Review: Tofurky Roast with Herb Gravy

US faux turkey brand now widely available in the UK. The more expensive 'Celebration Roast' has been available for a couple of years, but this more economic roast will be more popular. It comes with stuffing and gravy, leaving you just to provide the roasties and veggies.

We gave it an early December dry run to see if it'll make the grade this Christmas:

It comes frozen, and be prepared - it needs 24 hours to defrost before cooking. It weighs in at 765g and serves 5, which we think is about right (although someone will get the ends...). 

Once defrosted and unwrapped, you'll find a big brownish barrel of gluten and tofu. It's darker than turkey flesh, and looks a bit like ham.

The pack comes with a baste recipe, which you'll need to provide yourself. It's a mixture of olive oil and soy sauce with some chopped sage. This stops the roast drying out, as does wrapping it tightly in foil while it cooks.

Cooking time is just shy of 90 minutes, involving a second basting and the last 10 minutes of roasting with the foil opened up. The roast develops a crispy skin with this short blast of dry heat.

The gravy is an odd American affair, which when mixed to the instructions on the pack is far too thick. It's also paler than British gravy, so you might want to add a splash of red wine, a splosh of soy sauce or smidge of marmite along with some extra water.

The roast is chewy, not too dry, not too moist either though. The skin is pretty tough, so be careful not to overcook this thing, especially in a fan oven. The stuffing is brown rice and breadcrumbs which is quite tasty. The gravy is so so, but can easily be improved. All in though, it's a pretty good product which we'd definitely buy again.

Round Up

Tofurky Roast would make an excellent Christmas dinner. The presentation is great and it would look fab on the dining table. You can even have fun with a carving knife, serving thick slices to your hungry vegan friends or family. In the unlikely event you have some left over, it actually tastes better from the fridge the next day, especially with a dollop of salad cream.

Other US imports such as Field Roast and Gardein have yet to become widely available over here, and Gardein's roast gets good reviews too. British brand VBites' roasts are widely available and comparable in flavour, if not in presentation. Vegusto and Frys Family roasts are also options, although Vegusto in particular has never had good distribution across the UK for some reason.

Just avoid another nut roast at all costs....

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Veganoo Score: ★★★★☆
Tofurky Roast with Herb Gravy
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The Good: Great looking, tasty roast

The Not-so-Good: Slightly tough and chewy

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Footnote: Ingredients

Here is the ingredients panel, nutrition panel and prep panel from the pack we reviewed.

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