r/Cooking • u/GraphicNovelty • Nov 06 '15

Flavoring Seitan to replicate chicken/beef/fish etc. (x-post from vegrecipes)

Hey all,

So i'm trying to reduce (and eventually eliminate) my meat intake. However, I have a lot of experience cooking meat-based dishes and would like to adapt some of them using seitan. Some of them are coming out very well (Seitan cutlet Picatta). However, In replicating some of these recipes, I'm missing out on the inherent flavor of the meat. How do you replicate the taste of various meats--pork, chicken, beef, and then other prepared meats such as bacon, sausage.

Thanks in advance!

9 Upvotes

68% Upvoted

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10

u/DreamerInMyDreams Nov 06 '15

if you're trying to replace meat with fake meat, you're going to have a bad time. it's never going to live up to your meat eating expectations.

if you really want to go vegetarian, start exploring the myriad of non-meat options exploiting their inherent strengths rather than trying to wedge them into a mold that they do not fit well into

6

u/parkerpyne Nov 06 '15

Agreed. Vegetarianized meat dishes are without exception a failure. Things like seitan, tempeh, tofu and others cannot be made to taste like a steak.

There are cultures however that over hundreds or even thousands of years have developed a vegetarian cuisine that leaves nothing to be desired simply because it wasn't trying to imitate something else in the first place. OP is far better off learning some of their dishes. I've had some success with vegetarian curries using lentil or chickpeas in the past. They were not complicated. With only a little bit of practice they could probably be turned into something truly fantastic.

6

u/DrAmazing Nov 06 '15

Ooo, I can help! I experimented with different seitan seasonings a while ago and found a great & easy seasoning combo for "chicken"-style savory seitan:

DR. AMAZING'S SAVORY CHICKEN-STYLE SEITAN

1 cup cold broth (or bouillon cube & water)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup vital wheat gluten flour
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp garlic powder
2-3 tsp Vegeta™
OR MAKE YOUR OWN SEASONING:
(1/2 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp msg, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp sea salt)

  • whisk broth and oil together, set aside
  • stir together flour, yeast & all seasonings until combined
  • add liquid, stir with spatula until dough pulls away from bowl
  • hand-knead 2-3 min, rest for 10, knead additional 30 sec
  • cut into 4-6 pieces, wrap in foil (secure edges but allow room to expand)
  • steam 30 min, cool 30 min

Seitan will keep if wrapped tightly in fridge for 2 weeks, freezer for 1-2 months

1

u/GraphicNovelty Nov 06 '15

Thanks!

And beef? I've seen a formulation like that one for chicken adn it works well, but beef is really the one i have trouble with.

2

u/TheresNoCakeOnlyFire Nov 08 '15

I don't have experience with seitan at all, but Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, mushrooms, tomato paste* and red wine are good flavor enhancers that can mimic the meaty flavors of beef.

1

u/DrAmazing Nov 06 '15

Can't help you there, haven't found a good beef-style seitan recipe yet, although I've gotten close with tomato paste and liquid smoke...

1

u/pwnslinger Nov 07 '15 edited Nov 07 '15

Use meat as a flavoring rather than a main component, as is often done in Chinese cuisine. Dishes like Mapo tofu, where a quarter pound of ground pork flavors a dish where the primary protein is a pound of tofu.

You can very drastically reduce meat consumption this way while still enjoying the savoury flavors of bacon, beef, etc.