Tofu

I like it. Having said that I have to advise it tastes of - well - nothing. You need to mix it with other foods. I like it with sweet chilli sauce (Thai sweet chilli). I use it in stir-frys but usually with a sauce such as Black Bean sauce.
You can deep fry it - don't freak out, it's not unhealthy if you have the oil very hot (preferably in a wok) and put the tofu pieces in until they are golden brown and get them out immediately. Shallow frying is actually worse at it absorbs a lot more oil. I use olive oil spray for stir fries as I have to watch my cholesterol.

I like the texture when it's cooked but as I said, you have to have other things with it that will impart flavour.

Been eating it for at least 30 years (my mother was a hippy). I prefer seitan (wheat gluten) when it comes to meat substitutes, but tofu has it's uses. If you search on the net you will find a zillion recipes.

Shewolf has some good ideas I think for tofu.

Wheat gluten, do you mean wheat and gluton free?

What does tofu have in it??(im lactose intolerant)

Tofu is soy, seitan is made from wheat. I don't know how to define the gluten part, it's already in the wheat and I think it is what helps hold things like bread together. Some chemist is welcome to expand on my pathetic explanation.

I have not had tofu as part of a tofu burger, but have had it in many dishes. I love it. There are different types of tofu - some more firm than others - I tend to like the firmer ones, possibly because of the texture. I would imagine the burger would have to be made with the firmer type. Tofu is very healthy for you and has lots of calcium. It seems to me it takes on the flavor of whatever you are preparing it with so in the case of your burger, if there are lots of other yummy ingredients in it then my guess it would taste yummy.

wow, I never heard of seitan, I'll have to try some....

I really like tofu MG, but like has been said, you have to mix it with something.

There's different textures, soft , firm, extra firm, used for different purposes.

I personally like the extra firm because I like to just cut into slabs and brown on each side and eat with some hoisen sauce.

GW - as resident expert, can you educate us on the texture differences?

Seitan strikes me as a better option for a burger. I luv seitan. SEITAN RULEZ!

Among other things I think the ingredients were things like red kidney beans, onion and garlic.

I try to get some soy in my diet on a weekly basis, but am cautious about any more as women of a certain age need to be a bit careful of its use.

Really?!

Why?

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_27317.html

... this is one of the more recent studies with this result ...

I also had heard mixed things about soy and breast cancer - one study saying it helps prevent breast cancer and another that says it can increase the possibly of developing a tumor.

So I looked at Breastcancer.org believing they would have the most up to date information. Since October is Breast Cancer awareness month - Here is a summary of just that question posed this month: "…The estrogen-like substances (isoflavones) in soy may stimulate the estrogen receptors of breast cancer cells and make them grow. It's this potential danger that makes many doctors warn their breast cancer patients against eating soy products."

"…On the other hand, there are some that believe that soy may protect a woman from breast cancer. Why? Because the strength of the soy isoflavones' estrogen-like powers is weak?-like 1/1000th the "umph" of estradiol, your own body's regular estrogen. If the weaker soy isoflavones occupy the estrogen receptors instead of your body's stronger stuff, then the belief is that the receptors will be less "turned on," and the cells will be less likely to grow. These soy enthusiasts believe that the lower risk of breast cancer seen in Asian women living in Asia may be due in part to their use of soy as their main source of protein…."

"…Here's where you just have to rely on your best judgment and the cautious recommendations of responsible scientists, dietitians, and of course your own doctor. I tell my own patients that it's probably OK to eat soy in the form of soy foods up to a few times per week, as a healthy source of protein (no cholesterol; many fat-free products are also available) instead of chicken and meat. I do not feel comfortable with my patients using significant amounts of the purified soy products that come in the form of powders, tablets, capsules, drinks, etc., because it's entirely unknown if the soy isoflavones are safe in such high concentrations…."

For the full Q&A:
http://www.breastcancer.org/faq_risk_soy.html

Tofu, with added colouring, makes excellent patch for stucco. Littlek taught me that.

Soy can also help a bit with menopause symptoms.

Yeah, I had heard the isoflavons were good for you, I'll have to research that more ehBeth. Thanks

Wow, I totally forgot all I drink is soy milk, I guess that makes me a higher consumer than I thought.

Hint - for those new to soy, if you want to try soy milk, you may not like the taste at first.....
Try starting off by using in your cereal...it doesn't taste that "different" that way, and then, when you decide to drink a glass of it, it tastes really good. Now, I like the flavor better than cow's milk. and it's a terrific source of calcium.

BTW, the choclate variety taste like yohoo to me

Depending where you are in the US you can probably get a seitan product called Veat in your health food store. I swear it tastes just like chicken, even my carnivore father can't tell the difference. They will give your free coupons if you go to:
www.veat.com

Many chinese restaurants use veat in their vegetarian dishes instead of tofu. You can make seitan at home and there is a very good book called Cooking with Seitan by Barabaa Jacobs, but I find I can get good seitan easy enough without the work.

There is a also a company called Yves and another called Liteline that make seitan products, some of the products are better than others so you have to experiment. I get the two companies confused by which ever one does the chicken strips and the canadian bacon (makes a great Rueben sandwich) is the better one.

Also Morningstar Farms has a few faux meat products (not all with wheat gluten), including a good bacon that works on BLT's and in quiches. I like to test non-meat products on kids, if they can't tell it not real meat I know it's good. My niece thinks Boca burgers are just like McDonalds, don't know if that's a good thing or not.

PS: Veat refers to itself as a soy product and there is soy in it, but a main ingredient is vital wheat gluten as far as I can remember.

I think sometime in the near future I am going to start a thread entitled "Vital Wheat Gluten"