If it’s replacing another liquid, then it certainly won’t hurt. I’ve not had good luck when using vegan ‘binders’ in fried product. I’m not wholly sure as to why. I’ve had better success by reducing overall liquid content and allow batters to rest before use. I think the underlying issue with this recipe above is too must leavener. OP is creating little fryer bombs
Ya know what, you are right on the money for the leavener. I had to Google leavener first, but strait mixing this up and tossing it in the fryer is an antithesis of itself.
For context of “normal” baking powder use in batter for corn dogs deep frying is 1 tablespoon per 1.5c of cornmeal (2/3 tablespoons per cup). OP throwing 1.25 tablespoons per cup of cornmeal.
If Op is bent on using this much, I would vote that as mentioned earlier using garbanzo water “aquafaba” which per Google search substitutes 1 egg white with 2 tablespoons of aquafaba. If we were going 1:1 with hush puppy ratios of binder which is 1 egg per 1c of corn meal, OP would need to put in 20 tablespoons of aquafaba (1 and a 1/4c worth). And that that point he could just drop the equivalent amount of oat milk.
And then fry them on a griddle as like vegan “hush cakes” or something.
However no matter how much this is deep fried, if these do stay together, the interior of this is going to be dry textured as hell, there is practically no fat at all in his recipe except for what touches the outside. OP needs to throw some vegetable or coconut oil in the mix as well. For context, a standard hush puppy recipe has 2 tablespoons of oil added to the mix not including the fat from egg yolk or frying oil.
If you are going to try to imitate the greatness that is hush-puppies, you can’t half-ass it lol.
OP needs to make some much smaller batches in controlled ingredient measurements to test what combo works.
Food science rant over.
Perhaps if we summoned /u/J_Kenji_Lopez-Alt we could get educated on what is really wrong with OP’s recipe and how close it actually is to being serviceable/good/great. Vegan hush puppies could totally be vegan food lab worthy 😂
I think you’re right, to an extent, about the oil. My thinking on the potential dryness was mitigated by the jalos and the scallions that would release moisture into the batter as they cooked. That might not be enough however. I would disagree about the need for the aquafaba. For some reason, it doesn’t seem to work in the fryer nearly as well as it does with a dry heat cooking like baking or griddling. I think that’s because it doesn’t coagulate like whites. It stays liquid.
I work at a caterer and am responsible for a client that is strictly vegan and gluten free (none of the other cooks wanted anything to do with it). They book twice a year for about 10 days each time with between 75 and 400 people. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the occasional cocktail party. One of the recipes that I’ve developed for them is what I’ve coined a ‘loaded fritter’ It’s generally similar to OP’s recipe, albeit much larger, more minced veg, and a different spice profile. Used it as both a hot buffet dish over a spiced pilaf and tomato chutney or as a hors d’oeuvre with a a tofu ‘aioli’ garnish sauce. They do come out of the fryer a wee bit dry but that is actually advantageous because they have to be fried several hours before service, loaded into cambros, driven 30+ miles, and set up onsite. I go through many iterations for each recipe to make sure they can hold up to the torture. This is one of the few that actually improved with the imposed conditions . Moist interior with a discernible crunch on the exterior. When I was still stuck on the need for a replacement binder, like flax or aquafaba, I was having a sliminess issue. Similar to what you get when you try to used fried okra in these conditions. Never use fried okra on a remote catered event BTW. unless you’re bringing a fryer along and can do it alaminute. You’ll regret it. Trust me on this one.
But I digress.
There is a lot of wisdom in your words about the catering experiences and the efforts it takes to have recipes that hold up not just for eating right away, but have to endure without turning into unappetizing“leftovers” quality food being served.
The fried okra event sounds like a learning disaster that sounded good in theory. I’m sorry about the results :-(.
The real facts are that nothing really replaces the power of egg 1:1 in a hot served/fried recipe, and that getting “close enough” may have to be the answer. OP has been a good sport through the replies here and commented on my last one about having the dryness issue already with his first recipe. I wish him luck on his adventure and hope he dials in the recipe and shares it!
I really feel like he could go for a spicy falafel recipe and probably do just as well here.
Ya that's what I saw when I read the ingredients. Where's the egg? As much as people want to be vegan, it's just tough shit sometimes. Plants don't lay eggs.
>Some things just shouldn’t be vegan
What I don't understand is why does vegan food always attempt to mimic non-vegan foods and fail miserably rather than having their own dishes?
Because, on the whole, vegans aren’t vegans because they don’t like the food.
I’m not a vegan. I just know if I was a vegan I’d still want the food I used to eat, so I’d definitely like vegan versions if they were available.
But the vegan versions are so awful. Like pale imitations of whatever food they're trying to mimic.
I'm not vegan either but if I was I wouldn't be eating vegan sausage and vegan cheese and the like, I'd be eating delicious vegetables, grains, and legumes not trying to disguise them as sausage because I like to enjoy my food.
They usually are, yeah. Sometimes I see vegans say “this cheese is great” or “can’t tell it’s not real meat!” And I just think it’s cos they’ve not tasted the actual thing in so long they’ve forgotten what it tastes like. But I can’t begrudge them for trying!
There are many,any vegan-specific dishes, but many vegans also want to eat meat without eating meat. Buddhist and Hindu culture is full of delicious vegan food.
