Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Colby Uncheese

colby uncheese

I'm really just not a vegan cheese person. I love uncheese spreads and sauces, but the solids do nothing for me. With the exception of Sunergia Soy Feta and FYH (which I generally don't like) used very sparingly on the pizza at Marco's, I don't pay money for vegan cheese. I just don't like it all that much and it isn't worth the money to me. Of course, I'm holding out final judgment until I try Sheese, Teese and Playfood, so maybe I'm completely wrong and I'll retract this entirely...

All of that said, this colby from The Uncheese Cookbook isn't too bad. I don't find it at all appealing plain, but Mas made some delicious quesadillas with it yesterday. It didn't really melt, but he managed to get it to soften in the way that almost melted cheese softens. His method involved a skillet on the stove and the microwave. I'll ask him the details tonight. It would be worth making for that alone (it only takes about 15 minutes), but I'm interested in trying it in other recipes too.

6 comments:

jessy said...

your Uncheese is so pretty! i still have yet to make anything from my copy of the Uncheese Cookbook (it got kinda lost in the crazy flurry of cookbooks and miscellaneous recipes in our home) - but i'm thinking i need to take a crack at a few soon!

oh, and i love your plate! it's so awesome! yay!

Anonymous said...

I need to pick up the uncheese cookbook. I have heard good things about it. I agree about some of the vegan cheeses, they can be a hit or a miss.

Anonymous said...

Great job! I've been wanting to make one of the solid cheeses from that book, but have been kind of nervous about it. Did you find it to be easy?

tofufreak said...

do the recipes in unceese call for agar?

megan said...

Some of the recipes (including this one) in the Uncheese Cookbook call for agar. I was afraid of them too, but it was actually beyond easy. You just put everything except the agar in a blender, bring the agar and water to a boil, simmer it for 5 minutes and then blend it with the other ingredients until everything is really smooth. Pour it into a little container (I used two small pyrex dishes) and 20 minutes to an hour later, you have a block of uncheese. I was nervous that the agar would be hard to work with, but it was no big deal.

I was also holding out on making them because the agar at Whole Foods is so expensive. I found agar powder for $1 at the Asian market and subbed it for the flakes.

5 T of flakes equals about 1.5 T of powder.

We put it on tofu scramble burritos for dinner and it was pretty tasty. I'm still not really liking it plain, though.

megan said...

I definitely need to add more salt and maybe more or different spices next time. It was pretty bland. We sprinkled salt on the slices, but it would be much better added beforehand.