The Vagabond Kitchen - Epiblog

Well, it's breakfast time and we have a chance to taste-test our veggie patty recipes.  You can see the table is set.  Our coffee mugs from Katie offer us something to wet our whistle and cleanse our palates between tastes.  Kathy sauteed up some hash browns with chopped onions and grated brussels sprouts.  Here is how the veggie patties look plated (green hash browns in the upper middle):

(L to R: Recipe 1, Recipe 2 and Recipe 3)

Here are our one-sentence descriptions of each recipe:

#1 - This is a nutty, chewy sausage, most like meat of the three.

#2 - This reminded us of spicy refried beans.

#3 - This is definitely a tofu- or tempeh-type sausage.

Here are our reactions on various characteristics of the three recipes, as cooked:

                                                  #1                        #2                       #3

TEXTURE                              Meaty                 Mushy*               Soft

COLOR                                   Grainy                Dark                    Light

FIRMNESS                             Extra Firm          Mushy*               Firm

FLAVOR STRENGTH           Nutty                  Spicy*                 Bland

FLAVOR TYPE                      Malty                 Peppery                Tofu/Tempeh

*These results could be because we didn't follow the recipe.  We did not sautee the onion and garlic.  If we had sauteed them, the mixture might have been less moist, and potentially less spicy.  We also used canned black beans, which might have introduced more moisture than the recipe intended.

What gave each recipe its unique character?

#1 got its unique texture from the rice, oats, cashews and wheat.

#2 got its unique texture from the onions and beans.

#3 got its unique texture from the tofu and tempeh.

#1 got its unique flavor from the molasses.

#2 got its unique flavor from the garlic and onion.

#3 got its unique flavor from the absence of many herbs and spices.

How did we rate each recipe overall?

                                                          #1                     #2                       #3

AS A SAUSAGE BASE               Kathy: 1           Kathy: 3             Kathy: 2

                                                       David: 1           David: 3             David: 2

FOR FLAVOR                              Kathy: 1           Kathy: 3             Kathy: 2

                                                       David: 1           David: 2             David: 3

Overall, we agree that Recipe #1 has the most potential as a base.  It could be a little moister, which would allow us to add wine or apples or other moist ingredients as we experiment with flavor alternatives.  We can see substituting ground pistachio nuts for the ground cashews.

Overall, we agree that Recipe #3 is a good alternative, which would be much improved with some aggressive herbing and spicing.  It might not be our most frequently used base, but we would use it periodically.

Overall, we agree that Recipe #2 may be difficult to use as a base because of how moist it is.  This makes it difficult to hold its patty shape, and if we tried to add any sort of moist ingredient, it would fall apart.  We could try to remedy this with more chopped oats or whole wheat flour, or we might try to saute the onions and squeeze moisture out of the beans.  David would be willing to experiment more with this, but Kathy doesn't think it has much future.