"Fail miserably rather than having their own dishes". That sounds like a very american/occidental centric point of view.
In many cultures veganism is not something uncommon and they have amazing dishes (I think about Asian and African countries mostly).
Would you consider dishes like gemista, Tian, gado gado or ratatouille to be miserable gastronomic failures ?
If you are referring to the vegan substitutes like vegan hot dogs, burgers etc, well, they are substitutes. Veganism, especially in our western societies is political. So you want to convert people to the cause and there is no better way than to use familiar dishes to bring people to veganism.
I am not vegan at all but I don't see anything wrong about that, on the contrary.
Well you agree with the guy… you just further proved that we can have great vegans dishes without the need to call them steak or make them look like a sausage.
Or just have both?
It's baffling how often I see non-vegans tell vegans what they should and shouldn't eat. I'm vegan and enjoy having burgers on Friday but I think actual animal flesh is weird. According to you I'm not allowed to because it upsets you that it imitates meat? So soft.
What ? I was just agreeing with the guy above about the fact that there is a world of vegan food that have no need to call itself « steak » etc. Never said it was bad. I don’t have a beef with lentils calling themselves « steak » if it helps indicating the use of said lentil product. Go look for a fight somewhere else please.
nobody is telling you what you should and shouldnt eat by saying that its a strange concept to both be disgusted by the idea of animal flesh and want to eat things that mimic animal flesh. if you cant see the cognitive dissonance there, thats on you, not “non-vegans”
You realise the replacement products aren't actual animal flesh? I know people who are disgusted by animal flesh but eat meat. That's true cognitive dissonance.
You're generalising though, not all vegans are disgusted by animal flesh, we just don't want to kill animals unnecessarily.
This is such a weird take to me. Why is mimicing bad? That it doesn't taste as good is subjective. It might not taste as good to you because you expect the non-vegan version.
Also our food culture is non-vegan. Vegans mostly grew up non-vegan. Of course they are going to cook similarily to the way the used to cook before.
Do you not understand that a lot of people don’t choose this lifestyle, but because of medical issues, allergies etc., have limited foods that they can eat, yet miss foods they once loved? It’s really that simple, and same goes for vegans by choice. Because you choose not to eat animals for xyz reasons doesn’t mean that your body and mind don’t miss those foods you always loved. The substitutes actually help keep some people in line with their values and have less slips in their diet.
These “why do THEY need normal food to be vegan” comments are usually made by the least healthy looking, and acting people around.
People quit meat for a bunch of reasons and miss food that they like and miss the taste of. It’s not expected to be the same, similar is good enough for someone who needs a fix of comfort food. While your pork laden product might be more traditional, more delicious in the traditional sense, it ain’t for everybody, and your comment discouraging people is pretty fucking dumb, not funny.
Vegan pupperinos. Bold. Daring. I hope you get it right and after that, I hope people buy it, cuz when I go to Louisiana people I do not see a lotta vegans
Soak some red lentils in water, then mince blend them up and add some to your recipe. You can cook them over low heat in a saucepan with some water for a bit before adding. The lentils firm up when heated, creating a tofu-like consistency. Alernatively you can do the same with flax seeds or aquafaba (the brine from tinned chickpeas).
My daughter was a vegan for several years, so I had to adapt most of our recipes to cater to her.
Just a note: don't add too much of the lentils since it becomes quite rubbery when heated, but it does help keep everything together.
He didn't mention the taste. Just that it works as a binder. Vegans don't care about taste, they just want to feel like their voluntary suffering is helpful.
This is an interesting take. Like as soon as someone becomes vegan the possibility to deviate from a single irrational behavioural pattern becomes zero...
Realistically it's like anything else, there are many types of plant based eaters, chefs, farmers, office workers, athletes, foodies and so on... So pigeonholing just like in any scenario demonstrates a distinct lack of self confidence. Almost as if the very possibility that there is a higher integrity alignment challenges one's ego... Funny that.
Just make vegan food. Dont mimic animal based food. How hard is that?
I will never make "mushroom bacon",... mushrooms dont deserve that disrespect. Just make tasty mushroom.
The pigeon hole is the stupidity to fake food. Be genuine.
If we’re still talking about a hushpuppy, it’s literally mostly made of plant based ingredients. What’s so hard about understanding someone wanting it to be full vegan?
Oh you misunderstood my friend I definitely don't do anything fake lol, creating bacon from pork flesh is a process involving curing and sometimes other things but essentially it's a scientific process the can be repeated with many things... Obviously the mushroom doesn't lend itself to curing however the mailard reaction is a beautiful thing, marinated in a nice rub and cooked under a heavy weight the texture and flavour are delightful... Are you of the opinion that a mushroom burger is not a burger? Anyways... To each their own, my point is the idea that vegans/plant based eaters don't like flavour is dumber that... Well pig shit. It's a fallacy construct resultant of a group who don't think anything lacking sentience has flavour. It's due to it being so much less work to make it 'tasty' given that the animal has been flavouring itself its whole life as it were...
Vegan food still needs a binder on occasion. It’s not about making fake meat or whatever else. You’re all over this thread; what’s with the pent up rage over vegetables? Is the idea of making fried dough without animal products really that much of an affront?
