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 have heard to get a "chicken-like" texture you have to roll and wrap or fold and wrap.... the layers are supposed to help. I have not tried that. Just heard... ::) sorry.
i sort of get a headache, too.
i always figured it was because it was gluten and maybe a am a little sensitive to it or something?
I also wanted to say that i prefer mine baked and without baking powder. My boyfriend likes it mushy (gross!), If you like it mushy too, adding baking powder (fluffs it up) and boiling it (keeps it soft) will do just that. If you like it drier, like the texture of meat, then marinating and baking it in thin slices before cooking it with your meal works well!
you're braver than I am! I have yet to try making my own. It scares me ;)
Me too!!
Where's Davedrum? He knows so much about seitan, I know he makes it regularly. He could probably give you a tonne of tips.
I am not convinced that the wheat gluten they sell here is as good as what you have in the States, ours tends to work up VERY stiff (chewing gum) or VERY wet and floppy. I can never roll it out thin or anything like that. I invented a baked seitan recipe that is OK (Mexicali Seitan on here) but I would never say it was "like meat."
But then I don't particularly want to eat something that looks or tastes like meat anyway.
Thanks for all the tips! I'm definitely going to try the baked seitan!
Definitely trying baking! Here is the recipe I use (courtesy of CeltKat, courtesy of BookMama)
Thanks for the recipe too! This is awesome! As soon as I try the new seitan recipe, I'll let you all know. Thank you for all your insightful recipe tips!
So I have made Seitan a dozen or so times... I follow almost the exact same recipe every time for baked BBQ Seitan Ribz... Usually the ribz cook nice and evenly into perfect little chewy logs, but every so often they expand into these massive breadstick looking things and never really deflate... They become really hard and almost uneatable (although I still eat them cause I can't stand to throw out food.) My question is, what am I doing wrong? Is there too much liquid that this is happening or not enough? Sometimes I eyeball ingredients but I can't be that far off... Any thoughts? ???
And I know this has been brought up in the past... But can these ribz be frozen and then defrosted with success?
Ah Baypuppy! Thanks for that link... It totally answered my question. I never really payed too much attention to the kneading, but I remember this time I hardly smooshed it around at all, and usually I knead it quite well for a minute or two. That must be it! So a little less water and more kneading is what I need to do.... Thanks!!! ;D
I just bought seitan for the first time in a 1-pound box. Do I have to knead it before I cook with it? I read that article but does that apply to the ready-made seitan? Help, I wanted to make a pot pie with it.
nope, you can just open it and use. you can also freeze it, if you arent going to use all of it. i think you should freeze it in some of the water, but im not sure how yours came exactly... i usually get mine in a plastic container w/ water.
Thanks Lucidanne. Mine is made by White Wave and when I was home in NY, I went to the co-op and got it. It looks interesting. Mine is labeled vegetarian stir fry seitan. Can't wait to try it.
I made the Bryanna Clark Grogan seitan cutlets from her vegan feast blog which are very much based on the recipe in Ellen's kitchen. I used the kneading technique that Ellen recommends. The cutlets were great. They were very tender though--definitely not "ribby."
Try adding a liberal amount of olive oil to the mixture.....I usually add a decent amount when cooking seitan pastrami. Since I've been doing that, I've yet to come out like a long hard crunchy stick of red bread! ::)
Thanks Dave, perhaps that will do the trick along with the kneading. By the way, snazzy new pic. 8) Nice touch with the avocado!
I tried the Un-chicken chili tonight and it was fabulous. The last time I was in New York I purchased a couple packages of seitan. Well, now I'm back home and the health food store doesn't even carry it. Is there an online source where I can buy it? The seitan I used was White Wave vegetarian stir fry but in looking at the stuff, it looked like gyros meat. This was the first time I ever used it and it tasted pretty good. I know I saw a recipe for vegan gyros and would like to make them. I tried to google seitan and mail order and got 1 company which had the flavored kind.
Actually... I HATE store-bought seitan, but I LOOOOOVE homemade seitan! :D It is by far my absolute favorite meat analogue. (And the White Wave stuff is not nearly as good as homemade, in my opinion--and ultra expensive!)
I haven't found any store-bought that I like, so I can't recommend any websites (even though I know you said you loved the stuff you purchased)... But, I love Isa's recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance! It's more time-consuming than just opening a package, but much more cost-effective & flavorful (I think)! Plus, it freezes okay & keeps in the fridge for a week (at least--I've never tried longer). :)
I hope that helps, even if it wasn't an answer to your actual question. :-\
http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=112
Thanks JessaCita. I'm not worried about the convenience factor. I could just make a batch on the weekend. I liked the seitan I used because it was the first time I ever tried it that I can remember and I've been a vegetarian most of my life. I will try this but I think I need to get special flour at the health food store.
Thanks JessaCita. I'm not worried about the convenience factor. I could just make a batch on the weekend. I liked the seitan I used because it was the first time I ever tried it that I can remember and I've been a vegetarian most of my life. I will try this but I think I need to get special flour at the health food store.
you can get vital wheat gluten at the health food store or you can make it for scratch with whole wheat flour, it just takes a little more time and effort.
Ahhhhhh, we had the tastiest chili yesterday made with our Seitan O'Greatness! I was beyond pleased. We've been making the baked seitan for about 6 or 8 months now and we love it, but we almost always make it in the toaster oven. The last couple weeks, we've been using the regular oven, which cooks it faster, and sometimes too fast, so it gets a little crusty. So Saturday we made a double batch of seitan, and one of them got a little crusty. So we shredded up the outside of the seitan "log" with the shredder disk on our food processor, and then we chopped up the inside, so they were chewy little bite-sized chunks. And voila! We made our regular chili-- sauteed onions, garlic, bell peppers, spices, etc, threw it in the crockpot with chipotle chiles, black beans and garbanzos, some homemade veggie broth, and all the seitan, and it was fabulous! We had a lot of meat-eaters over for the football games yesterday, and even the meat-and-potato guys were really into it.
I was really psyched about the shredded seitan. We purposely made it a little bland (no cinnamon or cumin, less chili powder/paprika), so I it would make a really good substitute for shredded chicken if you have a recipe to convert. I personally usually sub chickpeas for shredded chicken in most recipes (we don't do commercially available meat-a-likes, so we're not going to buy Quorn patties to shred or anything like that), but I think it would be fabulous for something difficult to sub, like a tortilla soup recipe.
I love Seitan! I always make it in my slow cooker and cook it on low overnight under broth and maybes some veggies. I do have one question. Is it just me or is the mess from the bowl I make it in impossible to clean? It takes for ever. :'( I use a plastic bowl. Does it stick so much to metal bowls? Or Glass? I usually make large amounts (5 cups of gluten a shot) and freeze what I do not cook. But it is such a labor to clean that bog bowl I have, which is my biggest one.
Jeff
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