coconut oil/butter alternatives/sour cream
1mon 19d ago by lemmy.world/u/BeMoreCareful in vegan
So, coconut oil vs butter is a bit much for me.
The coconut oil is too something lol.
I've had better luck with olive oil, but sometimes the flavor doesn't go right.
Anybody got any butter alternatives? Honestly, salsa has been pretty kick ass, but may need to mix it up.
I'm especially interested in being able to eat a russet potato without choking to death. So taste is important, but also that function of food. Idk now that I say that it sounds a bit crazier than I imagined lol
The Country Crock plant-based butters are excellent IMO. They taste good and melt like I want whether in cooking/baking or just throwing a pat on a baked potato.
It's available as sticks or spread. I prefer the avocado oil one, but there's another that primarily uses olive oil.
I'm kinda surprised that I forgot margarine existed.
lol. Yeah I guess technically it's margarine? They advertise it as butter.
The only difference between "vegan butter" and regular-ass margarine is price. And marketing I guess lol
Really? I've never been impressed with classic margarine, whether in cooking or as a spread. I don't hate it or anything, but I also haven't bought it in ages...
Some's better than others for sure, don't let me yuck your yum. I pretty much just use coconut oil for everything nowdays, but have gotten more than one friend to drop those high-dollar earth balance sticks for the humble churn style country crock tub
Coconut oil can be fantastic but sometimes it imparts a bit of coconut flavor that I don't want. Perfect for many desserts and Asian-inspired dishes though (Indian, Thai, etc).
I wasn't advocating for it friend, that's what op was asking for alternatives to. Just saying that's where I ended up, have either gotten used to it or learned to season around it and I like just having one simple, natural, shelf-stable go to oil. My input here is that churn style country crock is on par with the finest "vegan butter" sticks and much cheaper. Even passed blind test by a very picky partner
You're all good, thanks for the perspective, you're probably onto something so now I gotta try for myself 🙂
I wonder if we're of a similar age. I grew up hearing that margarine was so bad that I think I basically erased it from my mind as an option.
It had genuinely not crossed my mind and I've been trying stuff and googling. I even watched someone with an antique oil hydrolizer and googles around for an equivalent.
Makes you kind of appreciate marketing in a terrible way.
Yeah I'm thinking the same thing now. Indeed, must be one of those ad influences we didn't realize.
I have made decent sour cream by soaking and blending cashews, add in some salt, a little bit of neutral vinegar or lime juice, and just a bit of nutritional yeast. Blend in a nutribullet type blender, keeps in the fridge for a week or so. I used this recipe for vegan crema and made adjustments for my taste: https://www.ratedvfood.com/blog/easy-vegan-mexican-crema-2-ways
If you have an immersion blender, mayo is also easy enough. Vinegar, aqua faba, salt, and slowly stream in the oil as the blender is going. Keeps in a jar for about two weeks, but may collapse if left for two long. I used this recipe to start, but you may need to tweak it depending on the oil you use: https://www.ratedvfood.com/blog/easy-vegan-mexican-crema-2-ways
I don't think I'm quite to the blender stage. I see that I may have to look into that.
Odd question: what's the most power efficient (battery would be good) little blender for stuff like this?
Powerful and battery operated are kinda opposite requests. I don't think Mayo has high speed blending requirements. If you have mains power, Robot Coupe makes great blenders, pricey though, else Magimix is their domestic brand.
Not an alternative for butter in every dish, but for potatoes a vegan Hollandaise would probably work great.
I like earth balance brand.
Oh yeah that one is quality too. I go for the one with flax seed. It just tastes good and acts like butter so I forget that it's not.