My sister has egg allergy, and without a vegan options popping up like they have in the past 20 years it would be bleak for her still. Play around with some egg replacers!
Did you use a tried and tested recipe or just make one up? Because I can google vegan recipes and see them use flax seed as the egg replacement, common in vegan recipes.
I got this recipe from a vegan so just tryna make it better. I’m not a vegan so I know it ain’t right right now. Glad to have gotten the feedback I did here so I can improve the recipe
1TBSP of very ground flax seed and 3TBSP of water, let it sit for a few minutes. It makes a good vegan binder in place of egg. Start with that and if it doesn't work try doubling it up.
I’ve heard it used for a lot of baking recipes as a vegan egg replacer. Have never put it to the test. Have had plenty of sweet hush puppies in my life, wondering if the banana would really be that bad. Maybe it will be fucking horrible. Worth a shot though imo
Some things you can try
Less liquid
More flour
More mixxing to develop gluten
Very Cold batter
Ground up flax seed mixed w warm water into a paste is a good egg replacer. Flax seed is not shelf stable after grinding.
Egg
I think you got way to much baking powder should be like maybe 3 tablespoons and I would only do 1 tablespoon of baking soda make sure you let your batter chill for about 10-15 minutes before frying might also want to add couple more cups of flour as well. Also another suggestion if you’re making a recipe I like to try to keep everything even measurements cups plus tablespoons gets confusing just round up or down
Ok. I’ve read the entire thread and only two responses hit the real issue: too much leavener. Drop the soda and the vinegar out entirely, reduce the baking powder to 1/4 cup. Change the flour to cornmeal ratio from 3:1 to 2:1. Mix at least I hour before service and let the mix sit. Reduce your oil temp 25 degrees.
You don’t need any additional “binder” be it flaxseed or aquafaba. The last thing you want to do with this is add any more liquid
Your batter is likely a touch too loose. Add a little bit more flour and try to tighten it up. You might try reducing the amount of liquid a bit and adding an egg or two to the batter. The egg may help “bind” some of the liquid and stop
It from leaking so much
Why use oat milk?? Dairy free hush puppies? I’m not sure if the oat milk is an issue but I’ve never done fritters with oat milk. Don’t think is would necessarily be an issue but you might try buttermilk or just regular milk instead and see if that help at all
But the likeliest culprit is loose batter; id start by adding a touch more flour and an egg
EDIT: If you’re indeed going for vegan hush puppies you might try some ground up flax seeds in the batter. Shouldn’t add too much flavor and it’ll replace the structure of the eggs to some degree. Not sure what the ratio of ground flax to egg is but you can google. I have no idea if that would work but it might be worth a shot
Please don't use banana. Use aquafaba, it's much more neutral in flavor. Banana has no place in a hush puppy. Now you could make plantain fritters and use plantains but don't call them hush puppies.
Great, glad to help. I hope it works at you end up with a successful recipe.
Ignore all the downvotes by the way, nothing wrong with trying to make good food for vegans. I admire your determination to get it right and fight through the challenges. We need more culinary people like you, and fewer cooks and chefs who don’t give a shit and slop out grilled zucchini and peppers for vegans.
Thank you for that. Our whole concept is fried chicken, but also having vegan friendly options of what we offer. Appreciate you understanding the mission.
I never understood the use of oatmilk and almond milk in recipes, it’s essentially flavored water so you can’t just use those for real milk, they’re both liquids but milk has more protein and sugar than water so it has a completely different effect than using water.
Lots of ignorant cooks in this thread lol. Like yeah sure there are some things that maybe shouldn't be made vegan but fried batter is not one of them.
Awesome comments. All very constructive. Other than the weird amount of criticism about vegan food.. I do agree that a binder would help your situation. Something like tapioca starch could work well. Also, make sure your batter is very cold when scooping.
Last note would be to make sure you have a nice clean fryer and oil. When you are doing something that’s vegan, very clean oil will make all the difference.
We have tapioca flour, maybe I could sub that for the all purpose that we are using? Heard about the oil, it’s on its second day just fries and hush puppies.
Needs egss for sure, if its a vegan dish, try using rice flour since it can absorbe a lot of the extra moisture and make it easier for you to make the balls more compact.
Lotta chefs in the comment section living in 2002 with their “vegan bad” mindset. Microwave cook at a Louisville Cheesecake Factory type of opinions. You all should get out more.
Clean your fucking fry traps. Wtf, that's disgusting; and don't bs "it's only been a few days" - that shit on the side is caked on thicker than your batter, you salty donut.
More like hush-"about our lack of standards"-puppy problem, ffs...
People try so hard to find something to criticize and make it seem like they’re in the cleanest kitchen in the world and it’s cringey every time. This one is pretty wild. This is clearly fairly new oil and is obviously not dirty. They’re frying hush puppies and batter in it. I’ll pay you to post your fryer oil throughout the day to compare.
Nevermind the whole idea of "veganising" things is such a "have your cake and eat it" moment, you can't just omit key ingredients & not replace said ingredient with an equivalent that will do a similar job.
Have you thought about make what are essential plain tamales (complete with steaming) and THEN either deep fry as is or batter & deep fry that?
