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Food

Non vegetarian supermarket desserts

(41 Posts)
Pippa000 Sun 06-Oct-13 08:15:35

I was amazed to see that several supermarket desserts, for example mousse and fruit fools, use either pork or beef gelatine. This appears to be common in all the major supermarkets. Why do they not use vegetarian gelatine or is this just because of the cost?

absent Wed 09-Oct-13 08:11:22

Vegetarian cheese is already a joke. (Dairy farmers slaughter the bull calves shortly after birth so using vegetarian rennet isn't exactly moral high ground.) But what the hell is vegan cheese?

thatbags Wed 09-Oct-13 07:48:43

squaredog "Greek style" grin. Bit like Somerset Brie then?

squaredog Wed 09-Oct-13 07:43:34

Provomel make really yummy deserts. Too flippin' yummy, if you ask me.

BTW, does anyone know what Greek style yogurt is? Clearly NOT Greek yogurt!

Jendurham Wed 09-Oct-13 00:27:02

Provamel make some lovely chocolate puddings. I think they use carageen instead of gelatine.
I have a recipe book by Martin Shaw. It's not until you reach the end that you realise there is not an egg in sight, it's all vegan, even with recipes such as chocolate cake and leek and almond quiche.

Jendurham Wed 09-Oct-13 00:20:42

Most recipes with eggs in can have a tablespoon of soya flour instead of the egg if the egg is just a binder. You can add an extra spoonful of milk if you want, but I do not think it would be necessary in the cheese pudding recipe.
You can make a vegan one with vegan cheese and soya cream. It's delicious.

janeainsworth Tue 08-Oct-13 12:32:38

Ah - Cheese pudding has egg in it. You could possibly make it with just the egg white?
Basically -
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
3 oz grated Cheshire cheese (or Wensleydale or Caerphilly)
salt, pepper, dry mustard and cayenne, pinch of each
1 egg, beaten
7.5 fluid oz milk
Mix together all the ingredients and put in a well-buttered invidual gratin dish or small pudding basin.
Bake uncovered at 170C till nicely browned, about half an hour.

We eat it with sticks of celery dipped in salt.
A local restaurant makes something very similar, but they put spinach in and serve it with a runny cheese sauce, that's very nice too.
Not sure what the effect of leaving out the egg yolk would be - perhaps increase the amount of cheese?

Galen Tue 08-Oct-13 12:16:14

Egg allergy, although I do do egg white ones, boring! Love hummus, must learn to do my own , don't like chickpeas whole, what's cheese pudding?
Just thought I could do cheese and potato pie, I love it , but, calories!sad

janeainsworth Tue 08-Oct-13 12:09:57

Galen Omelettes? Hummus? Chickpea curry? Cheese pudding?
All things I turn to when I don't fancy meat.

Nelliemoser Tue 08-Oct-13 11:55:32

Thatbags DH has low fat Greek yogurt. I just like the full fat. I don't eat that much fried food to be worried about my fat intake.

thatbags Tue 08-Oct-13 11:50:57

It's not as if we didn't have a choice confused. Masses of choice in fact.

thatbags Tue 08-Oct-13 11:49:31

Ah.

Been thinking, as you do... if people didn't buy the gelatinous desserts, the supermarkets would stop selling them. I guess that means people like them.

People who don't like them (like me) don't have to buy or eat them. What's the problem?

Riverwalk Tue 08-Oct-13 11:47:50

My sister is a vegetarian i.e. no meat or fish - there is apparently a veggie gelatin.

thatbags Tue 08-Oct-13 11:47:15

Is your Asda Greek yogurt low fat, nellie? Our Asda only does low or zero fat Greek yogurt which, to me, means it isn't real Greek yogurt at all.

thatbags Tue 08-Oct-13 11:45:54

She has been known to eat a sandwich that has cress in it hmm

thatbags Tue 08-Oct-13 11:45:23

The kinds of fish you do like sound sufficient, galen. Minibags only eats smoked salmon. The only meat she likes is Parma ham, bacon and hot dog sausages. And the only green thing she eats is my homemade pesto.

So far so good.

She also loves chocolate.

thatbags Tue 08-Oct-13 11:43:22

Can you eat jelly if you're a vegetarian? Gelatin is an animal product.

Why is adding an ingredient, cheap or otherwise, to improve the texture of something (make it more palatable) a bad thing? Isn't that what good cooking is all about?

Galen Tue 08-Oct-13 11:29:54

I'm in a quandary. I've really gone off meat! Don't know why, don't like much fish except beluga caviar and smoked salmon, oh! And tinned sardines and salmon. Hate green veg especially raw eg salad.
I can therefore only really eat chocolate and that's fattening!
What shall I do?

Nelliemoser Tue 08-Oct-13 10:51:17

Bags I am a vegetarian. There are plenty of cheap nutritional foods, lentils chickpeas etc etc which offer good protein and fibre.

It's overpriced desserts that have been padded out with other cheap products such as gelatine just to make their texture better I object to.

I would prefer to eat plain jelly, as at least that does not pretend to be anything else.
I can buy a 550grm pot of thick Greek yogurt from ASDA for little over a £1. As made by "Yeo valley".

JessM Tue 08-Oct-13 10:07:52

Or you could get an Easyyo. Make a thick yoghurt with skimmed milk powder (which works out very cheap) 7 rounded tablespoons of powdered milk seems to do it. And just add some single cream to the mix bags grin

Galen Tue 08-Oct-13 10:05:14

They're brilliant. My kids (39and41) much prefer the easy yo one to bought ones!. The natural Greek one makes wonderful raita and tzsiki (sp)

thatbags Tue 08-Oct-13 09:49:41

I think I'll get him one for xmas, elegran. smile

thatbags Tue 08-Oct-13 09:48:55

But if I were to eat cheaply made gelatinous puddings, it would probably be the sugar and some other ingredients that concerned me more than the gelatine. At least gelatine is worth eating for its nutritional value.

Elegran Tue 08-Oct-13 09:47:21

Thatbags I have bought any Easiyo yoghurt maker. They have Greek yoghurt culture/milk sachets which are excellent, prticularly with honey drizzled over. It makes a litre at a time - quite a lot but it lasts a week or so and if he likes it he will get through it. Sold by several people online, including Lakeland Plastics. Don't bother with the Starter Pack, which just has a using yoghurt recipe book and one sachet of culture, but costs almost twice what the older packaging of just the maker does.

Someone also buying sachets in Lakeland said that the Greek yog with coconut is even more delicious, but I have not tried that yet.

You just add cold water to the inner container, and boiling water to the outer, and leave it overnight.

thatbags Tue 08-Oct-13 09:47:14

And anyway, it's pudding not dessert.

Don't eat puddings either.

And not because I don't like them, but because I only eat one course meals so puddings don't feature.

thatbags Tue 08-Oct-13 09:46:10

Just so no-one gets confused about what I'm saying there... avoiding eating desserts containing gelatine because one's a vegetarian is a separate matter from avoiding eating certain desserts because gelatine has been used in them as a cheap filler.

I don't eat such desserts for a different reason from both of those... well, two reasons actually: I don't eat desserts, and if I did I'd make my own, with or without gelatine, as desired.