t have quite the same “wowza” impact as the Italian sausage.
Like the Italian, I think the chorizo needs a bit more of its spice blend. I also found that I didn’t care for the finer grind. It was okay, but compared to the more toothsome, almost juicy texture of the Italian sausage it felt a bit spongy.
I’ve decided that this blend needs to taste more… RED. It’s already got a pleasant, mild heat, so I don’t want to increase the chili powder. I’ll start the next round by increasing the paprika, but I’m also sorely tempted to dabble in the “less accessible” spices like single-varietal ground chilies and achiote paste… All that being said, I think this batch is bound for taco night. Even though there’s room to improve, it tastes mighty fine!
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more cozy recipes and more behind the scenes adventures in my tiny home kitchen laboratory.
Until next week, be well!
xoxo Julia