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Making home made seitan? (veggie food)

I bought a pack of fresh seitan today from the health food shop. It's devilishly delish, but at about £2.70 for a smallish steak, it's not very old style. (sorry for the dreadful pun :o )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_gluten_(food) ... (have fixed prob with link now)

Just wondering if any of you veggie Old Stylers have ever had a go at making your own. My friends tried to make some once, and they said it came out really strangely spongy, so I'm a bit apprehensive about having a go.

What sort of flour should I use? Is the strong white bread making flour the best? Is it possible to buy Vital Wheat Gluten flour anywhere in London/ the south? (Otherwise will have to pester relatives in America to bring some over next time!) What are the best flavourings to use for the broth?

I'd love to be able to make the chickpea cutlets in the Veganomicon cookbook...

Sorry, so many questions... please throw any tips and encouragement my way! Thanks! :T
Competition wins: 09/12 bottle of cognac; 01/13 combi microwave
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Comments

  • star2007 wrote: »
    Just wondering if any of you veggie Old Stylers have ever had a go at making your own. My friends tried to make some once, and they said it came out really strangely spongy, so I'm a bit apprehensive about having a go.

    Is this what you're after :confused:

    Penny. x
    :rudolf: Sheep, pigs, hens and bees on our Teesdale smallholding :rudolf:
  • star2007
    star2007 Posts: 159 Forumite
    Hi Penelope,

    I believe that post was referring to Soba, which are a type of noodles, and miso, which is a type of flavouring paste in Japanese food.

    Seitan is something different entirely... you can either get it in vacuum packs where it looks like a steak (it is a vegetarian meat substitute)... or in tins where it is often referred to as (rather unappetisingly) 'Mock Duck'.

    Or making your own, it is basically made by kneading a flour dough for ages in water, then steaming, but I'm not quite sure about the refinements in technique!

    Hope that clarifies a bit!
    Competition wins: 09/12 bottle of cognac; 01/13 combi microwave
  • star2007 wrote: »
    Hi Penelope,

    I believe that post was referring to Soba, which are a type of noodles, and miso, which is a type of flavouring paste in Japanese food.

    Seitan is something different entirely... you can either get it in vacuum packs where it looks like a steak (it is a vegetarian meat substitute)... or in tins where it is often referred to as (rather unappetisingly) 'Mock Duck'.

    Or making your own, it is basically made by kneading a flour dough for ages in water, then steaming, but I'm not quite sure about the refinements in technique!

    Hope that clarifies a bit!

    I'm not veggie, but I do eat a lot of meat-free food. Hope I'm not offending anyone, but I've never understood why anyone who doesn't want to eat meat will eat something that resembles meat :confused::D

    Penny. x
    :rudolf: Sheep, pigs, hens and bees on our Teesdale smallholding :rudolf:
  • hello!
    I made it once years ago. You make a dough with bread flour and then repeatedly rinse it until the water runs clear. Then you can boil it up in some stock or apparently bake, fry or steam. Sorry, I don't have any amounts or times. It was very nice though and even the cat like it.
  • weezl74
    weezl74 Posts: 8,701 Forumite
    star2007 wrote: »
    I bought a pack of fresh seitan today from the health food shop. It's devilishly delish, but at about £2.70 for a smallish steak, it's not very old style. (sorry for the dreadful pun :o )

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_gluten_(food)


    Hi Star2007, I tried your link but I think wiki have removed that article, have you got any other links to show us what you mean? I'm intrigued by this delish veggie food!;)

    Love Weezl x

    :hello:Jonathan 'Fergie' Fergus William, born 05/03/09, 7lb 4.4oz:hello:
    :)Benjamin 'Kezzie' Kester Jacob, born 18/03/10, 7lb 5oz:)
    cash neutral gifts 2011, value of purchased gifts/actual paid/amount earnt to cover it £67/£3.60/£0
    january grocery challenge, feed 4 of us for £40
  • star2007
    star2007 Posts: 159 Forumite
    Penny,

    Interesting point! and no, you haven't offended me lol :beer:

    I think that some veggie food can be 'meaty' in the sense of being hearty and satisfying, without being 'meaty' in the sense of being an analogue to a bit of animal flesh on the plate.

    A nice big, marinaded grilled portobello mushroom comes to mind for the former category. :drool:

    Whereas something like quorn, made in industrial sized vats of some weird concoction and mycoprotein made into a stringy, muscular like texture is pretty freaky, IMO.

    Seitan, to me, is pleasantly substantial and flavoured, without being freakily meat textured (in the vacuum pack form... the stuff in tins does look a bit too spookily like duck!) It also has the added bonus of being a traditional foodstuff of the East for 100s of years, and hence can be home-made.... if I had the confidence to take a leap and have a go, as it does have the reputation for being a bit tricky to make!

    I think the main issue for veggies is ethics rather than taste, in that animals didn't suffer to produce a meal, and you don't have all the environmental implications & pollution of animal agriculture. :think:
    Competition wins: 09/12 bottle of cognac; 01/13 combi microwave
  • Hi weezl,

    If you look up seitan on wikipedia it should work.
  • weezl74 wrote: »
    Hi Star2007, I tried your link but I think wiki have removed that article, have you got any other links to show us what you mean? I'm intrigued by this delish veggie food!;)

    Love Weezl x

    It's here :D Those tins of "mock duck" look _pale_

    Penny. x
    :rudolf: Sheep, pigs, hens and bees on our Teesdale smallholding :rudolf:
  • weezl74
    weezl74 Posts: 8,701 Forumite
    Ah! Thanks.

    when I googled mock duck recipes, there was loads of things you could do with the tinned stuff. So then I tried 'how to make mock duck' and got this linkie

    which looks fairly straightforward!

    Star2007, howsabout you make it, post about it and then we'll try it?:A (go on youknowyawant to!) Except penny who's feeling a little green round the gills at the thought! ;)

    :hello:Jonathan 'Fergie' Fergus William, born 05/03/09, 7lb 4.4oz:hello:
    :)Benjamin 'Kezzie' Kester Jacob, born 18/03/10, 7lb 5oz:)
    cash neutral gifts 2011, value of purchased gifts/actual paid/amount earnt to cover it £67/£3.60/£0
    january grocery challenge, feed 4 of us for £40
  • star2007 wrote: »
    I think the main issue for veggies is ethics rather than taste, in that animals didn't suffer to produce a meal, and you don't have all the environmental implications & pollution of animal agriculture. :think:

    That'll be vegans, not vegetarians ;) To produce milk or eggs, surplus males are born/hatched, which have no value, so are culled. I can undersatnd being a vegan for ethical reasons, but not a vegetarian :confused:

    Penny. x
    :rudolf: Sheep, pigs, hens and bees on our Teesdale smallholding :rudolf:
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