For those of you don’t know – I’ve recently become vegetarian. I thought it would be tricky to drop meat products out of my diet and find a suitable replacement, but Quorn has filled that gap beautifully.
I buy a lot of Quorn products, my fridge and freezer seem to be a shrine to the Mycoprotein based product, probably because it’s so versatile and can be used in similar ways to its ‘meaty’ relative. I was really pleased to get an invite to The Crabtree in Fulham learn a bit more about the range of products and actually try some in a summery setting on a barbecue.
We were told about the origins of Quorn, and how the Mycoprotein is made. It’s a nutritious member of the fungi family that is grown by fermentation similar to the process used in the production of bread, yoghurt and beer. No soya here – just the Mycoprotein. It also means that Quorn products are low in fat, and low in saturated fat so meals made with Quorn alternatives will have fewer calories – which is probably why my jeans are getting too big these days. I also didn’t know that Quorn is all comes out of the UK and exported to 12 countries across the world, and is the UK’s 35th biggest food brand.
After the introduction to the product, it was time to eat!
The Quorn team had laid on traditional barbecue / picnic fayre – Jugs of Pimms, Burgers, Sausages, Salads, Picnic Eggs and Cocktail Sausages. They had me at the Pimms and Cocktail Sausages – two of my weaknesses.
I took my friend Paul along to the Quorn event – he’s a bit of a social media-phobe and the world of blogging and indeed vegetarianism BAFFLES him, so this seemed like the perfect event to take him to.
I must admit I was interested in Paul’s reaction to the products, he’s never tried Quorn before and as a staunch meat eater he was adamant that Quorn wasn’t for him. He was proved wrong fairly quickly as the Quorn Picnic Eggs and Cocktail Sausages were passed around, I’ve never seen them disappear so quickly. The Cocktail Sausages are amazing – back in my ‘fat’ days I could destroy an entire pack of them in minutes, they always tasted good, but were a bit gristly and nasty in places. Not so with the Quorn versions, all the flavour is there, but none of the nasties or gristle.
Next up it was time to try the barbecued burgers and sausages, the thing to remember with Quorn is although it tastes, and looks ‘meaty’ it doesn’t need to be cooked the same as meat, it requires substantially less time. You can barbecue a Quorn Burger in around 8 minutes, it’s best not to go over the this as they can go a bit mushy – remember you’re just warming it through and not nuking it!
I really enjoyed having the Quorn products from the barbecue, it was a first for me and seeing how quick and easy it was I’ll definetely be firing up the coals soon! Also something that I didn’t think about – Quorn barbecue cooking will make cleaning up easier – no scraping off masses of burnt fat the grill! Less cooking time, healthier, and less faff afterwards – can’t say no to that!
Paul seemed to enjoy the Quorn products too, and did say he’d try them at home and see how he and his family got on with them. I really do think Quorn and other vegetarian products are PERFECT for familes, especially when money is tight, although some varieties of meat MIGHT be cheaper, it’s cheap for a reason – it’s usually crap. Quorn isn’t overly expensive, and is often on 3 for 2 deals in Supermarkets so you can have a quality, healthier meat alternative and it won’t cost a bomb either.
The evening drew on, and my blogging colleagues disappeared into the night, leaving Paul and I to do what we do best – drink pints, and put the world to rights.
Thanks to the lovely folks at Quorn for a nice chilled evening!
