Who's Got Beef? Kiss My Tostada.

Almost 15 years ago I became a lacto-ovo vegetarian; not because I believe it is morally wrong to consume animals and animal products, but because I believe the greater agricultural industry that produces animal products is corrupt, unethical, and immoral. I believe the way animals are raised, processed and consumed has become corrupt. My family was offended when I became vegetarian. People always try to feed me meat or animal products even after I have repeatedly explained to them that my body doesn't actually do well digesting animal products. I don't judge anyone for eating animals. They are delicious and it is part of the natural life cycle for many animals to eat other animals. Even animals who are vegetarian by nature (cows, sheep, goats, deer, etc.) can not avoid eating an insect from time to time. Insects are part of the Animal Kingdom. In this sense, there is no being who can claim pure vegetarianism. Also, I believe veganism to be ethically and morally corrupt as an idea, practice, and philosophy for any reason other than medical reasons. Ultimately true veganism has no medical basis, however. True veganism goes far beyond diet. From my perspective, veganism is in and of itself an environmentally unsustainable practice. It goes against Natural Order. Many of the materials used to replace leather don't last nearly as long as leather, use more resources to produce, and cause more pollution. In short, many vegan products have a much larger carbon footprint than animal based products like leather or adhesives and emulsifiers. In addition, some people are very allergic to vegan replacement materials and ingredients. I almost always get a rash or have some other adverse reaction to meals at vegan restaurants. Unless a person is a raw vegan living on a minimum of foods in a thatch hut in the wilderness wearing loin cloths and kozo dresses there is little to no argument supporting veganism as a sustainable or ethical alternative to any life style. Besides, that is an unreasonable path for the majority of locations on the planet.

Under pressure from family, and pretty much everyone else I encounter, a couple years ago I started adding some sea food back into my diet. It no longer makes me as sick as it did at first, but I still have adverse reaction when I eat it more than once or twice a month...and I've gained weight. So, I'm not sure it's really all that great for me, though I find it delicious. When I first began eating a lacto-ovo diet it took me a couple years to learn how to cook a balanced vegetarian diet. Some of my family and many of the people around me on a regular basis still like to argue about how I can't possibly be getting balanced nutrition if I don't eat animals. That is really an ignorant pile of bullshit. I think the problem most people REALLY have when they find out about my diet is more of a personal problem. They know what I have said is correct and they assume I am judging them because they are in fact judging themselves. Trust me. I'm not. I made a choice for myself. Ultimately, my Conscience can not allow me to consume an animal if I can not bring myself to kill that animal. I've never had any problem cleaning animals, and leather isn't so much of a problem to me because leather is not a one time use item and takes great skill and education to be able to process. I often buy leather items second hand.

I also like to cook, and there are many dishes that I used to enjoy very much that I can no longer have...without great gastrointestinal distress, joint pain, head ache, congestion, brain fog, or vomiting. So, I'm always excited to find new "plant-based" meat substitutes to tryout in recipes that traditionally use animal products.  I say "plant-based" that way because while the food industry is calling these new meat substitute/protien substitute products "plant-based", the majority of them are actually fungus-based, and fungus has it's very own Kingdom seperate from plants or animals. It's always interesting. The science is fascinating and the products are becoming better and better tasting and looking. There is even one product that is almost indistiguishable from beef, the Impossible Burger product. That product, in particular, is derived from the heme found in fungus as opposed to being created by fermenting and processing the entire fungus like the product called Quorn. Animals also have heme. It is the part of the blood that holds iron and aids in clotting: hematoma, hemaglobin, hemophilia. The Impossible Burger bleeds. It's delicious. It also makes me sick the same way a beef patty does. So interesting! ANYWAY...whenever I see a new "plant-based" meat substitute product at the store I like to try it. Last night I tried out a product by Sweet Earth Foods, Awesome Grounds. 

I made Tostadas.

