tvp burger blend?
Posted by juliandnick on Oct 22, 2006 · Member since Sep 2006 · 4 posts
i have a recipe book from a vegan restaurant that closed down but that i loved, called veggie works in belmar, nj (in case anyone else knows it). anyway, several recipes for really yummy stuff, like vegan meatloaf, call for "tvp burger blend." i have never seen this (i don't think) in stores. it doesn't say anywhere in the recipes anything about rehydrating it, so i don't know if its the flakes or something else. does anyone know what tvp burger blend is, and where to get it?
in the uk, i used this to make burgers for a long time:
http://www.goodnessdirect.co.uk/cgi-local/frameset/detail/670200.html
i guess the US equivelent would be something like this:
http://www.veganstore.com/index-store.html?deptid=17118&parentid=40&stocknumber=226&page=1&itemsperpage=12
is there a health food store nearby you could look in for a product like this? I know my local bulk food store would have something similar, so thats an option too if there is one nearby. i'm sure this kinda thing is around, if you look in the right places.
if all else, i guess regular tvp crumbles, with the right flavours and spices added (say a little fried diced or dried red pepper, some dried or fresh onion, garlic, chilli powder, and maybe even a splash of ketchup, - i'm guessing, someone wiser can suggest better spices, lol- mixed in?), would substitute in a pinch.
can you work out from clues in the recipe whether or not you would use it dry? for example, if you'd be adding it to other things including a lot of liquid/stock, then it'd most likely mean it'd rehydrate while cooking. perhaps if you post ingredients and method from the recipes, others can help there.
Hi. I have that cookbook too. I think the restaurant didn't close down--his brother-in-law took it over and renamed it Kayla's kitchen or something like that (after his daughter). I haven't been there in two years but the last time I was there it was under the new ownership and had changed its name. (And the service was oh so slow and they ran out of everything.) But still, it was such a great restaurant, and I hope it is still going. For the burger blend--I am trying to remember the name of that mailorder place where they have the burger type tvp/tsp. I think in the cookbook he doesn't mean regular tvp/tsp. My local health food stores don't carry the burger blend products he talks about in his book. I have gotten the burger blend through mail order. (I'm trying to remember the name. I think it's mail order for healthy eating or something like that.) However, I think when he wrote that cookbook there weren't as many meatlike substitutes on the market as there are today. I ordered the burger blend once, but frankly, I think gimme lean and morningstar crumbles and all the other stuff that is readily available at the supermarket produces a superior product (IMHO).
yeah, it is called kaya's kitchen now, but it's just not the same. the menu is a lot smaller and more expensive, and there's no salad bar! no sesame dressing! and also no more vegan meatloaf (no buffalo soldier). so you think if i substituted gimme lean, the recipe would work? i hope so--i really miss that meatloaf.
You can also throw diced, poached seitan into the processor or blender (small quantities) and pulse it to chop it into a "ground" texture-- and it makes just-unbelievably-good burgers when combined with shredded/minced veggies and a starchy binder.
The gimme lean comes in a plain and italian sausage flavor. I have used the plain one to make Italian meatballs following my grandmother's recipe and they come out great. I think it would work very well in a meatloaf recipe and would probably hold together much better than the tvp burger blend. I don't make meatloaf because a key ingredient is onions and, as I've bored everyone with before, my husband can't eat onions. (Don't need onions for meatballs.) But if he could eat onions, I would definitely make meatloaf and I would use the gimme lean stuff.
Good luck and report back!