How do I use soya mince?

arunadasi

Penguine, I was surprised by your statement that the Price Foundation recommends large qualities of meat as I had never heard of that (I knew they recommend meat; it was the "large quantities" that surprised me); and about them recommending raw meat.

As far as the latter is concerned, it is not true. I did a search on raw meat on the site and all the references were about studies done on cats, not humans! The only thing about humans that cmae up in my search was this:

The Eskimos ate raw meat, which is very healthy, but there is a caveat for modern society: fresh meat often contains bacteria and parasites that can cause illness, and even death, therefore it is recommended by the government that all meat should be cooked well enough to kill all such pollutants.

They DO recommend raw, full-fat milk, and I think that is good. It's what I would prefer if only I had the choice. I can understand that as a vegan the notion maybe disgust you but I love milk, think it is healthy, and would never ever wnat to do without it.

cflwarrior

I bought some soya chunks and decided to make them. I followed the instructions on the packet, tried various methods of cooking them. I tried adding garlic, chilli, soy sauce, combinations thereof... I tried putting it in with other ingredients to make all kinds of dishes.

The result? "Dishcloth" is the word my fianc!e uses to describe the taste. She's a fantastic cook and even she couldn't do anything with it!

I'm positive that in a full blown breakdown of society and as starvation set it, this stuff would keep you alive. Beyond that, it's not for me.

northwest1965

I'm going to make a spag bol using soya mince (dried). I've never done this before. Does it taste like normal mince? Anything I should know before I make it?
I'm not a veggie but have to introduce more soya into my diet.

Gigervamp

It doesn't have a flavour unless you buy the one called "savoury" mince, so it takes on the flavour of what you put with it.

You can rehydrate it with stock or add some marmite or bovril to the water.

Then, just use it as you would use normal mince (no need to brown it first).

ubamother

I use dried soya mince, but only half and half with beef or lamb mince so can't advise on its taste on its own. Be aware it will absorb plenty of liquid. This makes it great if you ever want to make meat-mince based meatballs as they stay firm and dry, and don't fall apart.

My daughter is veggy and she uses this quite a lot - she uses lots of flavourful ingredients and good veggie stock. In general, uses it more with eastern(ish) or mexican(ish) flavours than Italian ones - she uses cumin/coriander/cinnamon as a base for the first, and peppers/chilli/onions etc for the second.

Good luck experimenting.

couteaux

I use it to bulk out my mince dishes but personally am not so keen on it on its own as it can taste a little bland. You definitely need to use plenty of herbs/flavours with it.

If you use it with other meat, it does take on the flavour better and I've not had anyone notice I'm adding it (yet) It might be worth trying it along with meat first 1/2 meat & 1/2 soya and gradually adding more each time you make something.

Let us know how you get on

415SanFran

If you can still eat meat, then I would start out adding it to meat rather than on its own, you will probably not notice it that way.

Have you tried using the soya beans as a side dish?, we quite like them, just use as you would peas.

Heva2015

I'm a vegan so I use this stuff a lot! Just add loads of flavour (stock/herbs etc) as it will soak these up like a sponge.

foxgloves

It may have just been us......but when we tried this, it had a terrifying effect on our insides!!

Fozz

I bought a bag of this in my last shop with a view to using it to bulk out mince dishes, but just wanted to know how much I could add to normal mince without making it too obvious, especially for DH who is very quick to spot anything foreign added to his meat!