Any good seitan recipes?

[Heddi]

Not vegan or vegetarian but I try to replace my meat products with other things as often as possible--don't even eat meat that often, mostly veg & starches & meat replacements.

Found that seitan is really popular here in philadelphia, especially for cheese-steaks. A bar we go to has a seitan cheese-steak that I like better than the meat cheesesteak. Even my carnivorous S-I-L, who never met a dead animal she didn't find delightful, liked the seitan so much she got an order of the seitan meatloaf rather than a meat-based product.

Have looked online at recipes, and they all get a healthy mix of totally awesome 4-star and omg this is awful 1 star.

Knowing that this is a time-consuming process to make, and wheat gluten (or TVP, can't remember which I saw that it required) is pricy (where I've seen it, and i'm not very close to a whole-foods type place), I'd like to get some of y'all's opinions on the best recipe to use, and any tips you may have for making it and using it.

Thanks!

[madamvlb]

1. Never heard of it. Please enlighten me!

[Heddi]

3. It was described to me as "Bread Meat"

It's got yeast and gluten and spices in it---you mix it, let it rise like dough, then bake and slice and cook.
--that's what I've gotten from the recipes I've seen on line and what the chef at the bar we go to told me.

The ones I've had are very spicy---not hot spicy, but flavorful spicy. It has a meaty taste, but is light at the same time.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQc3XOR2ji-ZArp1rjYdepH5Z37yviIi2xwSJOoD8pPHlJT4SariA

here's a picture of the cheesesteak from down the street that's made with seitan

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[madamvlb]

7. Thanks...maybe I'll give it a try.

[Kevin from WI]

12. awww man that looks good.

Still probably not very healthy with all those fries.

[chervilant]

2. I recommend a recipe from The Vegan Slow Cooker.

They have "Chik'n Seitan" and "Beefy Seitan." Both are easy once you've made them a couple of times.

I change up some of the herbs and I have made "beef" stroganoff with lots of baby bellas and "beefy" seitan, using a soy sour cream that is more delish than dairy sour cream.

Wheat gluten is not as pricey when you buy it from a health food store that has bulk products for sale in smaller quantities.

[Warpy]

4. I liked my homemade seitan in stir fries

I've used commercial "steak" seitan (available in refrigerated cases in health food stores) added texture to what would have been a mushroom stroganoff and more surprisingly, a lot of flavor, too. I liked it a lot better than meat.

My homemade seitan was sliced 1/4 inch thick. I stir fried aromatics, then veggies, then seitan, finished with water mixed with either Marmite or Vegemite (really) to an iced tea color with a cup or so of water, followed by cornstarch dissolved in cold water to thicken the sauce. The result was something meaty but very light and yes, it fooled the occasional meat eater.

I never much liked seitan on its own as a sandwich filling. It needed veggies, a brown gravy, or mushrooms and sour cream.

The real thing is wheat flour with a little water, kneaded until the gluten is activated. Then it's kneaded under water to remove as much of the starch as one can, leaving the nearly fibrous gluten behind. I found it took about 3 changes of water in gallon glass jars. After the starch would settle, I'd pour off most of the water and dry the starch on cookie sheets in a low oven. I used whole wheat flour and what I got when the water was completely gone was extremely thin bran cracker, thinner than a potato chip. Crumbled, it was the best bran cereal I ever had. The gluten was turned into seitan by simmering it in a soy sauce based broth.

The restaurant variety is not true seitan, but it sounds like it would taste pretty good.

[demwing]

5. Some tips on seitan

Last edited Sat Nov 22, 2014, 10:57 PM - Edit history (4)

1. Seitan requires several steps. First turn your dry flour into raw gluten dough, then cook the raw dough with either dry or wet heat. High temperature dry heat makes an airy loaf that then must be flavored in a broth. You can boil raw gluten, but if you do, boil it directly in broth. Flavoring your gluten is really important. Cooked, but unflavored gluten tastes like nothing. Experiment with your flavors - Poultry seasoning and Nutritional yeast Flakes make a good poultry broth. use it as is for chicken flavor, or add a little brown sugar and a product called "Kitchen Bouquet" for a turkey flavor. Soy Sauce, onion powder, and dried mushroom powder makes a great beefy broth. For ham flavor, use the turkey broth, and add a little cayenne, mustard powder, nutmeg, and Liquid Smoke. You can get Liquid Smoke and Kitchen Bouquet at almost any major grocery store.

2. Some recipes have you start with a whole wheat flour dough, add water, soak it, and wash out the starch to get your raw gluten. This is a long, unnecessary process - so don't waste your time. Search your local health food stores for "Vital Wheat Gluten" (VWG). Don't mistake it for "High Gluten Flour" - the two products are very different. Buying VWG prepackaged can be pricey, so try to find someone who sells it in the bulk bins section. VWG is basically instant raw gluten, just add water and you're set.

3. Use 1 cup VWG to 1 scant cup water. Less liquid makes denser raw gluten, more liquid makes softer, spongier raw gluten. Try experimenting with liquids...using 1/2 water to 1/2 soy sauce (or Braggs Liquid Aminos) makes a more flavorful raw product. This is especially important when you make beefy seitan.

