Thursday, March 13, 2008

Product review: Yves "Heart's desire" meatless chicken strips.

Rating: (4 out of 5 v's) (4 out of 5 v's)

This product is so new it's not even on the Yves web site yet. When Bill and I saw it at the supermarket we decided to try it out. We have been long standing fans of the Yves meatless deli slices, and were curious to see how these stacked up.


Stats:
vegan
net weight 6 oz
2 servings per container.
110 calories, 1 gram fat, no trans fats, no cholesterol, 440mg sodium, 450mg potassium, 3grams carbs, 1 gram fiber, and 22 grams protein.
Main ingredient is soy, from non GMO sources.

Straight out of the package the strips looked like, well, chicken and even smelled like the real deal. We ended up cooking the strips in a Thai coconut curry recipe. I was originally afraid that the curry flavor would overshadow the strips, but flavor-wise, they fared relatively well, in the pieces I could find. The curry required some minutes of boiling within the sauce and the strips quickly fell apart, and lost coherency. The pieces I could find while eating tasted wonderful, but were on the mushy side, and very small.

The box says: "great on a salad, a stir-fry, sandwich, or great on their own" and I will need to agree. These strips and tasty and convenient, but don't fare well to excessive cooking or handling. So do what the box advises and make a stir fry. If you want chicken-like flavor and texture in something that will be cooked longer, go with the cheaper and more reliable standby of large chunk TVP and this recipe:


"Chicken" TVP

1 C large chunk TVP
2 C water
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/4 Tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast

Boil for 10 minutes or until tender.
Use pieces in your favorite "chicken" recipe.