Happy Thanksgiving!!!! I'm drinking cider laced with Jameson and watching Buffy right now. I thought I'd share my experiences with the Vegetarian Plus Whole Vegan Turkey. That way, it's here for anybody else looking for reviews.
The entire thing comes with one turkey shaped roast, stuffing, and gravy. It's a huge box and the price is around $40 (but it is 4 times the size of a Tofurky).
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| photo from Vegetarian Plus website |
Roast: It's just cooked in foil and no basting necessary. It was pretty moist coming out of the oven. It's also ginormous. 4 lbs. I was incredibly weirded out stuffing it, though. It split on one side and I said to Era, "Hold this so I can stuff the cavity." I never want to say that again. Ever.
Stuffing: I had to add sage, salt, and pepper. It was okay before it went into the oven, but sorta gummy after being baked. Plus, there was way too much to fill the roast.
Gravy: When it thawed, it was weird. The starch completely separated from the broth. When I cooked it, it had the consistency of pudding. Pudding! I don't know what starch they use, but I didn't like how fast and fiercely it thickened. The flavor was pretty okay. Nice and peppery.
Pros
4 lbs
moist out of oven
no basting
comes unstuffed so you can put what you want in it
texture looks freakily turkey-like
Cons
gummy stuffing
gravy pudding
comes unstuffed so you have to stick your hand in a cavity...brr
though the texture looks great, it's not Gardein chick'n scallopini great
Basically, if you are crazy enough to spend 40 bucks on a Thanksgiving main just buy 4 Tofurkys. I think I just want to make my roast from now on.
I'll update with the full meal tomorrow. Hope everybody is enjoying their day.
17 comments:
I hope you're enjoying the day, Mo!
That faux turkey looks so odd, I don't know if I could eat it. Shame about the gravy too.
oh man, but it looked so good! gummy stuffing = sadface, and it sounds like they used cornstarch in the gravy - it doesn't freeze well (arrowroot is better for that) and i can totally see how it separated when thawed. dang!
i can't wait to see all of your other thanksgiving day eats though! today's been a delicious one - and relaxing, too. w00t!
happy thanksgiving to you & Era - and enjoy the rest of your evening (and that boooozy cider. mmmmmmmm!), Mo!
If you're not a vegan (because it contains egg), there is the Quorn turk'y roast. This is what my wife and I had for our first vegetarian Thanksgiving. No regrets and delicious! Not in a fancy turkey shape and doesn't come with gravy or stuffing but quite affordable. We made our own stuffing and purchased some vegan gravy.
Girrrrl, you are welcome to some of my Stuffins. They are never gummy or pudding like.
Thanks for the review, I am glad I didn't buy it. I had my good old Tofurky roast and made my own mushroom gravy, mashed sweet potatoes and mashed regular potatoes and my aunt made some delicious vegan bread stuffing.
Weird! I'd never even heard of this before. The cons certainly seem to outweigh the pros. Oh well.
Thanks for the review, very helpful! I went with the Field Roast "Celebration Roast" and let's just say I'm gonna go back to the Tofurkey next year...
But it's good to try new things sometimes, right?
Thanks for the review. I was thinking on this, but 1) I am FAR too cheap to shell out forty bucks for it, and 2) I just don't think I could handle how turkeyish it really looks. Creepy.
Happy Thanksgiving, Mo! I hope you have a wonderful day.
And OMGs, that thing looks so creepy. ;)
"... I said to Era, "Hold this so I can stuff the cavity." I never want to say that again. Ever."
Oh lord, that made me laugh so hard!
Thanks for reviewing this. The cons are way ahead of the pros, for sure. I'm wondering what market research told them that their customer is looking for this shape on their table? Odd.
I served one of these yesterday, too. I didn't mind it, but we didn't stuff the turkey, we just made the stuffing separate, and served it separate. It's not gummy when you do it that way.
I detest the gravy that comes with it, so we made our own.
They taste dead on like the vegan half chickens, which are about five dollars each, so I'm thinking it might be cheaper just to get a bunch of those and serve them instead. Still, it's nice to have the leftovers for sandwiches.
Best leftover sandwich; leftover vegan turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, bit of gravy all on the bread together. Mmm.
Gina, that's my kinda sandwich!
Happy Thanksgiving again, Mo!
thanks for the review. you are so on top of your game! i've noticed your to do lists aren't alphabetized, though-(guffaw!)
Jen, that made me laugh so damn hard! Yeah, my lists are always mind to notebook so I rarely alphabetize them. :)
I'm intrigued, yet scared. The animal shape creeps me out.. I think that's why I like tofurkey.. it's just a weird oval:)
Our Whole Foods and other grocery stores do not and WILL not carry this in my area. I asked. Where would I buy one of these? IS there a way to order one online?
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