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What are some essential but perhaps lesser known ingredients that all (new, I guess) vegans should have more or less on-hand for cooking or baking? Beyond the obvious like lentils, tofu, chick peas, turmeric/obvious spices, non-dairy milk/creamer and whatnot, natch. I'm transitioning from vegetarian to vegan now and I've got some quantities of the following to encourage me: veg "butter", veg shortening, non-dairy chocolate chips, arrowroot flour, chickpea flour, flaxseed, and agave nectar.
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| # ¿ Jul 14, 2011 23:00 |
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| # ¿ May 19, 2013 01:08 |
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I've tried the sweet crepe recipe variations in both Veganomicon and Vegan Brunch (they're both basically the same) as well as Bryanna's Clark-Grogan's featured on Everyday Dish. Both turned out the same way: partially cooked messes of goop. The batter itself has the proper consistency for crepes (though it does not actually smell very sweet at all) and it does form them in the pan but... they don't cohere, I guess? They look cooked but when you try to remove them you find out that, actually, it's only some kinda outer 'skin' of the crepe that cooked and it's actually still gooey. But of course if you leave it to cook longer it simply burns! Have vegans not perfected crepes yet or am I simply doing something wrong here? I feel like it is me because, I mean, why would you put a recipe in not one but two cookbooks if it doesn't work, and that other recipe has a video -- so I know at least one person can make 'em properly!  Are there any other recipes I might try that could yield better results?
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| # ¿ Aug 1, 2011 20:49 |
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Nicol Bolas posted:Is it possible your heat is just on too high? I have, many times in the past, ruined a solid half of a batch of pancakes by burning the outsides and leaving the inside goey. Turning down the heat and leaving it the gently caress alone for longer gave me the fluffy delicious pancakes of my dreams. The fact that two different recipes ended up giving you the same result just makes me think that your stove has high heat at a lower dial setting than you're used to. It took me way too long to realize that little bitty flames would still get the job done. This did cross my mind as I was attempting to make crepes, yeah, so I tried to cook them anywhere from 'two' to 'medium' heat. Still no luck! The Spookmaster posted:I would add nutritional yeast to your pantry if you don't have it. It adds a very nutty/satly/cheesy/umami flavor to things without seeming over the top. It's very healthy and there are a ton of uses for it. This would certainly be delicious in savoury crepes but I was attempting to make sweet ones (though this did not happen). To be more clear: The batter smelled... like paste or something? And this was after making the "sweet" variation! That, along with the fact that the batter never really cohered and remained gooey, suggested to me that the mixture was perhaps too salty or had an excess of flour or something like this? Despite following each recipe to the letter, of course... Honestly, this is really baffling to me because you'd think this would Just Work, especially when there's a video of someone making one recipe and the other recipe is featured in not one but two cookbooks, things which surely speak to the efficacy! But I suppose this is not the thread for such questions as I guess crepes can just be made with eggs and milk so it's not really vegan cooking?
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| # ¿ Aug 2, 2011 14:08 |
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Oh, I have some nutritional yeast already, though I've not used it for anything. (I'm gingerly making my way into vegan cooking!) I actually decided to try and make vegan pancakes yesterday after getting fed up with crepe failures, thinking that might end not in tears. I used the recipe in Vegan Brunch and... they turned out excellently! I think possibly crepes are the kind of recipe where some kind of commercial egg replacement might be warranted, if the eggs can be adequately replaced at all? (I am entertaining doubts about this though!) I tried it with arrowroot, cornstarch, and silken tofu and the results were all the same mess of goop.
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| # ¿ Aug 2, 2011 14:52 |
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In my ongoing vegan journey, I've obviously picked up a bunch of cookbooks to facilitate, with relative easy, this culinary change. A lot of them happened to be ones by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope! In fact, although I've not made anything from it yet, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World is sitting on my desk beside me right now! Little did I know, however, that come October they'll be making their desserts series a trilogy with Vegan Pie In The Sky! Isa posted the dust jacket on Twitter a tiny bit ago but as I figured while everyone loves pie, everyone might also not have themselves or her on Twitter... so check it out: Also, for a little more content: I finally ate some kale tonight! I figured I should get around to that as it seems to be a vegan thing-to-do these days, haha. It was very good and I would certainly get more kale because it seems ridiculously versatile too! Oh, and I had some nutritional yeast on pasta a couple days ago too. It was really good and it didn't taste discernibly unlike cheese to me at all. (Isa's warning in Veganomicon about how divisive it is had me somewhat worried...) Yes, this is possibly my feeble attempt to not let this thread die 
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| # ¿ Aug 16, 2011 02:44 |
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Any of y'all do the Vegan Month of Food (Vegan MoFo) thing? It's in a week and I'm thinking about participating (if I can still register) but I don't think I'm skilled or creative enough to do so yet... Also because I'm much more fond of baking than I am cooking (though I do enjoy doing and consuming both!), I gotta pimp a new initiative: Vegan Baking Day! It's being held this Friday, September 30 as a form of baketivism: you bring in some vegan baked goods to, say, work or school -- or simply accost passers-by on the street with cupcakes -- so as to concretely show that vegan baking is totally delicious in its own right and you won't even know you're eating tofu in that pie or whatever too! The best thing about it being officially autumn now is that I can sneak pumpkin into every single recipe and it will be unimpeachable because it'll be "seasonal"! 
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| # ¿ Sep 25, 2011 04:47 |
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| # ¿ May 19, 2013 01:08 |
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feelz good man posted:I thought that this thread was supposed to be getting away from soy abominations Silken tofu seems like a common enough "egg replacement" -- to provide moisture and binding, I think? -- in (usually) baking recipes, although I was mostly joking with that comment.
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| # ¿ Sep 25, 2011 06:48 |
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