Thanks for the replies.
For the record, the sausages I prefer to make, and eat, are all pork based. (I’m obviously bias, but the best sausages are from Poland)
There is a vegetarian in the family, so making the occasional vegan sausage is fun. It’s more like molecular gastronomy than charcuterie. Adding the right types and combos of gums and starches is important to get the stuff to bind and behave like a sausage. “The Art of Making Vegetarian Sausages” by Marianski is an interesting read. But nowhere does he mention adding NaNO2 (probably because it isn’t really necessary)
Pops and Zwiller agree it’s worth a try and would help the flavor, so I’ll give it a go. The vegetarian ingredients are always rather bland, so the recipes use more spices than normal sausages.
SonnyE, Dan,
The proteins are from beans ( ~10% protein by weight) and/or seitan (vital wheat gluten ~75% protein) and/or TVP (~50% protein) and/or buckwheat (~10% protein) and/or other grains. So the % protein is generally less than, but still comparable, to meat (pork ~25%).
The fat is from oil. Regular oil will separate in the casing, so you have to make a soy or flaxseed emulsion (It’s weird stuff. Texture is somewhere between mayo and lard here’s a link: https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-types/vegetarian/oil-emulsion)
The emulsion is ~50% oil, and gets added to recipes at about 30% of the total sausage weight. So, it comes out that the fat contents is ~15%. As with the protein, it is less than a normal sausage, but still comparable. The fat contents is important to help the stuff bind right.
For the record, the sausages I prefer to make, and eat, are all pork based. (I’m obviously bias, but the best sausages are from Poland)
There is a vegetarian in the family, so making the occasional vegan sausage is fun. It’s more like molecular gastronomy than charcuterie. Adding the right types and combos of gums and starches is important to get the stuff to bind and behave like a sausage. “The Art of Making Vegetarian Sausages” by Marianski is an interesting read. But nowhere does he mention adding NaNO2 (probably because it isn’t really necessary)
Pops and Zwiller agree it’s worth a try and would help the flavor, so I’ll give it a go. The vegetarian ingredients are always rather bland, so the recipes use more spices than normal sausages.
SonnyE, Dan,
The proteins are from beans ( ~10% protein by weight) and/or seitan (vital wheat gluten ~75% protein) and/or TVP (~50% protein) and/or buckwheat (~10% protein) and/or other grains. So the % protein is generally less than, but still comparable, to meat (pork ~25%).
The fat is from oil. Regular oil will separate in the casing, so you have to make a soy or flaxseed emulsion (It’s weird stuff. Texture is somewhere between mayo and lard here’s a link: https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-types/vegetarian/oil-emulsion)
The emulsion is ~50% oil, and gets added to recipes at about 30% of the total sausage weight. So, it comes out that the fat contents is ~15%. As with the protein, it is less than a normal sausage, but still comparable. The fat contents is important to help the stuff bind right.
