What A Crock of Tofurky

Inspired by Trader Joe’s unpublished deal of the week; Tofurky $4.99 each. A pescetarian sucker for a stuffed hunk of tofu, I snatched up a pair of the featherless treats. Being lazy and pressed for time, I wanted to come up with something that would require minimal preparation and offer optimal tastiness. Deep fry? No. Boil? Ew. Crock pot?? Now you’re talking…

I scoured the web for Tofurky slow cooker recipes and came across a few. The recipe I created is an adaptation of the 3 or 4 recipes I found.

Ingredients:
1 Tofurky
1/2 Brown Onion
2 Medium Red Potatoes
1 Large Golden Potato
Handful Carrots
16 oz. Vegetable Broth
1 Onion Soup/Onion Dip Powder Mix (this is certainly not a low-sodium dish)

First I cut up the onion, potato and carrots (ok, I cheated and bought baby carrots). Then I dumped half of the veggies into the crock pot where I already had the vegetable broth and onion soup packet mixed together.

I then put the rest of the veggies in and left the Crock Pot to cook on High for 2 1/2 hours.

This is what I had after about an hour. The Tofurky was starting to get warmer, and the veggies were softening up. After this point I decided to set a timer to lift the lid every half hour to baste the pseudo-bird in the juices in the crock pot.

The “meat” juices began bubbling after about 1 1/2 hours, and the house was filled with the sweet aroma of a winter’s tofu slaughter.

I began taking the pictures at the beginning of this Tofurky cooking adventure, not really knowing what to expect. I figured it was a pretty safe bet to throw all of these items into the slow cooker and let them befriend one another, but at the same time, I am mildly handicapped in the kitchen. I can’t make Campbell’s tomato soup on the stove without the milk curdling, and I have yet to master the art of the dippy egg. Therefore, I did not put it out of the realm of possibility that the onion soup mix and vegetable broth could be a poisonous combo, resulting in sulphurous fumes and the liquification of vegetables.

I was pleasantly surprised when, after about two and a half hours, I pulled out my Tofurky roast from the slow cooker and saw it in all its glory. During the cooking process it had soaked up all the juices, and was so much more moist than the usual oven preparation method. The veggies were all soft, but not nursing home mushy, and there was a good amount of juice in the bottom of the crock pot for the “meat”.

My futile attempts at something resembling food photography:

How did it taste?

First impression, it was a lot more moist than from the oven. Which, as word of warning to those of you who already do not like the soft texture of Tofurky, you will most likely not enjoy this preparation. Making it in the crock pot left me with a much softer product, and as such, it resembled meat even less than the traditional cooking method. But, for anyone not looking to be tricked into actually believing they are eating turkey, this is definitely the way to go. This Tofurky had tons of flavor, and it was practically busting apart when I carved it because of how much juice it had absorbed into the center. The partner was in agreement that it tasted awesome, although he wished I had put in some celery (duly noted for next time). We have plenty left over from the meal, and will most likely be eating open faced Tofurky sandwiches for the next few days.

I have another Tofurky waiting in the freezer for a new prep next weekend… Any suggestions??