Vegetarian Thanksgiving: Tofurkey Basics

There are some obvious differences between a real turkey and tofurkey, the vegetarian turkey substitute usually made from soy and wheat protein. The biggest one is that a turkey usually comes shaped like, well, a turkey, while tofurkey most often comes in loaf or roast form. You can also cook a tofurkey roast in an hour and fifteen minutes or so (if you thaw it in the refrigerator for the requisite day), instead of several hours for the average turkey.

Verdicts on the actual taste are mixed. Nicole Weston of Slashfood.com bought the Tofurky brand roast and gravy, and thought it was spongy with a rubbery rind. She did note that the stuffing was tasty. Slate.com's testers felt it tasted breadlike and bland, but again agreed that the stuffing was good. The Supertaster over at Chow.com, though, said that while Tofurky doesn't taste anything like real turkey, "It has considerably more soul than the average mass-produced dead turkey that represents the Thanksgiving status quo."

There are tofurkey products available at your local grocery store, but you can also make your own at home. You can even try to shape it into a turkey shape if you want (not recommended). This tofurkey recipe from About.com takes only a handful of ingredients (including a couple of big blocks of tofu) and seems rather simple, as long as you allow time to freeze the tofu overnight. If you're distrustful of recipes that are too easy, you can use this recipe from AllRecipes.com, which has about three times more ingredients and preparation that's a bit more involved.

Just like a Thanksgiving feast with a real turkey, you may have tofurkey leftovers, which can mean a week's worth of tofurkey sandwiches. For a few more choices, try some of the links from About.com's leftover tofurkey recipe list.