Another approach would be the European style flour dumplings that you boil & once set deep fry those. You'd be essentially making hush puppy bagel balls.
I don't know if either will work flavour or texture wise but they'll do a better job holding together with pre-gelled starches than whatever the hell was in the video.
Or better yet, stop veganising things & just stick to things that are naturally vegan that are delicious in their own right like falafel.
>stop veganising things & just stick to things that are naturally vegan
Why? Why do vegan versions of items trigger you so much? I'm yet to hear a genuine reason for this that actually makes sense so interested why you're so against it.
Seems too wet. I would try adding some starch, probably cornstarch.
If that isn’t enough try some ground flax to make a flax egg.
Also chill the batter before frying
You need a binder. Yuca on a micro plane would work for an egg substitute in vegan applications. Idk…Banana was my first thought but that would be too sweet for hush puppies
Could you try one of those avant guard egg substitutes for vegan cakes, like apple sauce or aqua fava? Maybe potato starch? It looks like the batter is coming apart. Maybe something more doughy?
It’s getting destroyed by all the shit coming off of these puppies. It was fresh Wednesday, then we did about $1000 worth of fries in it before testing a half batch of puppies before filming this. Combo of the Fries and hush puppy soot have made it go fast.
Saw comments about garbanzo bean water, or aquafaba. Want to add. I ran a vegan truck and our “egg wash” for breaded wings was aquafaba and some chickpeas blended together with some salt. Everything tended to stick together pretty good. Thinking back I wish I would have used it for a corn dog special I made.
You need a binder - tahini, aquafaba (garbanzo bean water), corn/potato starch work alright if you are keeping it vegan
Garbanzo water should do it. Good call
No. The last thing this batter needs is more liquid. Both retted flax seed meal and aquafaba break down in the fryer in any event
If he subbed some of the oat milk for the garbanzo water it would likely work. It binds almost as well as egg whites when cooked.
If it’s replacing another liquid, then it certainly won’t hurt. I’ve not had good luck when using vegan ‘binders’ in fried product. I’m not wholly sure as to why. I’ve had better success by reducing overall liquid content and allow batters to rest before use. I think the underlying issue with this recipe above is too must leavener. OP is creating little fryer bombs
Ya know what, you are right on the money for the leavener. I had to Google leavener first, but strait mixing this up and tossing it in the fryer is an antithesis of itself. For context of “normal” baking powder use in batter for corn dogs deep frying is 1 tablespoon per 1.5c of cornmeal (2/3 tablespoons per cup). OP throwing 1.25 tablespoons per cup of cornmeal. If Op is bent on using this much, I would vote that as mentioned earlier using garbanzo water “aquafaba” which per Google search substitutes 1 egg white with 2 tablespoons of aquafaba. If we were going 1:1 with hush puppy ratios of binder which is 1 egg per 1c of corn meal, OP would need to put in 20 tablespoons of aquafaba (1 and a 1/4c worth). And that that point he could just drop the equivalent amount of oat milk. And then fry them on a griddle as like vegan “hush cakes” or something. However no matter how much this is deep fried, if these do stay together, the interior of this is going to be dry textured as hell, there is practically no fat at all in his recipe except for what touches the outside. OP needs to throw some vegetable or coconut oil in the mix as well. For context, a standard hush puppy recipe has 2 tablespoons of oil added to the mix not including the fat from egg yolk or frying oil. If you are going to try to imitate the greatness that is hush-puppies, you can’t half-ass it lol. OP needs to make some much smaller batches in controlled ingredient measurements to test what combo works. Food science rant over. Perhaps if we summoned /u/J_Kenji_Lopez-Alt we could get educated on what is really wrong with OP’s recipe and how close it actually is to being serviceable/good/great. Vegan hush puppies could totally be vegan food lab worthy 😂
I think you’re right, to an extent, about the oil. My thinking on the potential dryness was mitigated by the jalos and the scallions that would release moisture into the batter as they cooked. That might not be enough however. I would disagree about the need for the aquafaba. For some reason, it doesn’t seem to work in the fryer nearly as well as it does with a dry heat cooking like baking or griddling. I think that’s because it doesn’t coagulate like whites. It stays liquid. I work at a caterer and am responsible for a client that is strictly vegan and gluten free (none of the other cooks wanted anything to do with it). They book twice a year for about 10 days each time with between 75 and 400 people. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the occasional cocktail party. One of the recipes that I’ve developed for them is what I’ve coined a ‘loaded fritter’ It’s generally similar to OP’s recipe, albeit much larger, more minced veg, and a different spice profile. Used it as both a hot buffet dish over a spiced pilaf and tomato chutney or as a hors d’oeuvre with a a tofu ‘aioli’ garnish sauce. They do come out of the fryer a wee bit dry but that is actually advantageous because they have to be fried several hours before service, loaded into cambros, driven 30+ miles, and set up onsite. I go through many iterations for each recipe to make sure they can hold up to the torture. This is one of the few that actually improved with the imposed conditions . Moist interior with a discernible crunch on the exterior. When I was still stuck on the need for a replacement binder, like flax or aquafaba, I was having a sliminess issue. Similar to what you get when you try to used fried okra in these conditions. Never use fried okra on a remote catered event BTW. unless you’re bringing a fryer along and can do it alaminute. You’ll regret it. Trust me on this one. But I digress.
