Not all vegan meats are suitable for cooking with!
I found this out the "hard" way (it wasn't so hard, it was still delicious!) when trying to recreate the chorizo and chickpea stew recipe from Spain on a Fork.
As with a lot of "peasant" food, a lot of Spanish recipes are already vegetarian or vegan, though they also have a good lot of sauasage based dishes, especially chorizo.
I had picked us some Plant Kitchen chorizo slices in M&S and was looking for some recipes. Albert mentioned that he used a plant-based chorizo, so I assembled my ingredients (including new Irish Queens from Carne in Co. Wexford!) and gave it a go.
Now, the main ingredient in these slices was water, then oil and then pea protein. Their is some carrageenan in them, which acts as a binder, but not enough to keep them together in the stew - all the slices completely dissolved!
Now, it wasn't a complete disaster because they did give up their flavour to the stew, and there was still chunks of potato as well as the chickpeas for flavour. It was very tasty!
I think the message may be to find a chorizo recipe that you like, and just don't add chorizo! Just add an extra helping of smoked paprika instead!
