Vegetarian Sausages?

[MrZebra]

Does anybody know of any good vegetarian alternatives to sausages? I tried one and they were awful.

I'm not a veggie, but I am trying to cut down on the amount of meat I eat. I've switched over to quorn mince, and occasionally have "southern-style quorn burgers" (those are really good).

I suspect that sausages will be impossible to replicate, but I thought I'd ask anyway. The next barrier is my brother - we share the shopping/cooking, and he complains a lot whenever I buy vegetarian stuff...

[Oola]

Tell him to stop complaining :p

Vegetarian sausages are a toughie. I'm not really a fan of them because I find they're a bit too dry. The closest I've found to frankfurter/hot dogs are tofu weiners (yes, really) from Waitrose. You literally just boil them for a couple of minutes and they're ready. Very tasty.

I know Waitrose supply a brand called Cauldron who make Cumberland Sausages which are OK. Not sure if they're stocked in any other supermarkets?

Also you should try the Quorn Turkey and Stuffing Fillets and the Lemon & Black Pepper Fillets, they're REALLY nice, esp. with homemade potato wedges and sweet chilli sauce...

[Rustic Pumpkin]

Hi, MrZ. Depends what you are looking for. I don't like Quorn products because they have this bizarre artificial meat flavouring that is not to my taste, but if you are still used to the taste of meat you might like them. I find the sausages as horrible as the meat kind for odd textured bits, but as it is 15 years or more since I tried them they might have improved some.

I occassionally hanker after a plate of sausage, mashed potato and onion gravy, my true comfort food. When I do, I use Cauldron Foods sausages. They do several 'flavours' including Cumberland, Lincolnshire and Glamorganshire. Experience has taught me to cook the Cumberland and Lincolnshire by sort of steaming them in a lidded saucepan with a little stock or water (or wine) and then carefully frying them off to brown and crisp them up. This keeps them moist. Pan frying on its own results in a hard, tough outer crust and a dried out inners. Glamorganshire, on the other hand, need to be pan fried or oven baked as steaming causes them to disintegrate.

I have made lovely sausage rolls with all of the above. Have you thought about making your own? I use up extra nut roast to make sausage shapes and have also done so with mashed cooked pulses with added vegetables, potato and egg. For me, it is often more about the shape as well as how it tastes. How can you do hot dogs without a sausage shape?

[Rustic Pumpkin]

I must add that you should not automatically consider vegetarian foodstuff, including sausages, to be healthy! Read the packets and find out the saturated fat content. While this is much lower than product containing meat, it is still high if you are watching your sat.fat intake. There are many vegetarian products I've stopped using because of what I consider unacceptably high sat.fat levels.

[annie fenbug]

Hi MrZebra

Wicken Fen sausages and burgers are well worth trying, and I believe they've been working on reducing the fat content to make them as healthy as possible. I've served them to fellow omnivores with no complaints whatsoever! They started out in Wicken, a few miles away from where I live (which is how I know about them), but are now based in Scotland. I'm not sure whether you can order them direct - their website is www.wickenfen.co.uk - but I've seen them in Waitrose and several other health/veggie shops will have them to order.

Completely agree with Rustic's comments about vegetarian not necessarily being all that healthy! Nuts, in particular, are usually pretty high in fat & you have to weigh that against the nutritional benefits.

[Rustic Pumpkin]

Yes, Annie FB, Wicken Fen do do mail order. You have to take xyz amount, can't remember how many exactly, but they do allow you to mix varieties. They charge postage, but then they give you two free boxes, so it works out well. They arrive in a huge polystryrene insulated box, and you must be in to accept delivery. They freeze really well. I took a pack of these (in last minute desperation) and cut them into bite size bits before frying them and served them on sticks with a dip for part of a buffet.

[annie fenbug]

Hi Rustic, many thanks for the information! The buffet idea's a good one - hadn't thought of that & bet it'll go down a treat. I do find veggie burgers grill better than the sossies, which do tend to dry up rather quickly.

[softie]

hi mr zebra,i have quorn sausages.i found them quite like cardboard to start off with,but if u cook them in the oven like u would normal sausages theyre alot better,especially with gravy on. also,have u tried the quorn minted lamb steaks? i think theyre great! x

[MrZebra]

I haven't tried the quorn lamb steaks or sausages, but I like the quorn mince and quorn burgers. I wonder if the local supermarket has them...

[softie]

the sausages are normally in all shops in the freezer,the minted lamb steaks are rather like gold dust,i can only find them in the chiller in morrisons.gud luck!

[jazzactivist]

Hi Mr Zebra. I try not to eat meat too many times per week, but find that meat substitutes don't do it for me. I find that the best thing to do is to make your own sausages and burgers using different types of lentils and various herbs / spices - cheap too and meat eaters generally like them. There are some good recipes in Rose Elliot's Vegetarian Cookery books.