Does quorn taste as rank as it looks?

[Waxonwaxoff0]

Making an effort to try and cut down on my meat consumption so I've bought quorn mince to make bolognese with tomorrow. Never tried it before in my life but it looks horrible. DM who is vegetarian swears blind that I won't be able to tell that it's not beef mince. Is she having me on?

Brown or green lentils are far nicer than Quorn mince.
I like the meatballs though and DD and her non veggie friends like the southern fried.
The picnic eggs are not great but addictive.
The chicken pieces are ok,especially in curries.
It has a place as is very quick to cook and from frozen but not too much and if you like the ham,bacon etc get help.

It also is dangerous if you have a mould allergy

It has no flavour of it's own but will taste ok if used in a sauce eg bolognaise. Unlike meat mince, it's very dry, so allow extra liquid. I add a bit of marmite or soy sauce to my quorn bolognese to give it a bit more oomph.

It's horrible and has given me indigestion every time I've had it (always in bolognese). Of course you can tell it's not meat! I am perfectly happy to eat less meat and eat vegetarian meals, but not ones with fake meat in them.

I'm a vegetarian but don't eat quorn, it's rank! There's loads of veggie meals you can make using lentils or vegetables, pulses, etc, you don't have to eat fake meat. Have a look on Pinterest for ideas.

I like it but you can't eat it plain - it needs cooking in a sauce so it absorbs the flavour. I had sweet and sour quorn stir fry the other night and it was delicious

You will be able to tell that it's not mice

Thank goodness for that.

We reckon there are different grades of Quorn, the best stuff going into the white chunks/'fillets' which we quite like (student DD eats a lot of it). I've not tried the mince for several years, I quite liked it but it gave me stomach cramps (which the aforementioned types don't)

Yes everybody finds it rank.

That’s why they sell so much of it. Because rank.

I personally wouldn’t cut down on meat consumption by adding highly processed food. Just try recipes that are meant to be meat-free.

fry onions capsicums & spices (a little cumin?) first, than do a quick fry (seconds od mince than add fresh tomatoes quickly fry them add tinned or passata dash of Worcester (vegies type or soya sauce) & I add a little sweet pickle - warm through add basil before serving - serve with pasta of your choice. We like fajitas made with chicken(less) pieces - using those packs. I like to use cumin with these & with veggie meat I find a little sweet pickle cooked with them gives a little depth (meat is sweet - or grated raw carrot, or grated beetroot)

That’s why they sell so much of it. Because rank.

I don't think anyone said that everyone finds it rank. People were just giving their own opinion about whether they thought it was nice or not.

I use it in Spag Bol and much prefer it to beef. The southern style hot and spicy Quorn burgers are really good too.

Quorn chicken is brilliant - their nuggets are indistinguishable from the real thing.

Their mince is shit though. I'd honestly get rid of the pack you've got because when you eat it, it's going to put you off meat-free products for life

However soy mince is great - the texture is chewier than the horrible mushy quorn. I get mine from sainsburys and it's great!

Thanks for all the other suggestions too! I'm not going full vegetarian, I just thought it would be an easy alternative instead for mince based dishes, I'm probably just looking for lazy ways to do it though

Will look at the Linda McCartney range too.

It's ok. The mince isn't the greatest as the texture is a bit... soft... mushy? I used to eat quite a bit of the quorn sausages and chicken style pieces. The chicken style pieces are pretty good in fairness. Linda McCartney sausages are far nicer than the quorn ones imo.
Unfortunately I can't touch quorn now as it makes me really ill. And I can't eat soya either so that's the Linda McCartney's sausages out the window too.

The red onion and rosemary Linda McCartney sausages are lovely OP

I think Quorn is fine.
Quorn hotdogs are nicer than real ones.

I think you’re better off using the lentils etc as previously mentioned or halving the amount of beef mince you use and making up the rest of the weight with lentils and grated root veg. I also find chorizo a good stand by because a little bit adds a lot of flavour to an otherwise vegetarian dish. You can make a bean type casserole with a variety of beans, onions, celery, root veg and tomatoes and add a small amount of chorizo, stock and smoked paprika. Other spices like Ras Al Hanout ( god knows on the spelling... it’s North African) adds warm smoky flavours to this type of dish too. Veggie chilli is easy to knock up with whatever random veg you have knocking about... I like to use a smoked chilli paste as one of the flavourings. I personally don’t mind Quorn but I’d rather use veggies and beans than a bunch of processed mould.

Quorn sausages are foul. The Linda McCartney one's are good as are the asda veggie one's

We've used Quorn in all sorts of things for years and have mostly enjoyed it. Recently though there has been a lot more on offer for people who for whatever reason don't want to eat meat. That Vivera steak is good, so is their kebab stuff. Iceland's No Bull burgers are really nice but their No Pork (I think?) sausages are horrible (I prefer the Quorn ones). Yesterday we had some Oomph pulled pork in a sandwich and that was delicious; so was their steak stuff that we used in a stew last week - it kept its chewy, meat-like consistency despite being slow cooked all day. We had some vegan jerky from Asda, the only pace we've seen it so far (but I'm avoiding Asda for now), and that tasted and felt almost the same as the real thing.

I think though that everything I mentioned in my previous post contains soya so isn't suitable for everyone. The other thing we like and use quite a lot though is jackfruit - we use that instead of chicken when we make fajitas.

Personally I can't stand quorn. Soya mince is much nicer.

I like the Quorn ‘ham’.
However the cocktail sausages I bought were binned after one sniff 🤢
I really want to like the mince but I can’t. The people saying they make lentil bolognese...surely that causes far greater wind issues though ?!

People making lentil bolognese - can I have your recipe please??

Have you bought the same stuff I buy? Because to me it looks little different to frozen beef mince. Quorn mince doesn't have the same flavour or texture as beef though. It's alright but really I only cook it for family members preferences.

I had some frozen soya mince from Sainsbury's, that was good in a big Bolognese, more 'bite' than the Quorn.

The quorn scotch eggs are delicious. I like the "chicken" in a curry; to me it tastes like very tender chicken and it just absorbs the curry flavour. Not so keen on the mince but it's ok. The Vivera kebab "meat" from Sainsbury's though is amazing - if you like donor kebabs they taste just like the meat but they're not as disgusting because you know they're not mashed up bits of God knows what. They're also about a quarter of the calories of donor meat. The Linda McCartney mozzarella burgers are nice too. And I love the quorn escalopes; either garlic and mushroom or cheese and broccoli- they taste just like chicken to me.