4. There are several ways to cook the raw gluten, each method gives you slightly different texture and intensity of flavor:

A) Bake your raw dough like artisan bread on a cookie sheet - 450 degrees for about 45 minutes. This gives you an airy loaf that cuts nicely into strips. Let the loaf cool before you cut it, then boil the strips in a broth of your choice to add flavor. I use this method to make poultry seasoned strips, which I then bread and fry just like chicken.

B) Tear rough, 1" square size pieces of raw dough and drop directly into a boiling broth (not water) to get chewy nuggets with a consistency between a meatball and a boneless wing. The more intense the broth, the better the nuggets will taste.

C) Deep frying the raw dough nuggets before you throw them in the broth makes them airy, and able to absorb more flavor. I use these last two methods to make chunks that can be used in Chinese recipes like Sesame Chicken or Sweat and Sour Pork.

D) Slow cook a loaf of raw gluten in a crockpot, using a very rich broth. Cook overnight on low for the best flavor and texture. I use this method to make a mock ham for Christmas dinner. After the crockpot I roast the loaf with cloves and pineapple rings. Also makes a great loaf for slicing up for sandwiches.

Gluten expands when cooking, so give it room. Play around with flavors, temperatures, and timing. Cooked seitan can be frozen, thawed, and refrozen, several times. Have fun and eat well!

[Heddi]

6. this is awesome. thank you so much

I appreciate the time you spent respinding. Very great info!!

[demwing]

10. One warning :)

Raw gluten is one of the stickiest substances you'll ever deal with in a kitchen. Your mixing bowl will have raw gluten stuck to it when you're done - guaranteed!

Minimize this by using a stainless steel or glass bowl, and do your cleanup by taking a small lump of raw gluten and rub it around the inside of your bowl. The gluten tends to stick to itself, and your little lump acts like a gluten magnet. This also works well to get raw gluten off of your fingers.

If your get the raw gluten stuck to your clothing, you can also use the gluten lump to remove the bits stuck to the fabric --BUT DO NOT RUB. Firmly press your raw gluten against the stuck gluten, then pull straight out with a bit of a snap. If you've ever used a bubble gum lump to clean up a popped bubble mishap, its the same process.

Good luck and good eating!

[madamvlb]

8. WOW, lots of steps!

[demwing]

9. It's reminds me of baking bread

there are several steps that sound complicated in a recipe, but once you get some experience, the process becomes easier. The return on your investment of time is also like baking bread - once you get it down, the finished product is far superior to what you can buy in most stores.

[demwing]

11. One other thing

Last edited Sun Nov 23, 2014, 01:53 PM - Edit history (1)

The flavoring process is most important. Gluten is dense, and doesn't readily absorb flavors.

Flavoring broth should be much more intense than soup stock. Think of it like dyeing fabric. To get intense color, use a stronger dyebath. To get more intense flavor, use a stronger flavoring broth.

For the quickest Seitan, either bake like bread or deep fry as a first step. This adds airiness, and allows the gluten to really pick up the quality of whatever flavoring broth you'll be using.

For the best flavor and chewiest texture, use the crockpot method, set the temp to low (high temp cooks the gluten before it has a chance to flavor up), and cook for a day and a night. Be sure to watch your liquid levels!

Here's some good veggie broths:

NOTE: Nutritional Yeast Flakes are called for in a few of my broths. Yeast Flakes are NOT bread yeast, they are NOT Brewers Yeast. Don't listen to anyone who says it's the same. they're wrong. Yeast flakes can be found at many health food stores, or online. I usually pay about $7-8 per pound locally when I buy it from a bulk bin, but see big markups online. Shop wisely.

Mock Chicken Flavoring Broth:

4 Cups Water
1 Cup Soy Sauce or Braggs Liquid Aminos
1 Cup Nutritional Yeast Flakes
1 tablespoon Poultry seasoning
2 tsp each black pepper and onion powder

Mock Turkey/Duck Flavoring Broth:

Use the Chicken Flavor as a base
Add a tablespoon Kitchen Bouquet
Add 1/3 cup brown sugar (or experiment with small amounts of molasses or pancake syrup)

Mock Ham Flavoring Broth:

Use the Chicken Flavoring Broth as a base
Add 1/3 cup brown sugar (or experiment with small amounts of molasses or pancake syrup)
Add 2 tsp each: cumin powder, garlic powder, mustard powder
Add 1 tsp each: cayenne and nutmeg
Add a tablespoon of Liquid Smoke

Mock Beef Flavoring Broth:

NOTE: This is the hardest to get right. You will really have to experiment with ingredients. Also it helps to start with a raw gluten made by using the 1/2 water to 1/2 soy sauce recipe from my first post. Tomato powder and mushroom powder are specialty ingredients. I'm lucky enough to have a store in my town that sells both, but you can also find them online for a premium.

4 Cups Water
2 Cups Soy Sauce or Braggs Liquid Aminos
2 tsp each black pepper and onion powder
1 tablespoon tomato powder
2 tablespoons mushroom powder (turn dried mushrooms to powder in a coffee/spice grinder)