How to make Bosh!’s vegan Korean-style 'chicken' wings and BBQ smash burger 

The plant-based space has come a long way since the duo’s first cookbook in 2018

Henry Firth and Ian Theasby are the brains behind vegan phenomenon Bosh!

If a burger has no meat in it, can it still be called a burger? What about a plant-based sausage — is that still a sausage?

Henry Firth and Ian Theasby, the brains behind vegan phenomenon Bosh! certainly think so — and they’ve had the argument with Piers Morgan to prove it.

“He was trying to argue that a veggie burger shouldn’t be allowed to be called a burger, it should be called a ‘disc’,” remembers Firth of their 2019 appearance on Good Morning Britain.

“And a sausage shouldn’t be allowed to be called a sausage unless it’s made of meat — it should be called a ‘tube’, which is obviously a bit silly. Realistically, a burger can be made of plant-based ingredients now, or it can be made of animal meat. The same is true of a sausage, the same is true of bacon.” 

With 844k followers on Instagram and 230k subscribers on YouTube, the duo bring vegan food to the masses and wrote their first cookbook in 2018. Each book since then has tackled what they see as a ‘problem’ — whether that’s misconceptions around vegan food as being expensive, or that it’s time-consuming to make.

For their latest book, the London-based vegans, both 39, are looking at the thorny issue of texture.

“One thing that happens when you first adopt a plant-based diet is that it can be quite difficult to find good bite, good chew and good mouthfeel — exactly the sort of textures that meat gives you,” explains Theasby.

“And we wanted to show you that you can get those meaty textures, those meaty flavours from plants — as well as animals.” 

Theasby and Firth have both been vegan for over eight years, and things have changed drastically in that time. Many of the recipes in the new book feature meat substitutes, such as plant-based ‘chorizo’ or ‘chicken’, which, while common now, is a relatively new phenomenon.

“When we first went vegan, when we dropped our first book, there were basically no vegan meats out there other than, for instance, Linda McCartney sausages — and even they were relatively scarce, you’d have to get them in a big supermarket,” Theasby says. 

“But now in all supermarkets, especially here in Europe, they’ve got hundreds of meat analogues.” And the industry is growing, with supermarket Tesco pledging a 300% increase in its sales of meat alternatives by 2025.

Attitudes have changed too. “There’s been a paradigm shift in the United Kingdom,” notes Firth. “Eight-and-a-half years ago, it [veganism] was weird, it was new, it was very esoteric. It was generally a female thing, eating vegan food, and I think that’s changed completely now — all of those things have mostly been normalised.

“So it’s now perfectly acceptable to eat a vegan meal, rather than having to eat every single meal vegan. There’s a lot of ‘dipping their toe’ vegans who will have a vegan day a week, or a vegan morning, or a vegan evening or whatever. It’s no longer weird, it’s no longer esoteric, but also — it’s now understood all across the UK, doctors will confirm that it’s very healthy to eat a plant-based diet.

“Particularly if you’re older and you’re starting to think about the big diseases that affect humans, a well-planned plant-based diet is an excellent way to fight against those. And that’s very medically found now — eight years ago, doctors wouldn’t have said that.” 

However, the duo suggest misconceptions around veganism haven’t completely gone away — particularly when it comes to conversations around ultra-processed foods. These are foods which typically have five or more ingredients and a long shelf life, and vegan meat replacements are often labelled as such.

“I think the term ‘ultra-processed’ is useful if we’re using it to examine all of the foods we eat on a daily basis,” says Firth.

“Absolutely the best thing we as humans can eat is plants, whole foods, foods that look like the original food and that don’t come in a packet. I think where the term ‘ultra-processed’ becomes a problem is where it’s mostly used at the moment, which is to talk about vegan meat. Because actually, the process by which these alt meats are made is fairly similar to how bread is made.” 

Firth suggests unconscious bias against plant-based food is at play, and we need to “make sure we’re applying the same level of scrutiny to all foods, otherwise it’s just another way to criticise vegan food”.

So where do the brains behind Bosh! see veganism going next? For Theasby, it’s all about innovation.

“There is some really fantastic innovation going on in the plant-based space,” he says.

“There are new raw materials being used — rather than soy, people are using things like fava beans, which are really high in protein, and get fantastic new methods of extrusion [the method used to create meat substitutes], which is making that fantastic texture you have in plant-based meats.” 

This is Bosh!’s sixth cookbook in five years, and it’s these innovations that help them come up with new dishes.

“We did get recipe fatigue after about three books,” Firth admits. “It’s tough, because each book you’ve got 100 or so recipes in, you do wear out your mindset and your favourites.

