So, a quick review of the festive food I used in my first ever vegan Christmas Dinner. All items bought from Asda, which is my go-to food shop deliverer.
Vegan Wellington
(By way of introductory context – I have, on many occasions, partaken of a Quorn Roast. I have already mentioned elsewhere that my relationship with Quorn is… mixed, to say the least. My children love the roast but I honestly dislike it. I would rather have nothing at all – just a pile of veg and gravy – than have one of those zeppelin-shaped monstrosities. They have tainted my idea of meat-free alternatives to Sunday Lunches/Christmas Dinners, and it was with such twisted memories that I embarked on my festive food odyssey…)
I won’t lie, I have no idea what was in this vegan wellington. The ingredients list looked like the usual muddled mix of soya protein, wheat extract and maltodextrin. I was also a little concerned about having something in pastry – I’m not a huge fan of pastry and gravy together (yes, even pies and gravy; the sogginess just isn’t my thing). But, I was way out in the wilderness here and I needed to keep an open mind.
Nothing like this was ever going to be a truly satisfying substitute for my traditional turkey and gammon. And I approached it with trepidation and lowered expectations. Which were unwarranted. I genuinely enjoyed it – it was surprisingly meaty and the pastry faired well against the onslaught of gravy (which came packeted with the wellington and tasted equally good). It was a breeze to cook, and was big enough for two meals (it said ‘serves three’ but that’s just nonsense – I could have had it one sitting but I was on best behaviour…).
On the whole, a decent centrepiece to the Christmas Dinner – I’d definitely have it again and would recommend it to anyone wanting something a little different.
Vegan Cocktail Sausages
The first thing I noticed about these little fellas, was how closely they resembled real pork sausages. To the point that I actually thought Asda had mixed up my order. I’m so used to vegan sausages looking unlike actual meat versions that this came as a bit of a shock. And, in all other respects, they were just like meaty sausages – baked easily in the same sort of time, and kept up the visual pretence once cooked, looking just like the real deal.
Taste-wise, they were good and their texture was decent too. For me they were similar to cheap style chipolatas, rather than top notch pork sausages – but you never expect too much from cocktail sausages anyway.
That said, these were the de facto replacements for pigs in blankets and in that sense they did fall some way short. But, I had braced myself for the loss of that particular trimming, and these were decidedly better than I expected.
All in all, not a bad effort, and a welcome accompaniment to the wellington.
Chestnut and Cranberry Stuffing Balls
I do love stuffing balls. Usually sausagemeat.
But I’m not a huge fan of fruit paired with meat. I’ve never taken to pork and apple, or gammon and pineapple. So this was a bit of a gamble. However – as I said above – I was keeping myself open to being persuaded.
I would say these were the part I liked least, but in fairness that is probably more to do with my ‘savoury fruit’ prejudice. They were enjoyable, but the cranberry was a little too sweet for me (I should also mention that I never have cranberry sauce with my Christmas Dinner – it’s basically just jam, and why in god’s name would anybody have a glob of jam with their meat and gravy?!).
These did work well as leftovers though, and made a cracking fry up sandwich the following day – along with a few of the cocktail sausages and a load of veg. I’d say that if you’re one of those freaks who likes cranberry sauce with their dinner, these would be great.
FINAL VERDICT
It’s actually quite hard to find fault with these products. They had the unenviable task of trying to replace one of my favourite meals in the world – one so dear to my heart that I’ll admit to considering taking a tumble from the meat wagon just for the day. The idea of Christmas Dinner without all the meat and trimmings was a genuinely dispiriting prospect.
These were never going to really shape up to Christmas Dinners gone by, but to their credit, they gave me a festive meal that I genuinely enjoyed. They fall short, not in taste or texture, but in not being what I have spent three and a half decades eating on Christmas Day. They weren’t going to get five stars, because nothing ever could. But a three and half star final verdict, when going toe-to-toe with such a culinary behemoth, is a bloody good showing. After my experiences with these products, I won’t approach next Christmas with as much dejected trepidation as I did this one.
