Getting inspiration for cooking vegetarian dishes or adding veggie dishes to your menu, because most chefs will be used to cooking traditional meat dishes.
So here are some tips on how you can improve your vegetarian dishes and some of the things you can do to make your dishes stand out among the rest.
1. Give yourself extra time
If you are relatively new to cooking vegetarian dishes, then give yourself extra cooking time because you will be refining and learning cooking methods.
You have to pretty much change your whole set up too and get rid of any meats from your prep and cooking area, so really plan your time and give yourself plenty of time.
2. Try replacing the meat, don’t just remove it
Most vegetarian dishes will have the exact same ingredients as a meat dish, just with the meat part removed. This can create very boring meals with no centerpiece of flavor on the dish. Try adding mushrooms, tofu or egg to your dish to give it the same punch as a piece of meat would.
3. Try to avoid a veggie recreation
Although they can be very nice and healthy, things like quorn sausages just don’t have the same effect flavor wise as a normal sausage would and your dish can become very plain and bland.
Try to avoid using a direct veggie substitution, instead create your own unique replacement that makes the dish stand out from the rest.
4. Learn about the nutritional value
Vegetarians love to know the nutritional content in their meals, so make sure that your meals have a great balance of nutrition so that your customer knows they are getting not only a great balance of flavors, but a great balance of nutrition going into their body.
5. Think about the texture
A common assumption about vegetarian meals is that they are all very bland that contain mostly salad. So try and incorporate ingredients that bring a different texture that can help tie the dish together, instead of having your customer crunching on salad leaves constantly.
6. Experiment with spices
There are so many spices in the world that can completely bring a dish to life and it’s no different with vegetarian meals. So experiment, try different combinations and really make your vegetarian meals stand out from the rest.
