When they're prepared well, faux meats such as tofu, seitan and tempeh can be delicious, flavorful, textured and healthy. Each is made in a slightly different way, but all boast much smaller amounts of cholesterol, saturated fat and calories than you'd find in a meat product.
Tofu
Tofu, otherwise known as bean curd, is a processed product that comes from soybeans. According to the Mori-Nu company, which produces both silken and firm varieties of tofu, the product contains water, soybeans, isolated soy protein, calcium chloride and gluconolactone, a dairy-free coagulating agent that comes from cornstarch. Each 3 oz. serving of tofu has about 50 calories. When preparing the product, you can marinate it to give it flavor and then grill, sauté, crumble, fry or puree it.
Tempeh
Tempeh is another soy-based product, but it has a markedly different texture from tofu. Whereas fresh soybeans are used to produce tofu, fermented beans are the base of tempeh, and the product is chewier and firmer than tofu. Tofurky.com reports that tempeh is made by injecting cooked soybeans with the mold Rhizopus oligosporus and then incubating the product overnight. As with tofu, you can fry or sauté tempeh as well as marinate and barbecue it.
Seitan
Seitan is a meat replacement made from gluten, a protein-rich component of wheat. It has a chewy, hearty texture that's very similar to that of beef or pork. According to Jill Nussinow, M.S., R.D., you can make the base of seitan by combining flour and water in a ratio of about two to one. The next step is rinsing off the starch from the dough and kneading for an extended period of time to develop strong gluten strands. Seitan is traditionally marinated with flavors including soy sauce, ginger and garlic, so it has a slightly more developed flavor than tofu or tempeh.
Other Products
Some commercial meat substitutes are designed to imitate specific meat products. Those items tend to be more highly processed than tofu, tempeh or seitan and contain a wider variety of ingredients. Often, the principal component is textured vegetable protein, which is made from soy protein. For example, veggie sausage patties contain TVP as well as egg whites, corn oil, tapioca starch, wheat gluten, yeast extract and several other components. If you're concerned about choosing vegetable products that are minimally processed or avoiding certain ingredients due to a special diet, always carefully read nutrition facts labels before you purchase a meat substitute.
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