Philippine Stuffs Stuffs for Filipinos in the Philippines

Meat magic is a healthy meat alternative for vegetarians. This halal certified meat alternative is made from soy protein, wheat, corn and carrageenan.

The product is made by Geltech Hayco Inc. in Mabolo, Cebu city.

Cost

According to the packaging, 1 Kilo of Meat Magic, which costs around 250-275 PHP will expand to 4 Kilos once hydrated (soaked in water). From my limited use of it, I’d say the cutlets don’t expand more than double their size and therefore 1 Kilo of meat magic probably works out to about 2 kilos. This is pretty economical pricing.

Storage and preparation

The meat magic cutlets are easy to store and convenient to prepare. Provided the cutlets are stored in a an airtight container, they’ll keep for up to a year.

The packaging gives the following advice on preparing the cutlets:

Soak in hot water, broth or soup stock at 1:2 ratio (1 cup of meat magic to 2 cups of preferred soaking medium) until fully swelled. Drain and squeeze out all the excess liquid, then marinate Meat Magic like you would with real meat (i.e., adding seasoning and spices), and cok as recipe requires.

Step 1 - Remove the cutlets from the packaging and soak them in hot water. For every 1 cup of cutlets, add two cups of hot water.

Step 2 - After 15 minutes, the cutlets will have swelled. You should drain and squeeze out the excess liquid.

Step 3 – At this point, you can slice the cutlets in to halves and marinate overnight. Being impatient, I chose to coat the cutlets with breading powder with a little Cayenne pepper powder mixed in.

Step 4 – You can prepare the meat magic just like you would real meat. I chose to fry the cutlets. It took quite awhile before the cutlets lost their toughness and became tender enough to eat. Masarap, very tasty! The texture is similar to beef.