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... ::)
If you look into how gluten/seitan affects the body (inflammation), it's not the best choice for someone with her medical history and condition. In fact it may be counter productive. Here are some dishes that would be really good for cancer survivors as they boost immunity, cleanse and do not contain inflamatories - let me know if you want any of the recipes
Creamy Mushroom Soup with Crispy Shiitake and Nori Garnish
Jade Rolls
Japonica Rica Salad
Cocoa Chia Maca Booster Shake
Millet, Quinoa and Burdock Pilaf (this is great)
Spinach, Walnut and Curried Strawberry Salad
Tomato Soup with Miso (can she have fermented soy? often fermented don't bother people who cannot have soy)
lime beans with greens and olives
stiry fry with almond cilantro sauce
Hi everyone, I liked all the ideas so much! I made their first meal on Thursday...I ended up running short on time so I made homemade pasta jambalaya with organic brown rice pasta and field roast Mexican style sausages....they told me it was the best food they had eaten in a long time which made me feel really good...I was nervous that they would hate it. I'm so incredibly insecure about my cooking. I know they had a social obligation to say "that was so good, thank you" but they went on and one so I hope they really did enjoy it! I think you are all right too about combing proteins...I never think about combining mine cause I know I have read if you eat it with in a certain amount of time (like a few days) then you are fine, your body takes care of it...so, yeah...I'm not sure why I felt I needed to prepare "complete protein" meals???'
Pilot Kevin, those sound good, although I have never heard of any...I could use the recipes. It made me think of a book I once saw called "eat to live" If I recall the man who wrote it was a cancer survivor?? Ill have to look for it...my email addy is above...
susan v. has a ton of 'eat to live' recipes on her site - fatfreevegan.com you should check it out- they're free!
I've tried making seitan about a thousand times and can't seem to get it right?! When it's done simmering some of the seitan chunks are soft and spongy, while others seem to be soft around the edges but harder in the middle. The harder ones still have that "flour" taste to them. I'm not sure what simmered seitan is supposed to look like OR taste like! But i've tried tons of recipes and it still comes out the same. Am i supposed to "stretch" or "flatten" the seitan chunks before dropping them in the simmering water? Any suggestions or ideas????
I knead the f-word out of them and stretch them as thin as humanly possible.
I have made seitan and ended up with the same texture you have. When that happens, I just chop it up into little tiny pieces when I use it. As far as flavor goes, season your broth a little more. I've never had it still taste anything like flour before.
Thanks for the tips!
I made another batch of seitan last night. I took both of your advice! I kneaded the f-word out of them and I really stretched the gluten out too. I also lowered the heat when simmering it. I think that was key cause when i made it in the past i would turn it to boil then simmer. I just turned the heat to simmer this time. My seitan came out great...no hard spots, just pure soft and chewy. I marinated it overnight in teriayki sauce then sauteed in a pan till crispy brown on both sides. Tasted Great!! Thanks again! :)
Yeah. Never, ever, boil seitan.
I made my first seitan this weekend just gone, and overall, I was thrilled with how easy it was, because I'd really worked it up in my mind to be this overpoweringly monumentally difficult process. Hoorah. But, it did come out somewhat rather more ... chewy? than I would have liked. The texture was uniform, but kinda tough. I did the 'easiest seitan' from this site, and simmered it in a big pot for about an hour and a half.
Things I think could be wrong - heat too high, didn't cook long enough, cooked too long, didn't cut thin enough, didn't stretch out enough... but these are all guesses.
Any ideas on making a fluffier end product? Should I just try another recipe?
I'm thinking about trying the slow cooker idea, but any advise will be gratefully accepted.
Hmmm... I've only gotten fluffy seitan. I mix it in a stand mixer and us a low simmer. Well, that's not true. Cutting it raw is a pain, so I usually bake it. It's relatively fluffy when baked, too.
i pretty much only like it bakes. i simmered it once and it didn't have enough flavour and wasn't the right texture.
you possibly could have over mixed it/not out in enough water if it was too chewy?
hmm ok, thanks :) I think I'd heard that baking made it more firm and 'salami-esque', which I wasn't keen on, so I went for the pot option.
I kneaded it for the recommended time, don't think it was overmixed, not sure about water though, perhaps it needed more, but I could see it just getting really gloopy if I put too much more in.
Think I'll try another go this weekend, fingers crossed :)
I just tried simmering seitan steaks in my crock pot on high for (3-4 hours?) last night. The texture is much firmer than the ones I made before with the simmering over a stove process. It reminds me of honey baked ham (?).The ones I made over the stove always end up either too soft. I think I'm going to stick to crock pot seitan steak now.
I always smother them in sauce to cover up the seitan taste.
I'm about to buy some seitan at the store for the first time. I've never had it so I want to know what to do with it. I'm going to have it for dinner tomarrow night so please give me some ideas... ;)b
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o320/vri007/praise-seitan2-720949.gif
Red bamboo makes killer jerk seitan on a stick.
Make a really good vegan bbq option.
Other from that, marinate, add to stir fry...
here is a decent link on how to make your own and recipes.
http://www.vrg.org/recipes/vjseitan.htm
Thanks for posting. I just really hope that the packaged seitan I bought is better than when I tried to make it myself. It came out like rubber and had no taste!
One of my favorite seitan dishes using the packaged stuff is to simply stir fry it with onions, garlic, peppers, and lots of olive oil and then add jarred pasta sauce and maybe some oregeno and basil depending on the quality of the sauce. Serve over pasta. Love it.
Red bamboo makes killer jerk seitan on a stick.
Make a really good vegan bbq option.
Other from that, marinate, add to stir fry...
here is a decent link on how to make your own and recipes.
http://www.vrg.org/recipes/vjseitan.htm
YES! I second this one, it is awespme and serve it with steamed rice. :)
Hi guys! okay, I've made veggeroni once using a mix of the vegan vittles and susan v's recipes (formed the dough, wrapped it in a foil log, stuck it straight in the oven). Then I made the seitan cutlets recipe out of Vcon, which tells you to form the gluten into cutlets and then bake them in a pan of broth. I liked the veggeroni (just sliced thin little pieces off like pepperoni). But OMG using the other method, I couldn't even eat it. They came out like cakes of rubber.
I'm going to try steaming it using julie hasson's sausage steaming method, but I need your guy's favorite seitan recipes. Preferably a very basic one that I'll be able to use pieces of in any recipe that calls for seitan. I don't want to just make any seitan recipe and leave out all the seasonings or whatever, cause I totally lack any seitan experience and don't want to end up throwing out another gross batch. Sooo, wise seitan makers, help me out!
Hi chat buddy!
So, okay. My go-to recipe is the Simple Seitan recipe out of v-con. The seitan cutlets are VERY chewy/rubbery, and I would NOT use them in a basic seitan recipe. They are delicious in the vietnamese baguette recipe though. make that with the leftovers. The Simple Seitan comes out great everytime. it's very simple and is THE BEST in every-day seitan recipes.
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