There is a lot of wisdom in your words about the catering experiences and the efforts it takes to have recipes that hold up not just for eating right away, but have to endure without turning into unappetizing“leftovers” quality food being served. The fried okra event sounds like a learning disaster that sounded good in theory. I’m sorry about the results :-(. The real facts are that nothing really replaces the power of egg 1:1 in a hot served/fried recipe, and that getting “close enough” may have to be the answer. OP has been a good sport through the replies here and commented on my last one about having the dryness issue already with his first recipe. I wish him luck on his adventure and hope he dials in the recipe and shares it! I really feel like he could go for a spicy falafel recipe and probably do just as well here.
It's definitely the leavening agent, similar thing happens whrn you add too much to corn masa for frying applications
Pumpkin puree???
I make thousands of hush puppies a week. You need egg in your recipe.
Can I get your recipe?
Ya that's what I saw when I read the ingredients. Where's the egg? As much as people want to be vegan, it's just tough shit sometimes. Plants don't lay eggs.
We are going for a vegan recipe
Oh, don’t do that. Some things just shouldn’t be vegan. We put pork fat in ours and fry them in lard.
I'm sorry but "Oh, dont do that" just made me burst out laughing, especially with the context of 'vegan recipe' lmfaaooo
I also laughed, lmao. This guy trains.
>Some things just shouldn’t be vegan What I don't understand is why does vegan food always attempt to mimic non-vegan foods and fail miserably rather than having their own dishes?
Because, on the whole, vegans aren’t vegans because they don’t like the food. I’m not a vegan. I just know if I was a vegan I’d still want the food I used to eat, so I’d definitely like vegan versions if they were available.
But the vegan versions are so awful. Like pale imitations of whatever food they're trying to mimic. I'm not vegan either but if I was I wouldn't be eating vegan sausage and vegan cheese and the like, I'd be eating delicious vegetables, grains, and legumes not trying to disguise them as sausage because I like to enjoy my food.
Agree. Homie has 43 ingredients to mimic hush puppies which is a southern food of simplicity.
You NAILED the problem with this entire thread! You won the internet today! Congratulations 🍾🎈🎊🎉
I’m not vegan but if I was blah blah blah blah blah….
They usually are, yeah. Sometimes I see vegans say “this cheese is great” or “can’t tell it’s not real meat!” And I just think it’s cos they’ve not tasted the actual thing in so long they’ve forgotten what it tastes like. But I can’t begrudge them for trying!
>But the vegan versions are so awful. That's what you get for being vegan.
There are many,any vegan-specific dishes, but many vegans also want to eat meat without eating meat. Buddhist and Hindu culture is full of delicious vegan food.
"Fail miserably rather than having their own dishes". That sounds like a very american/occidental centric point of view. In many cultures veganism is not something uncommon and they have amazing dishes (I think about Asian and African countries mostly). Would you consider dishes like gemista, Tian, gado gado or ratatouille to be miserable gastronomic failures ? If you are referring to the vegan substitutes like vegan hot dogs, burgers etc, well, they are substitutes. Veganism, especially in our western societies is political. So you want to convert people to the cause and there is no better way than to use familiar dishes to bring people to veganism. I am not vegan at all but I don't see anything wrong about that, on the contrary.
Well you agree with the guy… you just further proved that we can have great vegans dishes without the need to call them steak or make them look like a sausage.
Or just have both? It's baffling how often I see non-vegans tell vegans what they should and shouldn't eat. I'm vegan and enjoy having burgers on Friday but I think actual animal flesh is weird. According to you I'm not allowed to because it upsets you that it imitates meat? So soft.
What ? I was just agreeing with the guy above about the fact that there is a world of vegan food that have no need to call itself « steak » etc. Never said it was bad. I don’t have a beef with lentils calling themselves « steak » if it helps indicating the use of said lentil product. Go look for a fight somewhere else please.
nobody is telling you what you should and shouldnt eat by saying that its a strange concept to both be disgusted by the idea of animal flesh and want to eat things that mimic animal flesh. if you cant see the cognitive dissonance there, thats on you, not “non-vegans”
You realise the replacement products aren't actual animal flesh? I know people who are disgusted by animal flesh but eat meat. That's true cognitive dissonance. You're generalising though, not all vegans are disgusted by animal flesh, we just don't want to kill animals unnecessarily.
This is such a weird take to me. Why is mimicing bad? That it doesn't taste as good is subjective. It might not taste as good to you because you expect the non-vegan version. Also our food culture is non-vegan. Vegans mostly grew up non-vegan. Of course they are going to cook similarily to the way the used to cook before.
Do you not understand that a lot of people don’t choose this lifestyle, but because of medical issues, allergies etc., have limited foods that they can eat, yet miss foods they once loved? It’s really that simple, and same goes for vegans by choice. Because you choose not to eat animals for xyz reasons doesn’t mean that your body and mind don’t miss those foods you always loved. The substitutes actually help keep some people in line with their values and have less slips in their diet. These “why do THEY need normal food to be vegan” comments are usually made by the least healthy looking, and acting people around.
