Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Is there a thread on this already? I couldn't find one.

I bought some today and it is WEIRD. The texture is all kinds of wrong. It's very spongy, almost like frozen tofu. Definitely not suitable for eating plain (which I used to like to do with dairy ricotta). however, I found some reviews online and apparently it melts well, so that's promising. I'll have to make a lasagna with it and see what happens.

Awww, I was wondering about it.

The guy who does the Vegan Zombie cooking show posted about buying some and he also said it was weird.

i haven't seen it around here yet, but i want to try it!

I'm intrigued! Like I am by every weird vegan thing that comes down the pike. Does it taste gross or is it mostly a texture thing?

it doesn't taste like much, but it has a sort of cheesy taste. it's hard to think about the taste with that texture though.

This is funny to me because for always I thought the V'con spinach lasagne with tofu ricotta was a "weird" vegan thing (though amazing and awesome and I love it) where it was made up and people wouldn't actually put real ricotta in lasagne in omni life but I just googled it and it turns out it's a true thing sometimes!

eta: I don't mean that in a negative way! It's just quite a different kind of lasagne to what I have always known!

I love the tofu ricotta that Rising Moon Organics uses in their vegan line of pasta dishes. I wish they sold it separately as a retail product.

Are you one of those people who grew up with cottage cheese in lasagna? Because that is super wrong. Sorry. Ricotta all the way! (vegan ricotta, anyway.)

Seriously, people do that? My mom made killer lasagne and the ricotta was the best part!

Yes, people do that! It blew my mind the first time I heard about it. Apparently it's a (maybe regional?) thing.

My mom used cottage cheese because ricotta was more expensive.

Prima cotta. Agree agree agree.

Also, ricotta that melts? Dairy ricotta doesn't melt. So that's super weird to me.

I'm guessing she's talking about just using mozz in lasagna, not ricotta or cottage cheese. I think cottage cheese was just a more accessible, lower fat option instead of ricotta.

I could be wrong, but I think the ricotta in lasagna is a North American thing. I grew up with it, but when I recently showed a pic of vegan lasagna with tofu ricotta to some folks (both vegan and non-vegan) over here, they didn't get what the "crumbly stuff" was. Thinking about it, I realized that all the lasagna I've seen on this side of the Atlantic is usually made with bechamel instead of ricotta.

Just what I was going to say. Ricotta and mozzarella in lasagna is a very Italian-American (North American?) thing.

Personally, I'm not picky about my lasagna. I don't care if it's a ricotta-style filling or a béchamel sauce. I like 'em all. I'll have to keep my eyes out for this tofutti!

Yes, lasagne here would just be bolognese and bechamel sauce (though I think my mum used to put cheddar on the top of hers), I had never heard of putting ricotta in it until V'con (and mozzarella and cottage cheese are new to me today!) Definitely seems to be an Italian-American thing!

Oh god, bechamel sauce in lasagna is the BEST. I've only had that at fancier restaurants in the city, pregan, and it was amazing. I was all "oh holy hell what is this divine taste?"

For everyday lasagna, though, ricotta was involved and the tofu ricotta in Isa's books is pretty great.

I always had ricotta between the layers and mozz on top growing up, from my Italian-American grandmothers. I didn't know there was a different way.

I have a tub of the stuff sitting in my fridge. I was thinking of making V'con pumpkin ziti with it. Now the melting thing has me a little concerned.

Someone take a picture of it! I don't know why, but I feel like if I see it I'll know if I like it.

here, this is from one of the reviews I found http://ieatfood.net/2011/12/07/tofutti- ... ew-recipe/

i haven't had it melted yet, but there's no way you'd want it if it didn't melt.

oh. ew.

I don't even understand how to use bechamel instead of ricotta (maybe in addition to); ricotta fills up the layers! If you use bechamel, does that just mean you have to use a lot of other stuff for volume? (Whereas you could just do ricotta and tomato sauce if you wanted). Or is it just a totally different style of lasagna that's flatter?

I don't know about this Tofutti. I feel like I'm pretty set with Isa's tofu-cashew ricotta.