Good gluten meat is great. In China they’ve been doing it for centuries (I’ve described elsewhere the variety we encountered there) . My theory is that to really push the art of faux meat forward in the West, we need to learn and translate their knowledge on the subject. Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Authentic Chinese Cuisine (one of my favourite cook books) does a pretty good job, but there’s still a long way to go before this kind of silly, fun nonsense is possible:
The strangest faux meat I've ever seen: mock pigeon
Meanwhile, it seems to me that most progress in the art of cooking with gluten that I read about is largely won at random. Steam it for 20 minutes or 40 minutes? Bake it for 60 or 120 minutes? At 300F or 375F? Why? I’m confused!
I’ve spent a while reviewing the most popular recipes online, and have compiled a list of possible variations based on these. It’s ambitious, but I want to find out what really makes a difference to the texture of that wonderful, wierd, chewy stuff we call seitan. And in the process, I’ve gathered about a million different styles and opinions about making it.
The questions I want to answer are:
- How does cooking method change things? There’s steaming, usually (but not always) in foil; boiling, usually in broth, when it’s properly called ’seitan’; oven baking (wrapped), as in the famed veggeroni/seitan o’ greatness; oven baking (open), seemingly appropriate for bacon or ribz; and oven baking (crockpot/slow baste), which is rarely blogged about, because it’s not so convenient, but supposedly produces a light texture
- How does cooking time change the texture or flavour? I’ve seen slow basting methods suggesting cooking times of anywhere between four hours and eight hours. Longer baking times have lower temperatures, so I am treating temperature as a dependent variable.
- What about texture-related additives (as opposed to flavours such as spices, herbs, etc)? There are loads of variations in the wild, including onion, oil, mushed beans, crumbled tofu, gram flour, mashed pots, panko, and minute tapioca.
- Does kneading make a difference? Some assert that it does; apparently, “when you’re done kneading, knead some more“; maybe because gluten which has been kneaded less tends to get puffy.
- How about trying to make it textured by stretching or folding it?
Science time.
Becks~not a rabbit | 24-Jan-09 at 2:40 am | Permalink
What very good questions Bacon. I hope you come up with some awesome seitan in your experiments.
The jury is still out for me, I find it very hit and miss, sadly.
And I hope none of your seitan explodes ~ it’s not good when that happens!
Becks~not a rabbit | 24-Jan-09 at 4:47 am | Permalink
Mine was more of a seitan rocket (which I think broke my oven thermostat! Grr!): http://iamnotarabbit.blogspot.com/2008/10/seitan-is-my-nemesis.html
But someone elses really blew up:
http://www.postpunkkitchen.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=57860&p=1
denny | 27-Jan-09 at 9:52 am | Permalink
Okay that pigeon mock meat things looks so real.I have been staring at it for a good minute and it terrifies me. I can almost taste the “gameyness” for lack of better word.
Making own seitan terrifies me. Good luck to you tho, I am sure the Vegan Kitchen gods will appease you.
Wish I could help, am only useful as food taster;)
Ate-Bit Vegan | 28-Jan-09 at 5:31 am | Permalink
I really love your blog here. Very interesting, and original stuff. I also poked around whixey.com a bit, and really liked the comic strips. Are those yours? Either way, yeah, great blog going here.
- Stanley
DJ | 28-Jan-09 at 5:49 am | Permalink
Mmmm… I’ve just never been that keen on seitan, always rather gluteny tasting to me, no matter how much spice and seasoning I add to it. The cooking method must have something to do with it so I’ll be very interested to see what your findings are!
Katie | 28-Jan-09 at 6:40 am | Permalink
I love fake meat. Even now that I’m back to eating real meat, I would say no to flesh for a month for a little bit of the curry flavoured fake stuff. It’s truly a culinary miracle. I’ve never been so bold as to try, but if you can create it, I think it would be a wonderful miracle.
Tami (Vegan Appetite) | 30-Jan-09 at 4:36 am | Permalink
I’m absolutely fascinated by seitan, too. I’m my favorite protein. I’ve never even heard of that folding method! I’m definitely going to try that.
One thing I’ve learned is that the recipes vary so much because people’s tastes vary so much. For example, I can’t handle even slightly undercooked seitan. To me, it’s slimy.
If you try that panfry thing, it helps the cutlets (or whatever) retain their shape a little. Not so much shrinkage and it makes the texture a little meatier, I think.
I’m looking forward to your experiments!
Tea | 02-Feb-09 at 12:57 am | Permalink
This is awesome! I too am trying to figure out how to make my own seitan. ( The store bought is just so pricey for the little quantity)
But I’m trying to find that oh-so perfect texture..
Tami (Vegan Appetite) | 03-Feb-09 at 3:49 am | Permalink
Hey!
Please shoot me an email with your mailing address so I can send you a cookzine for your Hez Tofu submission.
Loved your creative cartoon! Thanks for sending it. My email is on my blog.
melody | 04-Feb-09 at 8:47 am | Permalink
Lovely blog you have.. that seitan looks too real.. (I am not a seitan fan at all, but I do make it for my son)..
The ham style seitan was steamed then pan fried..I used tomato paste and liquid smoke.. I just threw it together..
Love your previous post with the Bin soup.. that sounds like the majority of my meals!
A Vegan Called Bacon :: Boulettes de Gluten en Meurette Sont Super-Cool | 11-Feb-09 at 4:54 am | Permalink
[...] crazed glutenfest binge continues. It’s making for some weird photographic material, which I always like. (I [...]