The vegetarian butcher (brand)

[Mr Gus]

Cooked off some "what the cluck" chicken type pieces, which I intended to sous vide but ended up airfrying for 9 mins at 204c.

Texture was very chicken, to the point of slight stringiness within the mouth, plump & juicy (bit of bounce) & crisped up treat.

price is a big no, £3 for 160g of vitamin b enhanced soy based proteins, but done well, this is a brand that occasionally makes it into heron / bm food discounters, paying considerably less than rrp.

Considering I massacred it (lazy) ...the products success encourages me to look at the brand (sub brand of unilever) more closely.

[MrPablo]

Thanks for the write up Mr Gus, I'll have to tell my sister to look out for them.
I echo the point about Heron Foods, the prices become a lot more palatable when you can source from there.

[Mr Gus]

No worries, pablo,some months ago Heron had big commercial kitchen offerings of this dutch range, presumably made at the big place who make beyond burger range for the european market. ( or maybe not)

Here: https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/pack-o ... ey-3960099
sadly expired but worth logging as key word alert if this is her thing (on hukd) amazing deal, #No2foodwaste .it is not cheap cutting back on meat with the alternatives.

[Mr Gus]

The what the cluck packs are now 3 for £1 (3x300g)
I tried them again with 6 minutes air fry time, better but still too chewy by half & not in the least "chickeny" / seasoned.
I'm of the opinion that these would be better browning in a pan only, then bunging in a liquid heavy sauce mix, otherwise they have too much rubberiness (I was struggling, gnashing even)

Will go back & get some more for the dogs because, 900g & protein ..they already proved to wolf the ones offered previously.
My next pack I will brown & see how it deals with a ramen soup base with all the trimmings.

Not great but not bad & i'm thinking it's "me not them" getting it wrong.

[AE-NMidlands]

The what the cluck packs are now 3 for £1 (3x300g)

Maybe related to this? https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/m ... d-products:

Has the vegan bubble burst? Sales stagnate in UK as brands withdraw plant-based products
Oatly, Nestlé and Innocent Drinks are among those pulling products from shelves as figures show even Veganuary backfired
When the dairy-free brand Oatly launched a range of vegan ice-creams, including chocolate fudge and hazelnut swirl, in October 2019, it hoped to entice consumers with flavours described as “unashamedly indulgent”.
The range – described by fans as “silky” and “creamy” – was part of what food experts described as a “gold rush” to tap into the vegan market, including “vegfurters”, vegan mayonnaise and marbled plant-based steaks. One analysis found nearly a quarter of all food products launched in 2019 were labelled vegan.
But it appears the boom-time for some vegan products may now be over. While Oatly’s range of oat drinks enjoys high demand, the Swedish company confirmed last week it was withdrawing its ice-cream tubs from the UK market.

goes on about drinks for a bit, then says

Sausage maker Heck announced earlier this month it was reducing its range of meat-free products from 10 to just two.

[Mr Gus]

I'd say that heck exploded onto the scene & investment / investors needed to see a hit taken (heck do some ok sausages but also some naff ones where my palate is concerned, not tried their veg ones myself, because i'm just fine with a rough chop veggie crumb coated "thingy" (they all get referred to as burgers which is confusing when comparing veg versus imitation meat.

Think Heck as premium that lost sales in the lockdown / recovery as people look for better value.

Add to that the premium price on the "looks like meat" push when they all thought there was gold in them there hills, imho, if you have a product folk are wary of don't scare them off with hyper-inflated "price marketing" along the lines of "what experts" believe the customer will put up with, because there was an investor rush, & now they want their pound of faux meat flesh ..or else.

[Mr Gus]

Finally, got it right, & the flavour came.out too!

Did as instructions & got a small pan out 3 -4 on the ikea induction, but it says 8 minutes, 3 to 3 1/2 at max (nice char, browned in general) used the sunflower oilfrom a few nights ago (air fry bake spuds) ..if eatrn straight away with meal, wraps or whatever, very nice chicken alternative indeed, won me over in fact, if stored in a container for later (after testing) went a bit hard, spri gy chew, so the result really is in the hands of those cooking.

I'd be happy to have more of this if it is affordable as another meat alternative.

Success, & not a nut roast in sight.

(was originally going to put together a carbonara with cubed pork ..just in case) but wife late, so airfry fish n chips)

If trying these, err on the side of caution & be really minimalistic with cooking times, from frozen they are likely perfecf at 2 mins onward, taste test required from the pan, esp for those with rickety teeth!

This morning I made a pea shoots salad & "what the cluck" faux chicken & bbq sauce wrap, which worked well in combination & slowed me down eating it (a good thing) ..bloody delicious, I doubt many kids would question it made that way, ..cue parental food sneak attack, "Yes, you do like that"

[Mr Gus]

Just cooked some for the daughter to try (in case she see's them at a BM store, no Heron in Plymouth) ..kid approved, 2.40 in the pan with a bit of sunflower oil, she was happy as larry, now less suspicious of another "alt meat offering" ..didn't even get the chance to stick it in a wrap with salad.

Quite an interesting story as to how the firm came about (prior to buy out by unilever) ..essentially swine fever & mad cow disease.

https://www.thevegetarianbutcher.co.uk/our-story.html

I'm going to sous vide some & pan brown it as a final move, ..got to pick up some of their meatballs to try next (again cheap at heron for now)

If you try some though, please ensure the frying pan has clean oil, I tried using the same as when we had beyond meat burgers the other night & it was spoilt for 40 odd hours of sitting covered, needs minimal oil but I attempted to reduce waste / consumption ..bah, totally screws the colour & chars too much rather than simply browning.

Very tasty.