This week on the show, we'll talk about buffalo tacos vs. buffalo hoagies and our favorite vegan Thanksgiving roasts.
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Surprise! We released this episode a day early, so it would come out on Thanksgiving Day. You probably picked out a Thanksgiving roast to serve weeks ago. Your menu may be planned, but maybe you need a podcast to listen to while you're cooking. We're here for you!
This week, as promised, is The Roast Roast. Dave is going to roast me, and we'll talk about prepared vegan roasts. And vegan Thanksgiving in general.
This episode may come out on Thanksgiving Day, but we recorded it the Monday after Biden/Harris won the election here in the U.S. Hooray!
It was a weekend of celebrating that kind of left us both in weird moods. It's like our anxiety had a direction before, but now we're just sitting with our base level of anxiety again. As problems go, I'll take it.
For the roast, Dave prepared a sick burn. I prepared...nothing. I don't like to roast people! It feels mean, and I'm bad at it.
We got a letter!
We got a very well-written letter from listener Bill Last Name Withheld about Dave's hot take on nachos from a few weeks ago.
Dear sirs,
On the most recent episode of Talkin' Tofu, I was shocked and appalled to hear Dave describe nachos as (and I paraphrase here), "difficult".
I scoffed at this assertion. I said to myself, "What could be easier to prepare than nachos?"
Of course I had to but listen further to discover where Dave and I were misaligned: at issue for Dave was that nachos were difficult to eat, not to prepare.
He has made similar critiques against enchiladas, but in this case I believe the fault is not inherent to the dish. It is the fault of the nacho chef.
The nacho chef believes that nachos are "easy", and fails to give each nacho its due. A buried chip bereft of the cheese that would meltily adhere a fair share of delicious toppings to the snack unit is a crime. It is not a victimless crime, either: we are its victims. And it has a perpetrator: the nacho chef.
Regards,
Bill, last name withheld
Thank you for the amazing letter, Bill! We loved reading it, even though I strongly disagree.
Dave now wants me to make upside-down nachos, where the toppings are the base and the chips sit on top. So stay tuned for that?
Do you want to weigh in on these nachos or anything else we talked about in this episode? Write to us at [email protected]!
'Til tofu us part
The big announcement for this week: Dave wrote us a song for 'Til Tofu Us Part, and it is a sweet, sweet melody. So enjoy that.
This week, we pitted buffalo nugget tacos against buffalo nugget hoagies, as we promised to do in our episode on Morningstar Buffalo Nuggets.
For the tacos, we layered them into tortillas with vegan mayo, lettuce, tomato, avocado, and pickled red onion. They were really good!
But, y'all, the hoagies were the clear winner here. We used the same mayo, lettuce, tomato, and onion, but Dave had a stroke of genius.
Casually, as I was setting the table, he suggested sliced dill pickles, and oh my WORD! This hoagie was fantastic!
We toasted the hoagie rolls, and the warm roll with crispy lettuce and onion and big ol' tomato slices was a dream. Especially with those pickle slices. Wow wow wow!
We are making it again for supper tonight!
Vegan Thanksgiving chitchat
Welcome to the Roast Roast portion of the episode! We ate one roast this week, but I decided why not talk about every roast we can ever remember eating in the last 15 years?
So we did our best.
We argued (shocker!), but in the end, I think our opinions didn't differ all that much? Maybe Dave would disagree, but he's not writing these show notes, is he?
First, we talked about the Gardein Savory Stuffed Turk'y, which is really two miniature, breaded roasts with stuffing in the centers. It's a two-serving bag, perfect for a small vegan Thanksgiving celebration.
The roast Dave wanted me to get, but which I could not find at the store, was the Gardein Holiday Roast. This is a full-sized vegan roast. It's also breaded and full of stuffing.
The final breaded roast that we talked about was the Trader Joe's Turkey-less Roast. I thought this was just a repackaged Gardein roast, but Dave pointed out that the breading on the TJ's roast is more peppery.
We agreed that these breaded roasts are great for people who aren't big on vegan meat. The texture from the breading helps offset that vegan meat doesn't have the same texture as animal meat. Also, breading is delicious!
The Field Roast Celebration Roast is another one we make often. I like this one, because I can make it in the Instant Pot, which is nice for years when I'm preparing a miniature vegan Thanksgiving at my sister-in-law's.
The kitchen there is usually pretty busy with people cooking conventional Thanksgiving stuff, so this Instant Pot situation allows me to stay out of the way. I use JL Fields's Instant Pot recipe for that roast.
And, of course, no discussion of vegan Thanksgiving roasts is complete without the OG: Tofurky Veggie Roast. This is Dave's least favorite, but it has a special spot in my heart. I love the texture, and the flavor tastes like so many holidays past!
Last year, in Asheville, we got Thanksgiving takeout from Bean. I can't recommend it enough! Everything was great, but the real standout was the vegan pimento cheese. I had to shoo the omnivores away from it, because they were eating it all!
This year, we'll most likely do a roast in the air fryer with some good sides. Dave made me promise to include Dianne's green bean casserole in the spread.
We accidentally ate chicken
In other news, I made a huge mistake.
Last week, I was placing a delivery order from Whole Foods and added what I thought was their mock chicken salad to the order to bump us up to free delivery territory.
I was in a hurry, so I didn't notice that my search for "mock chicken" didn't turn up their mock chicken salad. It turned up market chicken salad.
Dave figured it out after we had eaten more of it than I care to think about.
Y’all, I accidentally ordered chicken salad instead of mock chicken salad from Whole Foods delivery. We ate so much of it before we realized! ?? I know we all make mistakes sometimes, but I’m still so upset!
— Glue & Glitter ? (@glueandglitter) November 2, 2020
I'm sharing this little tidbit, because it's important to remember that we all make mistakes, even people who have been vegan for a long, long time. It was upsetting, but we can't change the past.
You'd better believe I will be reading my online orders more carefully in the future!
Where to listen
Thank you so much for listening (or reading!). We record these episodes for you, and we'd love to hear from you.
Got a favorite vegan treat that you think we should cover on the podcast? Send your suggestions to [email protected]!
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