These are my: Got No Beef International Tostadas topped with brussle sprout and fennel salad, labneh, avocado, manouri cheese, and El Yucateco Caribbean Hot Sauce. You can try making them too. This is what I did:

Shaved Brussle Sprout & Fennel Salad and Maouri 

Manouri Cheese is a fresh, specifically Western Macedonian, cheese that is kind of like a cross between feta and ricotta. The milks and process is regionally specific, and like Champagne, only cheese from this specific region can be called Manouri. It is lovely contradiction of a cheese. It is mild but flavorful, creamy but dry, soft but firm, Greek but not really Greek. It is a fantastic substitute for Queso Fresco, a traditional fresh cheese from Mexico, though far less salty. For this meal I grated a chunk of Manouri that was about as big as my fist.

The Brussle Sprout & Fennel Salad/Slaw I made is a take on the shaved cabbage and carrot sald/slaw that is often served on Baja-style tacos. Using a mandolin, I shaved 15 raw brussle sprouts, half a small fennel bulb, and half a red onion in a bowl. I then added 1 fist full of chopped fresh cilantro, 1T granulated Gilroy Garlic, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp ground cumin, 4T lime juice and 1 T seseame oil. I tossed it all together then sat it aside to marinade. Next I started the no-beef taco meat using the Awesome Grounds.

Got No-Beef Taco Meat

In my wok I melted 2 T of butter and added one package (still half frozen) of Awesome Grounds. As it started to sizzle I added 2 T granulated Gilroy Garlic, 1 T onion powder, 3 T of my 2019 Holiday Wester-style BBQ Rub and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Once the bottom of the brick of grounds started to brown, using a wooden spoon I broke the grounds up and stirred through the spices. After about 8 minutes of stirring and breaking the grounds into smaller and smaller crumbles I added one coarsely chopped beef steak tomato and stirred it through until it "melted" into the mixture. Then I heated up the cast iron skillet and toasted the tortillas.

Once the tortillas were starting to get toasted and crispy it was time to dress 'em up. On each plate I slightly overlapped three toasted tortillas in a clover-like pattern then sprinkled some cheese, spooned on a generous amount of the No Beef Taco Meat, sprinkled a little more cheese, then a generous scoop of the salad/slaw, a dollop of Labneh and sprinkled it with the hot sauce with avacado slices on the side.

Labneh is technically a cheese, but is much more similar in appearance and texture to yogurt. It is a Lebanese food that is made from strained yogurt. It's kind of like a real thick sour cream.

The tostadas were pretty good, but there are a few changes I would make next time. First, I would use more butter in the wok and totally thaw the Awesome Grounds. When I bought the Awesome Grounds at the market the product was in the cooler but not frozen. I put the product in the freezer because I knew I wasn't ging to use it the day I went to the market and I didn't know if it was the kind of thing that spoils quickly if not used right away. I have frozen other Sweet Earth products without compromising the product. It was the same with this product. I'd use it thawed next time, however, for the purposes of browning. When the moisture started to come out of the product as it melted in the wok, it mixed with the butter and the grounds never really got crispies like I wanted them to. I think this is an issue of chemistry and water distribution in the product. When I have used similar products in the past I have found that the thawed products gets crispies more readily. I also think using twice the amount of butter would help with the browning process as well. The other thing I'd change is I'd not use the BBQ rub I made for this recipe. In stead I would break out the all the different chillis and spices and salt and alter the balance of ingredients.

The BBQ rub was made with the intention of seasoning meat or meat substitute products on the grill, not in a pan or wok. As such, the salt ratio was too high for this particular recipe. The flavor was good, but it was a bit salty for my taste. Other than that, the meal was very tasty and I will definitly use this product again. I'm interested to see how it behaves in red sauce for pasta. I suspect it will not be appropriate for making the base of the sauce like beef is, but when I try it I plan to make my regular vegetarian sauce and brown the ground seperately and sprinkle them in to each individual plate served. But, who knows...maybe I'll just brown them seperately and mix them through the sauce before serving, as an experiment. Bottom line, good job, Sweet Earth. It's a better than decent product.