Seitan Satisfaction

I have a love for all things seitan. If you are gluten intolerant then look away now because seitan IS gluten. I have a lot of people ask me about what I use as a meat replacer and seitan, tempeh, and tofu are at the top of that list. I have had seitan in different venues and I am partial to my own. I have heard people call all gluten patties seitan but to me seitan isn't just mixing gluten flour and water together into a chewy gross patty. That is just UNappealing. I have tasted it too, it doesn't taste good either. I will include the following "recipe" for seitan but with the disclaimer that I generally don't use an exact recipe, I started off using this one but when I make it now I just make it until the gluten dough "feels right". Let me explain.

So you mix together:
1 cup wheat gluten flour
3 tbs nutritional yeast (this is purely optional, it simply adds a bit more nutrition to the dough)
about 1-2 tsp garlic powder OR a couple cloves of minced fresh garlic

In a small bowl combine:
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 tbs olive oil
1/2 vegetable broth

Pour the wet into the dry and knead into a dough. You only have to knead for a couple of minutes to really get the gluten activated. The dough should feel very similar to bread dough in firmness only. It will be pretty wet feeling though but not sticky. When I am making seitan I just add wet into dry kneading as I go until I reach desired consistency. It's not that the ingredients have to be exact but the best end product comes when the dough feels just right. If you add too much water the patties come out almost crumbly and don't hold together well. If you add too much gluten flour they come out too dense which makes them too chewy.  Then you shape the dough into 3 or 4 patties. Stretch them out until the patties are about 1/2 inch thick. They will stretch back but don't sweat it, you just want to stretch them out as best you can. Take a large pot of approx 8 cups of water, 3 veggie bullion cubes and 1/4 c. soy sauce to a boil on the stove. Add the patties, arranging them non-overlapping in the pot and bring to a simmer. Simmer them for an hour covered or partially covered. Turn the heat off and let them sit in the broth until you are ready to use. Here is a picture of some that just got done simmering after an hour:

I generally make more seitan than I need for a meal and freeze the rest. You can just put the patties in a freezer bag without squeezing them out and they keep and defrost just fine. I also reuse my broth. I will reuse broth over about 4 times and just freeze it in between uses. When I defrost it I just add extra water to replace the water that evaporated when cooking.

Seitan has a lovely texture that I think is similar to cooked ground beef. The patties really expand while they are boiled and you will notice they at least double their size.

Seitan is so versatile. With seitan I have made: seitan stuffed fried wontons, BBQ seitan and slaw sandwishes, buffalo seitan bites, philly cheese seitan steak sandwiches, country fried seitan steaks, seitan veggie kebobs, Korean BBQ Seitan, chimichurri seitan, seitan and tofu ricotta stuffed shells. I have added cubes of it to soups, stews, and chili. It marinates easily and I would have actually grilled it as well if we had had a grill last summer. I'm actually making buffalo seitan sandwiches for the missionaries tonight. It is by request, apparently it was a big enough hit with them last time I made it that others have heard about it and are requesting it =) Brad is thrilled about it b/c he loves buffalo seitan.

You can add any seasoning to the seitan dough before boiling to give it a different ethnic tilt such as italian seasonings if you want to make seitan meatballs for spaghetti or something or teryaki sauce if you want to use it in Asian dishes. I like to add vegan worcestershire sauce to it if I am wanting it to taste more like steak. I think seitan is one of the best kept secrets. I had never heard of the stuff before coming across it in one of my vegan cookbooks. I made it with great apprehension the first time and was more than pleasantly surprised by the results. Any time I tell Brad I am making dinner which includes some type of seitan dish it gets his seal of approval. He loves seitan even more than I do. I do try to only make it once or sometimes twice a week though. While seitan is a great "meat replacer" we should never feel like we need to make the same typical American diet just with meat replacers instead of the meat. That defeats the purpose of trying to live a whole foods diet. Having a variety in your diet with lots of whole foods and vegetables, utilizing different grains and legumes ensures a healthy diet. Gluten has obviously been implicated in exascerbating various health and behavioral problems thus it should be used with moderation. Excess in any specific food is not a good thing. Seitan in moderation has proved itself a valuable protein source and will continue to have a place in my vegetarian repertoire.