Flavor – How to get vegan cheese to taste like cheese

So yesterday I tried out the experiment. I made the naked fatty per the normal recipe, and using the gimme lean breakfast sausage. The two primary concerns I had were (a) to ensure the sausage didn't come apart during the smoking process and (b) to ensure a good amount of smokiness was imparted.

• With respect to (a), the heat I worried might denature the exterior sausage bits, so I rubbed my hands, cutting board, grill grate, and the sausage with some canola oil. The hope was to try to have a protectant layer on the outside that would be hydrophobic, and reduce stickiness.
• With respect to (b), I assumed the smoke from the charcoal would sufficiently suffuse the pork sausage, but was concerned about the vegan one. To create more smoke I roasted peppers and tomatillos for the latter half of the cooking process.

Results: Both ended up smoky and nicely textured. Neither was on the verge of crumbly bits, but rather tender on the inside and nicely glazed on the outside. The "meats" were very smoky, very well flavored (the rub was great, but my vegan bbq sauce from scratch not so good). When I incorporated it into chili I quartered the chubs lengthwise and put a quick sear on each edge. They were good short term, not so good long-term and became pretty soft and the flavor dimished. Next time I may try rolling it flat and smoking it that way so it can just be crumbled.

Takeaway: Smoking vegan sausage pulls out some really good stuff. Obviously it's not pork sausage, but it is a tasty meat substitute and smoking it is worth the effort. It doesn't take well yet to stock; further searing/cooking might be required.

Cooks Illustrated has an ultimate veggie burger recipe that you can adapt. Their key to umami is cremini mushrooms. I've made that recipe and it was well received. Of course, no one mistook them for real hamburgers, but the patties tasted quite good.

• MSG (monosodium glutamate) is to umami flavour what sugar is to sweet flavour. So if you're pro-msg, you can try that, too. And pleanty reasons not to ;)
• I recommend trying shitake mushrooms as well.
• Also try up to 5% wheat germ/flour which should help with the caramelization and related flavours.
• grated vidalia onions in the patties also help (caramelization and umami).