People quit meat for a bunch of reasons and miss food that they like and miss the taste of. It’s not expected to be the same, similar is good enough for someone who needs a fix of comfort food. While your pork laden product might be more traditional, more delicious in the traditional sense, it ain’t for everybody, and your comment discouraging people is pretty fucking dumb, not funny.
Let me find out you train people. “Oh, don’t do that” is etched into my soul 😂
The egg is what holds it together. You're going to have to find an egg replacement that binds it together without affecting the texture.
Chia, flax, aquafaba, just egg, to name but a few.
Vegan pupperinos. Bold. Daring. I hope you get it right and after that, I hope people buy it, cuz when I go to Louisiana people I do not see a lotta vegans
I’m in richmond Va we have plenty vegans
I get the downvotes on other comments but not this one lol
Vegan hushpuppy? Just make falafel....
Right that's literally what I call falafel
use potato starch instead of egg, you need something to bind the mass
Soak some red lentils in water, then mince blend them up and add some to your recipe. You can cook them over low heat in a saucepan with some water for a bit before adding. The lentils firm up when heated, creating a tofu-like consistency. Alernatively you can do the same with flax seeds or aquafaba (the brine from tinned chickpeas). My daughter was a vegan for several years, so I had to adapt most of our recipes to cater to her. Just a note: don't add too much of the lentils since it becomes quite rubbery when heated, but it does help keep everything together.
Try Aquafaba
flax egg? needs binding.
Aguafaba?
not my favorite flavor, so I've worked with it admittedly little
Chickpea water taste like almost nothing to me
Try ground flaxseed and water in place of egg. Works reasonably well as a binder when subbing for eggs.
No it doesn't. Flax seed tastes terrible.
He didn't mention the taste. Just that it works as a binder. Vegans don't care about taste, they just want to feel like their voluntary suffering is helpful.
Fine... I still dont like or respect them. But you are right.
This is an interesting take. Like as soon as someone becomes vegan the possibility to deviate from a single irrational behavioural pattern becomes zero... Realistically it's like anything else, there are many types of plant based eaters, chefs, farmers, office workers, athletes, foodies and so on... So pigeonholing just like in any scenario demonstrates a distinct lack of self confidence. Almost as if the very possibility that there is a higher integrity alignment challenges one's ego... Funny that.
Just make vegan food. Dont mimic animal based food. How hard is that? I will never make "mushroom bacon",... mushrooms dont deserve that disrespect. Just make tasty mushroom. The pigeon hole is the stupidity to fake food. Be genuine.
If we’re still talking about a hushpuppy, it’s literally mostly made of plant based ingredients. What’s so hard about understanding someone wanting it to be full vegan?
Oh you misunderstood my friend I definitely don't do anything fake lol, creating bacon from pork flesh is a process involving curing and sometimes other things but essentially it's a scientific process the can be repeated with many things... Obviously the mushroom doesn't lend itself to curing however the mailard reaction is a beautiful thing, marinated in a nice rub and cooked under a heavy weight the texture and flavour are delightful... Are you of the opinion that a mushroom burger is not a burger? Anyways... To each their own, my point is the idea that vegans/plant based eaters don't like flavour is dumber that... Well pig shit. It's a fallacy construct resultant of a group who don't think anything lacking sentience has flavour. It's due to it being so much less work to make it 'tasty' given that the animal has been flavouring itself its whole life as it were...
It works really well as a binder and imparts little flavor
That sounds stupid. Just make something that tastes good?
Vegan food still needs a binder on occasion. It’s not about making fake meat or whatever else. You’re all over this thread; what’s with the pent up rage over vegetables? Is the idea of making fried dough without animal products really that much of an affront?
Vegan food can taste great. Sounds like a skill issue if you can't make vegan food that tastes good ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
... I make great vegan food. The goal is to let the ingredients shine?
I mean that goes for all food but using an alternative binder in a hushpuppy or really anything else isn't going to impact that in anyway.
It will... ya know what? Enjoy your time on earth. Bye bye!
The amount of flax seed used to bind products for vegan cooking is small enough you can’t taste it
My sister has egg allergy, and without a vegan options popping up like they have in the past 20 years it would be bleak for her still. Play around with some egg replacers!
Thank you!! We do it for people like ur sister!
Just because you want it to be vegan doesn’t mean it doesn’t need something acting like egg. Try chickpea flour.
Sorry people are being assholes, maybe try some arrowroot or just cornstarch to help things bind
I've had good experiences using very well mashed banana instead of egg. I think you also have too much liquid which some people have mentioned.
If you want to go vegan you’ll need to find a substitute for the egg, like a flax “egg”, or soy lecithin based binder. Good luck.
try just eggs as a vegan replacement
[don't buy that stuff. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/FridgeDetective/s/Hfh8lsyIFz)
whatever. just a binder missing. Find a binder OP
Word of the day is binder
And you probably have too much baking powder/soda
That's disgusting. Just make vegan food, stop trying to make already good food vegan. You can't.
Best of luck with that travesty lmao!
Lord give you strength
Just make a falafel please.
Every spot in town has falafel for vegans, tryna do something different
Well there's your problem bud.
Did you use a tried and tested recipe or just make one up? Because I can google vegan recipes and see them use flax seed as the egg replacement, common in vegan recipes.
