EdLucas.com

Nearly every year since I’ve been at least vegetarian (now vegan) I’ve had a Tofurkey for Thanksgiving. It’s been such a ritual that most of my friends wish me a “Happy Tofurkey day” before the holiday. This year, a friend was planning to make a homemade tofu-turkey, so I instead bought the seitan-based UnTurkey, the Tofurkey’s closest rival for vegan Thanksgiving meal centerpiece.

Right out of the package, I could tell I was in for something different. Instead of appearing to be an unnatural, pasty cheese ball, the UnTurkey appeared to be an unnatural, pasty, headless, wingless fowl…skin included. This was going to be interesting. It was easy to prepare. I just covered it with foil and stuck it in the oven with Michele’s tofu-turkey for an hour. I basted it with a mixture of olive oil and orange juice and left it uncovered for the last ten minutes or so, during which the yuba skin took on a nice golden color. If you’re a veg*n that doesn’t mind food that looks like meat, you’ll appreciate how closely the UnTurkey approximates a cooked turkey.

The UnTurkey sliced up well and contained plenty of light, seasoned stuffing. The seitan shell had a more pleasant consistency than the Tofurkey and was very tasty. The only area in which the Tofurkey wins out is the gravy. I’d actually bought some Tofurkey-brand gravy so that we’d have some extra for Michele’s creation and found that it’s a lot more savory than that which came with the UnTurkey. The tofu “giblets” in the sauce are nice addition.

I think everyone that tried it agreed that the UnTurkey was a major improvement over the Tofurkey. I guess I’ll have to see if I can convince my friends to wish me a “happy un-turkey” day next year.

Tags: Vegan