Tuesday, August 17, 2010

August 12, 2010: Quorn

Cindy and I have heard plenty about Quorn over the years - it's a strange fungus-derived faux-meat product that is popular in the UK but has only recently hit the market here in Australia. Quorn is a bit controversial; it's non-vegan (egg-whites are an ingredient) and even contained battery eggs until the last few years. Now they're using free-range eggs and they've clearly jumped through whatever hoops are necessary to be imported into Australia. When it turned up in our local Woolies, we thought we'd give it a try.

Our choice was the mince option. And our recipe of choice?  Cindy's amazing faux-meat pies. It slots into the recipe basically as a direct replacement for the TVP. The pies turned out okay - the mince texture was even more convincingly faux-meaty, and Quorn seems to have a bit more flavour than TVP (although it's hard to tell when we smother it in pie gravy). The downside: the pies aren't vegan-friendly in this form. It seems strange that this company hasn't found a way to veganise their products - my completely uneducated guess would be that the market for faux-meat products would be substantially vegan. With that in mind, it'll be interesting to see whether Quorn catches on here.

13 comments:

  1. They also couldn't tell me which products contained dairy when I emailed them. Obviously the lasgane does, but I was hoping for a yes/no on some without having to raid the freezer section myself!

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  2. I do want to try these, as I had a couple Quorn product while traveling in England, but I completely agree with you on the perplexedness of them not being vegan. Even to take a purely marketing-focuse approach, wouldn't they increase their market share by being vegan? For my part, I'm with Fiona on the dairy issue, but I guess I'll just have to inspect the packaging.

    (When I can budget for Quorn, that is. Dried chickpeas are still cheaper ;) )

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  3. I've been meaning to do a Quorn post in forever, but it seems the life of a blogger is not for me... I'll just look at yours instead :) I haven't tried the mince yet, but have tried a few of the other products.

    1) Quorn pieces - delicious little chunks that resemble chicken, awesome in a stirfry (or for texture in a paella)
    2) Quorn sausage rolls - really didn't rate these. They're tiny and the pastry just didn't seem to 'puff' up. I'll stick with your non-sausage rolls in the future
    3) Quorn Schnitzels - these are AMAZING. When they're not on sale though they're expensive, as you only get 2. But each has a spinach and ricotta topping which is delicious. The texture is like a cross between chicken and flake. Meaty but soft and succulent, with a slight taste of batter.
    4) Quorn Lasagne - this is a great go to meal for quick easy meals.. just a few minutes in the microwave. The texture of the 'bolognaise' is quite believable.

    When these products are on sale (at Coles the other week they were all $4) they're great value, and a good alternative to the other mock meat products, however full price I think they're a little too expensive.

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  4. I looked at the quorn sausages in the supermarket the other day - only because sylvia insisted in jumping up and down on the stepping stool just nearby - but couldn't get up enough enthusiasm

    was interested that lisa in her uk trip commented on london being vegetarian friends but less vegan friendly - I guess the is the philosophy behind products such as quorn

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  5. Quorn sausage rolls are awesome!!!! I am completely addicted and have started needing to ration myself.

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  6. A few years back, my cousin brought home quorn from England. The taste was a bit funny; it didn't seem believable - for the lasagne and pieces, but I liked the sausage rolls. Though the pastry didn't puff, it was still better than the trying hard paella-ish.

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  7. their faux chicken products are definately the best out of the range.

    I thought the lasanga was horrible, the pasties are passable. But I like the southern burgers and nuggets.

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  8. Thanks for your Quorn reviews, everyone! We're still interested in trying a few of their other products. If they prove not to be to our taste, there's always Fry's... and cheaper, less-processed legumes. ;-)

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  9. perhaps the quorn people are on the same ideology as the sanitarium crowd (adventists? is that it?) of promoting vegetarianism but discouraging the 'unhealthiness' of veganism. just an idea.

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  10. Hannah (The other one)9:06 am, August 19, 2010

    I was over the moon when I found the Quorn range at Coles and I was really impressed with how tasty it was - the lasagne and sausage rolls in particular and Mr Hannah the carnivore loved the stuff. But....I really don't think it agrees with me, I developed an on-going bad stomach and other weird symptoms which went away when I stopped eating Quorn products. Could be a coincidence but I think some people are sensitive to the stuff. Damn it.

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  11. the wonderful frys brand is getting pushed to the bottom by the egg laden quorn, what a shame, quorn seems to be a pretty monolithic company. our current affairs prog covered their arrival and pretended there hadnt been any mock meat in australia prior to its arrival.
    I ate quorn in England when I was vegetarian and found it passable but not great , I love redwoods and frys vegan products though, I'd encourage people to support the smaller, more animal friendly companies.

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  12. Interestingly, I also experienced stomach upsets and other strange symptoms during the week I tried Quorn products, which was a real shame as I was desperate for a replacement for sanitarium's amazing frozen lentil burgers that seem to have been removed from the shelves. Anyone seen these lately??

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