what are these food items?

[cedarblue]

borrowed a great cookbook from the library today:
the new vegan by janet hudson

there are some items in it i dont recognise, possibly canadian/american?

liquid smoke
vegan scallops, crab, shrimps
wheat chicken
hickory syrup
shagbark syrup
multigrain milk



any ideas??

there may be more as i read on...

[Kiva Dancer]

borrowed a great cookbook from the library today:
the new vegan by janet hudson

there are some items in it i dont recognise, possibly canadian/american?

liquid smoke
vegan scallops, crab, shrimps
wheat chicken
hickory syrup
shagbark syrup
multigrain milk



any ideas??

there may be more as i read on...

I know what they are.

Liquid smoke is a smoke-flavoured liquid that's made from burning hickory wood at high temprature and moisture levels then collecting the condensations and filtering it (the gasses from buring the wood are already released by this point). It gives a smoke-like flavour to whatever you're cooking. It's available in most US grocery stores.

Vegan scallops, clams, shrimp are probably soya-based items that have been pressed and seasoned to taste like scallops, clams, etc. I only know of one online source to buy these items from though I think there are others.

Wheat chicken I'm assuming is seitan that's been seasoned to taste like chicken.

Hickory syrup and shagbark syrup, iirc are the same things. Maple syrup is made from maple sap while shagbark syrup is made from the bark of the shagbark hickory tree. There's only 1 place that I know of where this can be ordered because it's quite rare (the tree only grows in I think 3 US states and there is only one manufacturer that I know of that makes this stuff).

Multigrain milk is made from several different grains instead of one grain like oat milk or rice milk. I've seen it in US and I think it's also available in Australia, but I'm not completely sure about that.

[feline01]

I always wondered how liquid smoke was "made". It tastes so much like wood smoke. Very potent though, few drops do fine. I've seen veggie scallops in a tin made by Worthington but I don't know if they are vegan. Tinned fake meat/fish doesn't excite me.

[Tigerlily]

I think a vegan cookbook lacks a lot of creativity when a lot of recipes require imitations.

[Kiva Dancer]

The liquid smoke, I can see being used - I know of a few vegans that use it quite regularly for things, but the special things like vegan scallops and shagbark syrup.... I can't see that at all. IMO, that's really limiting the "makability" (professional cooking term ) of the recipe.

But then again, I'm probably one of those very odd people who think vegan cooking should be accessable to everyone instead of exclusive to a select few.

[rantipole]

Hi,

I've found veggie scallops, prawn, salmon, tuna, squid, intestines (I'm not kidding!), and abalone at a huge Asian supermarket near my boyfriend's house. They are made mostly of soy, yam flour, and seaweed. The scallops and prawn are extemely yummy. I bought the salmon buy haven't tried it yet. The squid is a little freaky becuase it has eyes and tentacles!

If you have an Asian market near you, you might want to look for these items there.

I stir-fry the scallops in garlic/soy sauce/lemon with bok choy, shiitakes, and a few drops of sesame oil. It is one of my favorite dinners. Unfortunately, the Asian market was out of the scallops. That lead me to try the salmon.

Also, I've found Asian food markets have some amazing varieties of tofu and gluten products.

Cheers,
rant

[feline01]

I bet I know which market you found those items in; the Asian market on Route 27 in Edison?? Asian markets are a great source for gluten/tofu items as long as you don't mind walking past murdered ducks hanging by the neck and assorted other dead animals.

[rantipole]

Feline,

Actually it was the Hong Kong Supermarket on rte 18. I think it's in East Brunswick. The place is huge. There is lots of good food there, but--as someone else pointed out--you do have to see a lot of carnage. I feel worst for the live lobsters, crabs, and fish stuffed to the brim in tanks. It's just abominable.

I long for a vegetarian or vegan supermarket that stocks all those cool Asian foods. That would be heaven.

Cheers,
rant

[Artichoke47]

I think I would puke if I ate something that tasted like a sea animal.

I bet you can use rice, soy, oat, or almond milk if you can't find the multigrain variety.

And everybody else had the answers for the food items!

[harpy]

A couple of those you can get in the UK, more or less.

Liquid smoke (or similar) used to be available in the (seasonal) barbecue departments of UK supermarkets. Vegan scallops - I've had seitan in tins from Chinese supermarkets that was supposed to be shellfish of some kind - abalone? It wasn't much different from the mock duck you can get in Holland and Barrett (i.e not that much like either shellfish or duck ). For wheat chicken, I think you could use Redwood "Cheatin' Chicken".

[veganrockchick]

eww the vegan fish pate or faux fish products i couldn't touch

[assilembob]

what a crazy cookbook! That sounds so intimidating. I agree with Kiva Dancer that vegan cooking should be accessable and somewhat easy. It's difficult enough to convince people I am not crazy without having to go to great lengths to make a meal.
Is it more of a gormet kind of cookbook? Or is it marketed as being for anyone?

~Mel

[Wildflower]

Ok, slightly off topic, but check out the weird vegan items you can order from FoodFight!

Vegan Haggis and Vegan Caviar!

Also, you can order a lot of the asian fake seafood and other meats online here - http://www.vegieworld.com/store_location.htm but I am not sure if they ship outside the US, where the store is.

Eel, squid, lobster, scallops, prawns, crab, shark-fin, salmon, tuna steak

Freaky!

[AbFab]

We have some fishy alternatives in the UK, I thought I'd try some, they were a bit like fishfingers, coated in breadcrumbs etc, I never liked fish back in the day, but I thought maybe these wouldn't taste like fish anyway, but gross, how wrong I was, they tasted just like I remembered fish tasting, and I couldn't eat it, it was awful. Very realistic and a good buy if you DID like fish and miss it!

[acousticCORE123]

I used to be a big fish lover, but the imitations dont do it for me....to me, they smell really bad, and I hate saying this, but I cant swallow it after smelling it--I dont usually "taste" food with my nose, but fish is the only exception.