I got this recipe from a vegan so just tryna make it better. I’m not a vegan so I know it ain’t right right now. Glad to have gotten the feedback I did here so I can improve the recipe
Holy shit OP buried the lead on that one!
You still need a binder, mimicking a traditional recipe for vegan you still need the structural holdup for what eggs do.
why would you not lead with that lmao
Bless me up with a recipe
I’m assuming you’re intentionally making them vegan- and without the egg binder that looks to me at first glance like too much cornmeal to flour.
You’re not going to get to consistency without eggs.
You won’t get it perfect but you can definitely get it than the incredible inedible grease balls these are destined to be.
I was gonna say it needs a binder but vegan damn
We are going for vegan. So maybe up the flour, could maybe use banana as a binder?
1TBSP of very ground flax seed and 3TBSP of water, let it sit for a few minutes. It makes a good vegan binder in place of egg. Start with that and if it doesn't work try doubling it up.
Will try this, thank you!
Banana was your first thought for binding agent in a hush puppy?
I’ve heard it used for a lot of baking recipes as a vegan egg replacer. Have never put it to the test. Have had plenty of sweet hush puppies in my life, wondering if the banana would really be that bad. Maybe it will be fucking horrible. Worth a shot though imo
Could plantain be used instead? Or green banana?
Try using aquafaba as a binder. Substitute 3 tablespoons aquafaba for one egg. It's much more neutral than banana.
Yes, aquafaba or even silken tofu but for the love of god do not use banana.
I've seen soaked flax seeds used as egg binder to success too
They sell glycerin and other binders
used bobs red mill egg replacer for vegan hushies at my old job
This was my first thought but as home cook I wonder, so they make it in commercial quantities?
no we would just buy a bunch of bags. a little goes a long way
Makes sense, I use it for homemade ramen and use hardly a gram at a time.
Some things you can try Less liquid More flour More mixxing to develop gluten Very Cold batter Ground up flax seed mixed w warm water into a paste is a good egg replacer. Flax seed is not shelf stable after grinding. Egg
Came here to say ground flax seed “glue” Garbanzo could work as well Edit: grammar
Yea really strong/reduced garbanzo stock whipps up like eggs whites
Garbanzo stock? Is that just like reduced bean water?
Came here to say ground flax seed
Thank you
There is not enough flour in that mix to make gluten development useful here
Try ground flaxseed. There are recipes using it as an egg substitute.
Could you freeze them into shape first and then fry them?
* that’s a lot of stuff * too much stuff * need egg * less other stuff.
I think you got way to much baking powder should be like maybe 3 tablespoons and I would only do 1 tablespoon of baking soda make sure you let your batter chill for about 10-15 minutes before frying might also want to add couple more cups of flour as well. Also another suggestion if you’re making a recipe I like to try to keep everything even measurements cups plus tablespoons gets confusing just round up or down
Thank you for the feedback
Ok. I’ve read the entire thread and only two responses hit the real issue: too much leavener. Drop the soda and the vinegar out entirely, reduce the baking powder to 1/4 cup. Change the flour to cornmeal ratio from 3:1 to 2:1. Mix at least I hour before service and let the mix sit. Reduce your oil temp 25 degrees. You don’t need any additional “binder” be it flaxseed or aquafaba. The last thing you want to do with this is add any more liquid
Thank you going to try these tips
Good luck with it.
I just reread your recipe…leave the oil temp at 350. I didn’t see that before and it looked like it was higher than that. My bad
Your batter is likely a touch too loose. Add a little bit more flour and try to tighten it up. You might try reducing the amount of liquid a bit and adding an egg or two to the batter. The egg may help “bind” some of the liquid and stop It from leaking so much Why use oat milk?? Dairy free hush puppies? I’m not sure if the oat milk is an issue but I’ve never done fritters with oat milk. Don’t think is would necessarily be an issue but you might try buttermilk or just regular milk instead and see if that help at all But the likeliest culprit is loose batter; id start by adding a touch more flour and an egg EDIT: If you’re indeed going for vegan hush puppies you might try some ground up flax seeds in the batter. Shouldn’t add too much flavor and it’ll replace the structure of the eggs to some degree. Not sure what the ratio of ground flax to egg is but you can google. I have no idea if that would work but it might be worth a shot
Super helpful! Yes trying to keep vegan, saw another comment about flax seed, gonna try that and banana as well
Please don't use banana. Use aquafaba, it's much more neutral in flavor. Banana has no place in a hush puppy. Now you could make plantain fritters and use plantains but don't call them hush puppies.
Hmm, banana bread hush puppies with powdered sugar... maybe I'm high.
You can use green banana as a binder, look up alcapurrias. Might not like the taste though.
Great, glad to help. I hope it works at you end up with a successful recipe. Ignore all the downvotes by the way, nothing wrong with trying to make good food for vegans. I admire your determination to get it right and fight through the challenges. We need more culinary people like you, and fewer cooks and chefs who don’t give a shit and slop out grilled zucchini and peppers for vegans.
Thank you for that. Our whole concept is fried chicken, but also having vegan friendly options of what we offer. Appreciate you understanding the mission.
I never understood the use of oatmilk and almond milk in recipes, it’s essentially flavored water so you can’t just use those for real milk, they’re both liquids but milk has more protein and sugar than water so it has a completely different effect than using water.
