Seitan - General Guidance
Well friends, I girded my loins and tried making my own seitan yesterday. I had trawled the Net for info and some of it was contradictory, others were confusing, but I did find out how to make it with gluten powder and when to freeze it--after the initial cooking.
I always follow the easiest recipe thru the way it says the first time and go from there. NOW I understand why they recommend you add seasonings, herbs, mushroom powder etc. to the gluten mix...it tastes of absolutely nothing, as is. I mean, imagine eating an eraser. OK as a chewing exercise...flavour, not so much! LOL I also understand why they suggest you work it very little (mine was almost as dense as me!) and if it weren't 100º out I might have tried baking instead of boiling it.
BUT...and it's a big but...after I had laughed at the way it swells up when you boil it and looks like something out of a biology lab, and tasted it and found it...well, completely tasteless...I sliced it up and marinaded it in an African barbecue sauce. And DH the carnivore tasted it and did NOT go "Gross!" or laugh at me about it. We agreed the recipe and method need "tweaking" and that I need to print out the instructions and follow them closely, but that we are definitely onto something, at less than a dollar a pound for pure food, no waste. No bones, no fat, no cholesterol...and cheap! He ate some and said maybe we should put it in a curry etc.
10 years ago or even 5 he would have laughed at me and made "cute" remarks all the time I was trying to eat it. Now he agrees we need to eat less meat and things like this will help that. From his point of view it is purely economic (he is facing disability retirement) but hey, any start is a good one. Now if I could just get him to eat things with leaves and roots... ::)
I had to cook ours a little longer to get it to absorb all the broth! If the broth is gone I'd pull it. I can't imagine it wouldn't be done after 3 hrs anyway. Not that this will help now, but do you have an oven thermometer? I'm wondering if the oven wasn't too hot making the liquid evaporate/absorb faster.
When you cook it more, add a little bit more broth. Just so it doesnt get all dry. But honestly, the broth absorption should happen at the very end, when you are flipping it every so often. The pan gets all browned and the loaf is moist and tender. Its amazing.
When I made mine last year, I kept worrying each time I checked and flipped it, because I thought it would end up with tons of liquid and a soggy loaf...but it came out just right in the exact time prescribed! but yeah, just add a smidge more broth or water if it looks like it's going to get too dry, it couldn't hurt.
A tip for anyone who hasn't yet made this: It is NOT necessary to add extra seasonings to the dry mix, unless Your tastebuds are totally dead! The broth will soak into the loaf and fully saturate it with delicious flavor....anything more will be too salty and overpowering. ..not that I'd know from experience, or anything. ::)
I wish I had remembered to get vital wheat gluten when I was at my co-op the other day. now it's closed and I'll have to settle for a strictly tofu-based loaf thing. oh well, it's more for Shane than for me anyway...
oh yeah, and do let us know how it turned out!
who all will be enjoying this SoySeiTurkey today?
The seitan turkey came out great! It was moist and tender and had lots of flavor. It was really easy to make too. I don't think I'll be buying Tofurkey again. The only thing was that I only had a metal roasting pan to cook it in and it kind of spread out to fill the pan. So it wasn't very pretty looking. I might try making it in a smaller pan next time.
Bryanna's vegan pumpkin pie was a big hit too. That was also really simple to make.
Bryanna's vegan pumpkin pie was a big hit too. That was also really simple to make.
Good to hear that your seitan came out good. If it wasn't only me eating I would make one, but I just baked up some seitan and then panned fried it for my meal.
I made her pumpkin pie too and everyone loved it. Hubby said it was probably one of the best he's ever had.
I made the her seitan turkey roulade variation with her stuffing recipe and it was a hit. It looked really good sliced and on a platter competing with the real turkey that was unfortunately also served (:( ) All my omni realitives had a slice of the roulade and commented that they really enjoyed it. I did a practice loaf (not a roulade) a couple days before Thanksgiving and used Bryanna's recipe for the broth, and I have to admit I didn't like that as much. I used Superior Touch's No Chicken Base paste for my Thanksgiving turkey and thought it came out better with that.
I used Superior Touch's No Chicken Base paste for my Thanksgiving turkey and thought it came out better with that.
I used the same because I already had it.
I've heard alot about alot of soy being bad for you...
Is seitan/wheat gluten bad for you? (besides the whole in excess)
Or is it only bad if you are gluten-intolerant. Please provide a link too if you have info.
thanks.
http://www.prevention.com/cda/vendorarticle/seitan/HN1927002/nutrition.recipes/food.encyclopedia/0/0/overview
Personally I have times I love it and times I could just do without it. For some reason in the summer I need no NEED it barbqed!
I try to keep the soy intake down, and I have recently found a recipe of seitan that I can make. My hubby likes it so much that he says he could go veggie more consistently at home. (His job makes it too hard for him to be veggie, he has to eat what he can, when there is an opportunity.) Seitan and the great becoming is the recipe, though I leave out alot of the spices the recipe calls for then just use sauces in meals to zip it up some.
Hey to the folks
I've seen a couple different recipes oh the different ways to make seitan. Boil it, bake it. From what i understand baking it gives it a more pepperoni like consistency , which is not what im looking for. I want to bread it and bake it and use in a recipe that originally calls for chicken and I'm not sure which way to go. Is there a making seitan for the first time thread somewhere? Thanks.
thanks so much! I just finished cooking these in the oven, I'll let you know what I think of the finished product!
i've found that boiling it will make it rise and really really soft. I always do something else with it after boiling it, baking it will take out the mushiness and frying it will keep it soft but tough. but i like to boil it if i have extra time to get the most out of it. if you jsut make it then bake it, is doesnt get as big as it does when boiling it.
i might be wrong about these, my bf is the seitan master of the house. i just make it every once in a while.
i wanna do this correctly some time.. the one time i tried it i baked it and ended up with a nice loaf of bread for myself.. ???
at first i was gonna act all offended and accuse you of calling me lazy, but then i thought about it and maybe that is what i did.. it's been a few weeks so i cant remember. that's good to know though, thanks!
Does anyone else have this problem? I cooked up the Easy Seitan recipe yesterday and I ate all of it by myself. I have been farting ever since. I can't stop! And now that I think about it, I feel like I get pretty gassy every time I eat seitan. What is up with that??? Pretty gross.
It's possible you're having trouble digesting the gluten.
Yeah, you might be gluten intolerant...is that possible?
Is it? How would I know? I don't feel awful after eating the stuff, just gassy. I think I kind of feel that way when I make homemade bread too. Hmmm... I truly hope that I am not gluten intolerant. I love all things gluten! Maybe I just have a slight intolerance? In that case I would probably continue to eat gluten and just deal with the flatulence. I will research this further.
Ehh. I don't know how to help you. I've made seitan twice, and both times I've thrown up within an hour of eating it.
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