Doimg an experiment with Quorn

[wibblyjelly]

I've just made a 'shepherd's' pie for dinner tonight, made with quorn instead of lambs mince. I'm not going to tell DH though. Do you think he will notice?

If you put plenty of fried onions and garlic in it he probably won't,
though as you've cooked it maybe it's too late wibbly

I put onions in the mince, and garlic in the mash, so fingers crossed!

It will be different. The Quorn version will be significantly less greasy and the "meat" softer. I bet he won't notice though.

Would love to know how you get on. This is on my list of to do's this year!

He'll notice. Quorn tastes, smells and feels nothing like lamb. He'll probably enjoy it though.

I had lasagne made with quorn mince a few months ago, couldn't tell the difference and quite enjoyed it.

I don't mind Quorn, but it tastes, er, vegetal, iykwim. He'll prob notice, but it's not unpleasant.

Will let you know how we get on. I'm looking at ways for us to eat a bit healthier this year, so if its nice, it may be a permanent change!

My family all noticed when I put quorn in spaghetti bolognese - they asked me not to do it again. May have been the way I cooked it, but we all thought it was horrible!

Ydraig, did you boil the mince first? That stops it going dry and stringy. I use it quite a lot now, for weight management reasons. I quite like it

I tried some before putting the potato's on top, and I could tell, but not sure if its because I knew it was in there.

I make spaghetti bolognese and chilli all the time using soya mince and nobody has noticed it yet! Quorn the few times I tasted it before going vegan was vile and they hated it bolognese and chilli. I think if you use plenty of flavours you could get away with it, but lamb is a much stronger flavour than beef mince so please do let us know how your deception goes :)

My family never notice

I am veggie and have been for 20 odd years now, so I couldn't possibly comment on whether he will notice or not :)

My friends cook with quorn a lot, they both cook bolognaise - when he does it he 'fries it off' like you do with 'real' mince and she doesn't - she just bungs it in with everything else. I don't think they do anything else differntly and his is always nicer :)

I don't call myself a veggie but I eat hardly any meat. Like multipoodles I 2nd organic soya mince soaked in boiling water first or brown lentils and fried off with plenty of onions and garlic rather than Quorn which is very expensive and has some odd ingredients

I bought some Quorn mince and chicken pieces recently, made bolognese with the mince and thai curry with the chicken. The flavour was okay (ie mainly the sauces) but the texture was odd - really soft, almost wet. Not pleasant.

Didn't go down too well. He tried it, and said it was nice, but tasted strange. When I told him it was Quorn, his face dropped, and he said he had been really looking forward to a meaty dinner. He is now frying some chopped up bacon to have with it to get his meat fix.

I have to agree with him though, there is no flavour at all, despite me putting in loads when I cooked it.

Oh no wibblyjelly, what a disappointment :-(. I suspect my husband would do exactly the same thing. Might just save it for the kids!

I made up for it the next night by giving him a mixed grill :-)

I always fry Quorn (mince or pieces) first as you would meat. Makes all the difference.

In my husbands eye's no meal is a meal without meat! Mixed grill would be perfect for him, but sadly not for me. I can take meat or leave it, much prefer fish, but happy to try Quorn etc. anyone tried quinoa? I don't actual even know what it is but seen it in lots of veggie dishes

Sounds like it would have been alright if you hadn't told him...

I always fry quorn with garlic and onions then add stock made with vecon it has a really neaty flavour and is perfect for quorn.

I always find Quorn mince to be a bit crap - too soft and wet and just seems to disintegrate. Whereas real meat mince is a bit chewy and has a bit more integrity. Does frying it first help with this? I was thinking about putting it in the oven for a bit first to try and harden it up a bit!

I always used to do mince as half meat half that dried soya stuff to be a bit healthier (and cheaper!) and it was fine and I don't think anyone would notice, especially in something with lots of flavour like a chilli.