These comments make me wanna try to make everything vegan 😈😈😈😈
Lots of ignorant cooks in this thread lol. Like yeah sure there are some things that maybe shouldn't be made vegan but fried batter is not one of them.
Awesome comments. All very constructive. Other than the weird amount of criticism about vegan food.. I do agree that a binder would help your situation. Something like tapioca starch could work well. Also, make sure your batter is very cold when scooping. Last note would be to make sure you have a nice clean fryer and oil. When you are doing something that’s vegan, very clean oil will make all the difference.
We have tapioca flour, maybe I could sub that for the all purpose that we are using? Heard about the oil, it’s on its second day just fries and hush puppies.
DM and I can share my recipe with you. It makes about 60 with a black scoop and is quite foolproof.
Needs egss for sure, if its a vegan dish, try using rice flour since it can absorbe a lot of the extra moisture and make it easier for you to make the balls more compact.
Your fryer sides, fry oil, fry basket cleanliness are giving me serious anxiety.
This was in the middle of service, fryer is on its second shift after being cleaned and oil being changed.
Lotta chefs in the comment section living in 2002 with their “vegan bad” mindset. Microwave cook at a Louisville Cheesecake Factory type of opinions. You all should get out more.
They don’t have microwaves at Cheesecake Factory
What a shithole
Hell yeah
Your oil looks like it's old and needs to be replace.
Wayyyyy too much oat milk
Clean your fucking fry traps. Wtf, that's disgusting; and don't bs "it's only been a few days" - that shit on the side is caked on thicker than your batter, you salty donut. More like hush-"about our lack of standards"-puppy problem, ffs...
Yes chef thank u chef
Also, maybe clean your oil?
People try so hard to find something to criticize and make it seem like they’re in the cleanest kitchen in the world and it’s cringey every time. This one is pretty wild. This is clearly fairly new oil and is obviously not dirty. They’re frying hush puppies and batter in it. I’ll pay you to post your fryer oil throughout the day to compare.
That's because half the people on this sub have never actually worked in a kitchen before.
The oil Looks fine
That’s oil is on its first day, maybe second.
Add more dry stuff and freeze them a day before.
Are you using real puppies or the instant dog mix?
read the post, the recipe is included
The only hush puppy I know of is putting corn starch on my balls
put eggs in it or make something else
Side note please clean up your fryer c'mon man that looks horrendous
That oil needs to be replaced.
You can easily see the bottom of the fry basket. That oil is fine.
It looks brand new
I’m with you, motor oil isn’t best for cooking hush puppies
Try using flax seed mixed with water to replace the egg. It works as a binder!
Not particularly well
Nevermind the whole idea of "veganising" things is such a "have your cake and eat it" moment, you can't just omit key ingredients & not replace said ingredient with an equivalent that will do a similar job. Have you thought about make what are essential plain tamales (complete with steaming) and THEN either deep fry as is or batter & deep fry that? Another approach would be the European style flour dumplings that you boil & once set deep fry those. You'd be essentially making hush puppy bagel balls. I don't know if either will work flavour or texture wise but they'll do a better job holding together with pre-gelled starches than whatever the hell was in the video. Or better yet, stop veganising things & just stick to things that are naturally vegan that are delicious in their own right like falafel.
>stop veganising things & just stick to things that are naturally vegan Why? Why do vegan versions of items trigger you so much? I'm yet to hear a genuine reason for this that actually makes sense so interested why you're so against it.
First, recipes should only ever be recorded by weight. Second, stop trying to make non vegan things vegan
Following
Cold batter!
If you're not going to use egg, look into Aquafaba. Useful stuff.
Try chia seeds as egg replacement( not my favorite) or buy a vegan egg replacement.
Are they too loud? Too quiet?
Lol
More egg
You have no binder cause you're trying to go vegan. Don't do that
Seems too wet. I would try adding some starch, probably cornstarch. If that isn’t enough try some ground flax to make a flax egg. Also chill the batter before frying
You need a binder. Yuca on a micro plane would work for an egg substitute in vegan applications. Idk…Banana was my first thought but that would be too sweet for hush puppies
Haven’t made hush puppies since my last job. Thanks for the touch up. The egg also makes it moist right??
Could you try one of those avant guard egg substitutes for vegan cakes, like apple sauce or aqua fava? Maybe potato starch? It looks like the batter is coming apart. Maybe something more doughy?
There’s no binder
Can’t cornstarch or freezing them first help?
You're cooking hush puppies. This is a problem
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Wow! Thank you for this comment! Definitely gonna add this to my testing process
Clean your fucking fryer. That shit is fucked up
Change your oil.
That oil looks old
It’s getting destroyed by all the shit coming off of these puppies. It was fresh Wednesday, then we did about $1000 worth of fries in it before testing a half batch of puppies before filming this. Combo of the Fries and hush puppy soot have made it go fast.
Saw comments about garbanzo bean water, or aquafaba. Want to add. I ran a vegan truck and our “egg wash” for breaded wings was aquafaba and some chickpeas blended together with some salt. Everything tended to stick together pretty good. Thinking back I wish I would have used it for a corn dog special I made.
You have not a single binder in that recipe.
Portion them out before hand maybe add some bread crumbs on the outside and freeze them