4 hours ago
11
I’ve recently given up eating pork, but I’m struggling to compensate for its umami. How can I recreate the taste and texture in, say, carbonara or my beloved chorizo dishes?
James, by email
For Joe Woodhouse, author of Weeknight Vegetarian, there’s just something about white beans: “Whether cooked from dried, then dropping chopped onion, garlic, sage and thyme into the broth, or just dumping a jar or tin into a pan with fried garlic and sage, the smell that fills the kitchen is like that of sausagemeat,” he says. “It tastes a bit like it, too – or at least the memory of it, bearing in mind I haven’t eaten the stuff for 30 years.”
The quest for that umami savouriness could start with soy sauce, Woodhouse says (“or Slow Sauce’s oat shoyu”), while chef Mike Davies’ first port of call would be Totole’s Chinese mushroom seasoning powder: “It’s super-effective in replacing the richness and fattiness that comes from cooking with any meat, and especially pork,” says the chef-director of the Camberwell Arms, south London. “Honestly, it’s such a cheat-code ingredient.”
Things get a bit trickier when it comes to achieving a similar porky texture, mind, especially if, like Woodhouse and Davies, you’re not big on meat substitutes: “I do love tofu, though,” Davies says – and Woodhouse couldn’t agree more, often using meat rubs (think hickory steak or barbecue) with firm tofu that has been crumbled and fried hard on a high heat until nice and crisp. “Throw in a tablespoon or two of tomato puree, cook that out, then add a drop of water,” Woodhouse says. “And if you want to get fancy, add a cornflour slurry [ie, equal parts cornflour and cold water] to get that silky texture.” The tomato puree ticks the umami box, while the tofu brings the texture.
That said, if James were to go down the TVP (textured vegetable protein) path, he needs to be prepared to go heavy handed with the spices. Of course, chorizo’s flavour comes from pimentón, so it’s worth stocking up on those dried smoked peppers, as well as on chilli, Woodhouse says: “They’ll bring flavour and colour, so add two or three different types, so layering the flavour to bring that sausage vibe.”
We all know that a good carbonara hinges on the mingling of pasta, egg, guanciale (or pancetta) and cheese, so if James is knocking one of those out of the equation, we’re going to need the granular detail of Felicity Cloake. In her perfect meat-free spaghetti carbonara, the Guardian’s resident perfectionist favours king oyster mushrooms, and adds soy sauce, garlic (“yes, I know many carbonara recipes don’t include garlic, but mine does”) and a pinch of smoked paprika to “help maintain the illusion”. Her other top tip? Don’t skimp on the oil: “Guanciale is fatty stuff, and mushrooms aren’t, so you want them to soak up some of that olivey goodness.”
Woodhouse, meanwhile, turns to Rachel Roddy’s linguine with courgettes, egg and parmesan in her brilliant The A-Z of Pasta: “You’ve still got the egg and cheese mix, and you cut courgettes into batons and fold them in with the pasta,” he says. James could then add those white beans with sage and garlic that Woodhouse spoke of earlier, and finish with fried breadcrumbs for texture. As always, it’s much better to find what you’re looking for through flavour, rather than subbing in ultra-processed stuff.
Got a culinary dilemma? Email [email protected]
