Soy meat.Often cursed and unbearable. After all, nowadays there are other types available meat substitutes. Maybe even more tempting. They're ready and seasoned, just heat them up. And soy meat is so tasteless. But that's what makes it so good. makes for great meals.
What is soy meat?
Soy meat is made by extrusion from defatted soy flour. Extrusion is method production, in which using temperature and pressure original material prints into the resulting shapeThe most famous extruded foods in our country are peanut crisps.
In Slovakia is soy meat available in different shapesThe most common include: dice, slushies, medallions, slices and granulate.
Abroad soy meat is often referred to as "TV" or Textured Vegetable Protein (note: structured vegetable protein). But we can also find it under the name "soy curls", which are actually our "strips" or "slushies".
Why choose soy meat?
- It is a fact cheap, since 100g of dried soy meat costs around 0.50 EUR and after cooking, we can easily feed a family of four with those 100g.
- It has very long shelf life, since it is dried.
- Sucks into each other any marinade, or taste, as it is more or less tasteless (similar to white tofu).
- Contains lots of protein – up to 49 grams per 100 grams.
- It is a good source fiber, iron and magnesia.
- Naturally does not contain gluten and is also suitable for a gluten-free diet.
- It is available in almost every store and retail chain.
Nutritionist's opinion
And what does he say about soy meat? nutritionist Ing. Radek Látal?
"Despite more demanding preparation Soy meat, compared to "real" meat, also has a number of advantages advantagesIn comparison to him does not contain cholesterol, nor saturated fats, which contribute to the development of heart and vascular diseases, and vice versa contains fiber, which we do not find in meat.
Legumes in his original form are, of course, always the the healthiest choiceHowever, if you are looking for cheap way, as replace animalistic meat in traditional recipes, soy meat is a good alternative.“
Ing. Radek Látal, nutritionist
Preparation and seasoning for a gourmet experience
First step when preparing soy meat, its rehydrationIn other words, it needs to be to soak up liquid and soften. The coordinator of the Green Dining Room project, Lucy, prefers to cook soy meat in a pressure cooker.
"I have good experience cooking soy meat in a pressure cooker. It cooks in 10 minutes and is very soft and tasty."
Lucy Trefná, coordinator of the Green Dining Room project
However, if you don't have a pressure cooker, or you can't use one in the catering sector, nothing happens. You will cook him in regular pot about something longer.
And here we come to the most important step the entire preparation of soy meat – to taste. That, in what will there be soy meat to cook, very will affect his the final tasteSo we have to make it matter.
We emphasize This is because we very often encounter the fact that soy meat does not live enough seasoned and the resulting meal is not a gourmet experience, which is too bad.
So what about making soy meat not just disgusting sponge? Water in which it will be to cook, must be properly seasonedIf we don't have enough time, we can use vegetable broth, or strong vegetable broth. As for salt, you should give it to her instead more.
We can also replace some of the salt with soy saucewhich adds umami taste. We can continue further mushroom powder, or dried, or fresh mushroomsThese continue to they will highlight umami taste, what is one of the five basic tastes that humans perceive. It is actually intense taste, which is located in broths, soy sauce, mushrooms, yeast extract, also in cooked form animal meat. He is responsible for it. monosodium glutamate, which in 1908 isolated from seaweed broth Japanese chemist Ikeda KikunaeMonosodium glutamate is often added to foods to give them a more intense flavor.
If we wanted to get closer chicken flavor, we can replace soy sauce and mushrooms sage, thyme and gourmet yeastAnd when the water is good seasoned, put the soy meat in it and cook for 20 minutes, or the aforementioned 10 minutes in a pressure cooker.
What's next? Fun with soy meat
And now comes the one the greatest fun with soy meat. It can be said that you can prepare on any way, how animal meat can also be prepared. After cooking we can do it replace animalistic meat in regular recipeAnd that will perhaps be his largest foreign exchange for university cafeterias, as well as for people who want to gradually reduce quantity consumed animal meat, or for people who are on beginning of the transition on plant-based diet.
Soy cubes, slices, medallions and cutlets
These shapes soy meat are suitable as replacement for animals meat larger pieces in meals with sauce, without sauce, but also fried meals.
- Meals with sauce – soy meat we will add into a pre-prepared saucesWe can prepare, for example, the following dishes:
- Szeged goulash
- Cabbage
- Paprikaš
- Dishes in style sautéed (e.g. sautéed mushrooms, sautéed peas)
- Meals without sauce – from soy meat we wring out as much as possible liquids and we will fry in a frying pan. We can prepare, for example, the following dishes:
- Kung-pao
- Stir-fry with rice
- Gyros
- Fried meals – again we wring out as much fluid as possible and we will wrap in breadcrumbs, or in dough (wheat flour and plant milk, or chickpea flour and water). We can prepare, for example, the following dishes:
- Cuttings
- Nuggets
Soybean granulate
This kind Soy meat can be used as replacement for ground animalistic meat. We are cooking him shorter like cubes and other pieces, since it doesn't need such a long rehydration. We'll just need 10 – 15 minutes for cooking. We can prepare the following dishes with it:
- Spaghetti bolognese (recipe can be found in the booklet) One-pot recipes)
- Balls in tomato sauce
- Meatballs for pea porridge or stew
- Kolozsvár cabbage
- Chilli without meat (in Slovak: chili without meat)
- Cevapcici
- Stuffed pepper
- Lasagna
Preparation summary
- Cook in well-flavored water, vegetable broth, or bouillon.
- Add into the sauce, to fry in a pan, or coated in breadcrumbs or batter and to fry.
- Serve on a plate and serve to diners or guests.
Sources:
- https://www.elephantasticvegan.com/tvp-textured-vegetable-protein-recipes/
- https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umami
- Photo by Paulina H. he Unsplash
- Food photo created by stockking – www.freepik.com
- Chinese photo created by jcomp – www.freepik.com
- The author of the photos with cabbage, chili sin carne and soy meat: Lucy
English 
Slovenčina