Subject: VEGAN: Seitan

From: "He whose name must not be spoken..." <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 1994 05:05:35 GMT

I thought I'd get the ball rolling on this new group by sharing a skill
I recently learned: how to make Seitan, or wheatmeat, which is a meat
substitute that is both delicious and extremely economical.  Seitan is
somewhat of a staple in Japanese cooking, and is just another name for
wheat gluten, which is basically nothing but protein and fiber.
  To make Seitan, you need a big bowl, some whole wheat flour, and water.
I find that four cups of flour will produce enough Seitan for several
sandwiches, or one major meal.  Mix about 1.5-2 cups of water in with the
flour until the water is absorbed and you get a big ball of dough.  Punch
the dough really well for several minutes.
  Next, put your glob of dough back in the bowl and cover it with cold water.
Let it sit for 10-15 minutes, and then knead it gently.  Be careful at this 
point, to keep the dough from disintegrating.  What you are doing here is
kneading the starch and bran out of the flour, leaving only the gluten behind,
which will be quite rubbery in texture.  After you are done kneading, care-
fully pour off the startchy water.  It may be saved as an excellent thickener
for soups and stews.
  Carefully cover the dough with warm water this time, let it sit for 10-15
minutes again, and knead out the starch underwater as before.  Overall, you
should go through about six rinses, alternating between cold and hot water.
When you are done, you should have an extremely resilient ball of gluten
(which at this point looks rather like a rubbery brain or something).  Pull
off small balls, patties, or whatever of the gluten and stretch them out
under running water to rinse out any bran which remains.
  Drop the balls of gluten in boiling water until they rise to the top like
dumplings.  When this is done, you now are ready to cook your Seitan
masterpiece.  The other wonderful thing about Seitan is that it is very
good at absorbing the flavors of whatever it is cooked in, and will be quite
flavorful if you let it simmer for a nice long time.  After boiling, I cut my
little balls into bite-sized pieces and simmered them in a stock containing
about 1/4 cup soy sauce, oregano, garlic salt, and crushed red pepper (my
favorite hot & spicy touch).  In general, any seasoning that goes well with
beef will go well with Seitan.  A dash of Worcestershire sauce is nice,
though it is made with anchovies, so vegans be warned.
  After cooking for at least an hour, the Seitan may be refrigerated for
about a week, kept in the stock it was cooked in.  For something simple
to try your creation, make Seitan subs on a hero roll, with lettuce, tomato,
and mayo.  I have heard of everything from sandwiches to Beef Bourgionone(sp?)
being made with Seitan, and a creative cook should have no problems finding
lots of yummy uses for this glutenous wonder-food.
  Anyway, enjoy...  I'd love to see any recipes that those more accomplished
than I have come up with using Seitan...

---

From: [email-masked] (Michelle Renee Dick)
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 1994 17:46:30 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
He whose name must not be spoken... <[email-masked]> wrote:
>A dash of Worcestershire sauce is nice,

Anchovies are not only not vegan, but they are not even vegetarian,
and thus traditional Worcestershire sauce is outside the scope of
rec.food.veg.cooking. 

However there are several vegetarian brands of Worcestershire sauce on
the market.  One brand is Life brand, available in both the US and the
UK.  I'm not too fond of the vegetarian Worcestershire sauces on the
market and prefer instead to substitute Lea and Perrins Steak Sauce
(diluted 1:1 with water).

As for tips on making and cooking gluten, I consider Barbara and
Leonard Jacobs' book _Cooking with Seitan_ to be the best guide.
Their recipe for seitan pepperoni is quite good.

Other books on making and cooking gluten are:

Moulton, LeArta.  _The New Gluten Book_. (self published: LeArta
Moulton, 509 E. 2100 N., Provo, UT 84604).

Bates, Dorothy and Colby Wingate. _Cooking with Gluten and Seitan_.
Book Publishing Company. 1993

Burke, Abbot George. _Simply Heavenly_. Saint George Press. 1991

The last is huge vegan cookbook (heavy on oils and nuts) that has very
long detailed sections on making beef, pork, poultry, and seafood
substitutes using gluten.

--
Michelle Dick
[email-masked]