I've gone had better results just replacing meat with another food - dal instead of chicken in curry, a slice of fried eggplant or mushroom and cheese instead of a burger. Meat substitutes always seem to fall short of recreating the taste and texture I expect, but a fundamentally different food can be enjoyed on its own merits.

@Sigma I've had success with these strategies as well (and with cheese, so much cheese). Basically, I'm curious about making veggie meat that can pass off as real meat to friends and family ― showing them there's a nice alternative to cheap supermarket ground beef.

Sadly, I've never been able to achieve anything wholly satisfactory. My mom had a few years where she went low/no meat, and my dad is a huge believer in always having meat on the table - cooking for both was challenging! My general rule was to have multiple alternatives (not substitutes) available. I've found Asian-inspired menus lend themselves particularly well to this format.