US imports are now more widespread in the UK, but is it worth seeking Tofurky sausages out? We bagged four packs last month (while it was still summer...) and gave them a try. We grilled, boiled and fried them all to see if they're any better than UK and European brands:
Two of these packs are labelled "Outdoor Grill Approved" so are better suited to the barbecue than the others, and have a higher tofu proportion at the expense of gluten. They're certainly not great BBQ sausages though as they don't have enough fat to stay basted and require constant brushing with oil.
With plenty of ketchup they're fine, but no better than other dry veggie sausages you've enjoyed (or endured) before. Flavour wise, the Italian and Kielbasa varieties have little to differentiate them (tomato vs garlic basically, but hard to detect).
Fried too, they're OK but not fantastic. They're meaty enough and a good fat size, but lacking moisture, and the surface texture is a bit cardboardy.
We've learned over the last couple of years that by far the best thing to do with gluten sausages such as these is to add your own moisture. The first way to do that is to boil the sausages in water with a splosh of soy sauce - giving you sausages full of nice 'meaty' juice. The other way is to chop them up into 1cm chunks and cook them in a tomato sauce, with onions, peppers, chickpeas and potatoes, plus a pinch of pimentón, to make a nice sausage stew. That's what we did with the other two flavours, but neglected to take photos...
Similar Sausages
In terms of comparing the Tofurky Sausages to what we have in the UK already, you'd be looking at other gluten based sausages, but not the German style ones. The closest ones would be Frys Family or VBites sausages.
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| Frys Family |
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| VBites |
Round Up
The Tofurky sausage range is a decent alternative to what's on offer in the UK market, but they're expensive and hard to find. Pick them up if you see them, but don't go out of your way to find them, because they ain't the holy grail of vegan sausages.
For the highest rated vegan sausages (and crispy skins) see our review of Dees Vegan Sausages
Veganoo Score: ★★★☆☆
Tofurky Sausages
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Tofurky Sausages
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The Good: Thick and meaty
The Not-so-Good: Heavy gluten flavour, not very juicy
Here are the ingredients panels from the packs we reviewed.
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| Ingredients: Chick'n Apple |
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| Ingredients: Spinach Pesto |
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| Ingredients: Italian Sausage |
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| Ingredients: Kielbasa |
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You've done them the wrong way aorund! The italian ones are really fantastic boiled, although you need to boil them for longer than it says on the pack. They serve them in hot dogs on street corners in san francisco, slow-boiled italian tofurkey are by far the best for hot dogs in my book!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip Ian. Despite the middling score, these sausages have been on the shopping list ever since, and I agree the the Italian ones boiled are pretty good.
DeleteI feel like the only reason these are 'popular' is because they are American and therefore exotic, and also their stupid kitschy name. The flavours are really nice but the texture is terrible compared to other brands.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right to a certain extent, and it's the same if you try Daiya cheese too..
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