During the Food Ingredients Europe fair (November 19-21), visitors savoured a variety of innovative plant-based recipes with BENEO’s ingredients. Crafted by our culinary chef, Jelbrich Hendrickx, these dishes showcased the perfect balance of flavour and texture that makes plant-based cooking so exciting. Since February 2023, Jelbrich has been working at the BENEO-Technology Center, developing creative recipes to inspire delicious plant-based recipes with BENEO ingredients. Read the interview to discover his tips for preparing your own flavorful and satisfying plant-based creations.

Welcome Jelbrich, can you please share with us what you are mainly doing in your role as culinary chef?

Jelbrich: I am developing creative recipes to promote the use of BENEO’s food ingredients in all types of culinary dishes such as appetizers, starters, main courses, desserts and drinks. BENEO ingredients can for example be used to improve the taste, texture and mouthfeel of food products or to claim nutritional and/or health benefits. The dishes are presented during customer meetings as well as during external events such as the recent Food Ingredients Europe fair in Frankfurt. Besides that, I am also helping with the sensorial optimisation of technical samples.

Are there any specific challenges for creating a plant-based recipe compared to a non-plant-based one?

Jelbrich: When it comes to plant-based recipes with BENEO ingredients, it’s all about achieving the right texture, taste, and appearance to ensure consumers feel just as satisfied as they would with a meat- or fish-based equivalent. It is not always needed to have an identical product because some textures are difficult to replicate, but the key for making a great plant-based recipe is finding a good balance between flavour and texture, ensuring each bite feels like an experience.

Which is your source of inspiration to develop plant-based dishes?

Jelbrich: I am getting my inspiration mostly by talking with colleagues; by searching for solutions to improve the taste or texture of plant-based samples or I chose by myself a traditional recipe that I would like to make plant-based. For instance, I have converted a classical vol-au-vent into a delicious vegan version with the help of several BENEO ingredients. A next dish that I am thinking of to develop is a twist of a dairy-free dame blanche.

You were present at the latest Food Ingredients Europe fair in November 2024 in Frankfurt and prepared a whole menu of plant-based dishes that the visitors could taste. Ranging from a hibiscus mocktail to a delicious pasta salad and plant-based white fish, ending with some great tasting desserts such as a vegan cremeux with meringue.

What was the feedback from the visitors about these plant-based meals?

Jelbrich: They liked the dishes very much! Of course, you have always some people who are skeptical about certain products. But from these reactions you learn a lot and you can further improve the recipes if needed when you are making it a next time.

The visitors were especially fan from the plant-based brookie, the vegan cremeux with meringue and the chili cheese delight. And when someone from Mexico is coming to tell you that the plant-based taco reminds him of his home, you know that you did a great job.

All these dishes are made with a combination of different BENEO ingredients. To give you an example, our beta-glucan enriched barley flour Orafti®β-Fit is replacing part of the whole meal wheat flour in the taco recipe, while Meatless® Textured Flakes & Binder are used to prepare a meat-free taco filling and our chicory root fibre Orafti® Oligofructose is reducing the sugar level in the used sauce. All this together ends up in a delicious plant-based taco with nutritional and health benefits.

To tell us a secret, what was your favourite dish that you have prepared during this fair?

Jelbrich: My favourite recipe is the vegan cremeux with vegan meringue on top because you have several BENEO ingredients inside and it is very tasty. Moreover, we managed to make a stable meringue based on faba bean protein concentrate that is replacing the egg white. In addition, you can heat the top to give it a brown colour without that the inside of the egg-free meringue is becoming liquid.

Can you please share some recommendations with our readers that they need to take into account when they want to make plant-based dishes by themselves?

Jelbrich: Of course, I can sum up a few things that I take personally into account when developing plant-based recipes with BENEO ingredients. Here are my top tips:

• Never replace anything just to replace.
• Everything that you use as substitute can have an effect on taste, texture and appearance.
• All ingredients that you are adding must bring an added value to the dish.
• Keep in mind the cooking times and adapt where needed.

Thank you for your time Jelbrich and good luck with the creation of new (plant-based) dishes!