Hearty stew for a wintry night

[Robin Garr]

Hearty stew for a wintry night

An "Arctic Vortex" has much of the US staggering under freezing cold, and even here at Louisville in the Border South it's down to minus-3 outside right now with little relief in sight for a day or two.

So who's up for a hearty bowl of stew? Mary cooked tonight, with a little veggie prep work from yours truly as sous chef. This hearty treat came to the table smelling and tasting as good as it looked, and it didn't take us long to polish it off, with a bottle of of an offbeat Loire red, Puzelat-Bonhomme 2012 "Le Rouge et Mis" Vin du France Pinot Meunier, to go alongside.

For the record, the "beef" in this stew is actually @Gardein brand "beefless tips," a soy and wheat-gluten product with natural plant-based flavors that, darkly browned (in butter, if vegan considerations don't deter that option) and served in a traditional beef context like a stew, make a mighty palatable alternative to the animal-based original. And goes with red wine!

Looks like good Arctic vortex cuisine!

Robin,

I'll probably do this, but--you'll forgive me, I'm sure--using real beef.

We hit minus 20 Celsius here in NH. And we got off EASY, I know, compared to the Midwest.

I have a bunch of Astronomy correspondents in Australia who just don't grok really cold temperatures such as we get in North America. I amuse myself by regaling them with our truly frigid temperatures.

This cold season so far has outdone itself in this regard.

-Paul W.

Looks great. My tendency would be to use 'shrooms as my faux meat.

[Robin Garr]

Looks great. My tendency would be to use 'shrooms as my faux meat.

That would be good ...

We did something similar -- I have a nice easy recipe for the Belgian beef and beer stew which has lots of onions and carrots. In Flemish it's "Stovery" and in French it's "Carbonnade a la Flammande." One thing I like about it is that it's a precolumbian European stew so no tomatoes or potatoes. You're eating like a 12th century lowlander.

Frank,

Pre-Colombian European cuisine. Way cool. Or better said, way heart-warming, in the present Arctic vortex chill.

Salut,

-Paul W.

[Robin Garr]

Pre-Colombian European cuisine.

Also known as "The Dark Ages," when a big man stood about 5'4", weighed in at maybe 120, and lived to be 35 if he was very lucky?

Looks great. My tendency would be to use 'shrooms as my faux meat.

Why does one need faux meat? If you don't eat meat, that's fine, but why create pretend meat to make it look like you do? Makes no sense to me.

Looks great. My tendency would be to use 'shrooms as my faux meat.

Why does one need faux meat? If you don't eat meat, that's fine, but why create pretend meat to make it look like you do? Makes no sense to me.

Especially since mushrooms don't stand in for the meat's protein.

Looks great. My tendency would be to use 'shrooms as my faux meat.

Why does one need faux meat? If you don't eat meat, that's fine, but why create pretend meat to make it look like you do? Makes no sense to me.

Especially since mushrooms don't stand in for the meat's protein.

True, at 18% as opposed to around double that with really lean meat. But you can get protein lots of other ways, I was just wondering why some non-meat eaters (not aiming this at Robin) are averse to saying that they don't want to eat meat and screw anyone that takes exception to it when it isn't their business, instead of dressing the food up with faked meat lookalikes.

In fact when I make vegetarian dishes (which I do once in awhile, not just for me, but because my sister is 'one') I enjoy the recipes that don't include fakes far more than the ones that do.

I guess you could say I agree with everything here. I don't see the need for "faux" meat either. But if one likes it for its own merits so be it. I just like mushrooms. Their taste, texture and umami-ness. Most of the things I miss in meatless dishes. I still eat a bite of meat or three and don't object to it in prep as base for soups, stew, etc. And I'll happily use stock in my concoctions. I'm just choosing to way WAY less of it for health reasons. And that decision has broadened horizons in other areas. And BTW, just as an asaide, bacon isn't meat. It's bacon.

[Robin Garr]

Why does one need faux meat? If you don't eat meat, that's fine, but why create pretend meat to make it look like you do? Makes no sense to me.

What possible reason could anyone have for worrying about what other people eat? It's sort of like worrying about what other people do in the privacy of their bedrooms, and we all know where that takes us.

Why does one need faux meat? If you don't eat meat, that's fine, but why create pretend meat to make it look like you do? Makes no sense to me.

What possible reason could anyone have for worrying about what other people eat? It's sort of like worrying about what other people do in the privacy of their bedrooms, and we all know where that takes us.

You are misunderstanding.

I don't care what anyone might want to eat. That is entirely their own business.

I am perplexed by anyone wanting to camouflage what they eat by calling it something else as if they are ashamed of being a vegetarian (again, this isn't aimed at you, just a comment on the faux meat phenomenon in general). I don't understand why people lie about what they eat, but I don't care what they happen to be eating. I trust that distinction is clear?

[Robin Garr]

I am perplexed by anyone wanting to camouflage what they eat by calling it something else as if they are ashamed of being a vegetarian (again, this isn't aimed at you, just a comment on the faux meat phenomenon in general). I don't understand why people lie about what they eat, but I don't care what they happen to be eating. I trust that distinction is clear?

Okay, here is one simple possibility: Most people who choose a plant-based diet don't do so because they have a revulsion for meat, yet you seem to be assuming that anyone who gives up meat must dislike it so much that they wouldn't ever want to be reminded of it.

In fact, a person might make a decision to give up eating meat for ethical reasons, environmental issues or health reasons. This person makes a conscious decision to change his or her diet and sticks with it, but this person likely retains comfort-food memories of stews, soups and other meaty things that go all the way back to childhood.

Why in the world should the person be denied that comfort in the form of somewhat similar alternatives? This isn't something new. Asian Buddhists came up with wheat-based "mock" meats millennia past. Modern alternatives using similar natural alternatives (wheat, soy, pea protein, natural vegetable flavors) come much closer to replicating the real thing.

I'm sorry, I don't want to snark again, but I'm still having a very hard time understanding why anyone would be puzzled about this, much less get knicks in a wad about it.

Okay, here is one simple possibility: Most people who choose a plant-based diet don't do so because they have a revulsion for meat, yet you seem to be assuming that anyone who gives up meat must dislike it so much that they wouldn't ever want to be reminded of it.

Where on Earth did you come up with that one, Robin? I said no such thing. If we can't discuss this without rancor on your part, maybe we should just let it lie. Or else quite telling me what I 'seem' to be doing and pay attention to what I AM saying. Your call. I only brought this up in your thread as it brought to mind the phenomenon of faux foods - it really has nothing to do with you, and you shouldn't be taking umbrage. And I certainly do not have any knickers in a wad - I simply said that this perplexes me.

[Robin Garr]

I simply said that this perplexes me.

Umm ... what kind of answer did you want? Your question perplexed me, yet I sought to answer it as thoroughly as I could.

I can understand that there are those who may have been brought up in an omnivorous or carnivorous culture, who for a wide variety of moral or ethical or religious reasons decide to forgo meat or animal products in their diet. Yet who wish to create vegetarian dishes that resemble the meat dishes they were brought up with. There is a thousands-of-years-old tradition of such dishes in Chinese Buddhist temple cuisine. They are remarkable both for being quite close to their non-vegetarian prototypes, and in being just plain delicious in their own right.

I personally embrace carnivorous and vegetarian (even vegan) dishes in my diet. My vegan and lacto-vegetarian dish preferences tend to be of the pure variety rather than the meat-imitating dishes, but that's just my opinion.

-Paul W.