“But the good news is our minds are refreshed by the new ingredients that are coming onto the market — the fact that you can buy these meat analogues has opened up the floodgates for us… So it’s almost like every time we write a new book, there are new ingredients for us to play with — which helps fight that recipe fatigue.”

• BOSH! Meat: Over 100 Outrageously Tasty Recipes by Henry Firth and Ian Theasby is published by HQ on August 17. Photography by Lizzie Mayson.

Crispy Korean-style ‘chicken’ wings

Perfect with an ice-cold beer.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 15 mins

Total Time

 30 mins

Course

 Side

Ingredients

• For the sticky marinade:

• 4 garlic cloves

• 2.5cm piece of fresh ginger

• 150g gochujang

• 120ml toasted sesame oil

• 2tbsp rice vinegar

• 2tbsp light soy sauce

• 4tbsp light brown sugar

• ¼tsp ground white pepper

• For the chicken:

• 2 x 280g blocks extra-firm tofu

• 6tbsp cornflour

• ½tsp sea salt

• ¼tsp ground white pepper

• Vegetable oil, for shallow frying

• For the garnish:

• 1 fresh chilli or a pinch of dried chilli flakes

• 1 spring onion

• A few toasted sesame seeds, for sprinkling

Method

1. Make the marinade. Peel the garlic and ginger and grate with a fine grater or microplane. Combine with the rest of the ingredients and either blitz in a blender or combine in a bowl and stir into a nice smooth paste.

2. Prepare the chicken. Press the tofu to remove excess liquid. Tear the tofu into rough chunks about three x two centimetres. Add the tofu to a mixing bowl along with half the marinade and fold to coat. Sprinkle the cornflour, salt and pepper into the bowl and fold to coat and combine, making sure the tofu is really well covered.

3. Cook the chicken. Pour one centimetre of oil into a frying pan and heat over a medium-high heat until the oil bubbles around the end of a wooden spoon that’s held in the oil. Carefully lower the tofu chunks into the hot oil and cook for two to three minutes until golden and crispy, turning them regularly to ensure a really even cook. Remove carefully and drain on a plate lined with kitchen paper.

4. Finish the dish. Put the remaining marinade into a saucepan, bring to a simmer and cook until thick and shiny. Add the cooked tofu to the sauce and quickly fold it through to ensure a good coverage. Spoon the tofu into a serving bowl.

5. Trim and thinly slice the spring onion for the garnish and finely chop the chilli (if using fresh chilli). Garnish the tofu with the chilli or chilli flakes, spring onion and toasted sesame seeds and serve immediately with some cold beers!

BBQ smash burger recipe

You won’t miss meat with this flavour-packed plant-based dish.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 25 mins

Total Time

 45 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• For the patties:

• 4 echalion shallots

• 2tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing your hands

• 1tbsp brown sugar

• 600g plant-based mince

• 50g breadcrumbs

• 50g BBQ sauce

• Sea salt and black pepper

• For the burgers:

• 4-8 plant-based brioche buns

• 4tbsp olive oil

• 1 romaine lettuce

• 1 beef tomato (or large tomato)

• 4tbsp plant-based mayonnaise

• 4tbsp BBQ sauce

• 4-8 plant-based cheese slices

• Crispy fried onions

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.

2. Make the patties. Peel and finely dice the shallots. Place a frying pan over a medium heat and add the olive oil. Once warm, add the shallots and a pinch of salt. Mix well and cook for three to four minutes until soft. Add the brown sugar to the pan and cook for a further three to four minutes until the shallots have caramelised. Once cooked, take the pan off the heat, spoon the shallots into a bowl and leave to cool for a few minutes. To the bowl, add the plant-based mince, breadcrumbs, BBQ sauce and season with salt and pepper. Mix until well combined.

3. Shape the patties. Lightly oil your hands and shape the mixture into four plump patties or eight smaller patties. Set the patties out on a lined baking tray and ‘smash’ them with the base of a wide, flat-bottomed glass – if needed you can shape the sides neatly using your hands. Cook in the oven for 25 minutes.

4. Prepare the remaining ingredients. Halve the brioche buns. Drizzle the cut sides with the olive oil and toast in the frying pan over a high heat until golden brown. Remove the core of the lettuce and shred the leaves. Thinly slice the tomato. In a small bowl, mix together the plant-based mayo and BBQ sauce until smooth.

5. Finish the burgers. After 25 minutes, remove the tray from the oven. Place the plant-based cheese slices on top of the burger patties and return the tray to the oven for one minute to melt the cheese.

6. Time to serve. Cover one half of the burger buns with the BBQ mayo. Take the patties out of the oven and transfer to the burger buns. Dress the burgers with sliced lettuce, tomato and crispy fried onions. Close the burgers and serve immediately.