What is it with kids and not wanting to take adventurous lunches to school? Last year, Son #1 would only take PB&J to school. Every. Single. Day. All nuts are banned at his school this year, due to allergy concerns, so all he wants is veggie meat with vegenaise and mustard. Now, you may remember my post on Solae (made by DuPont) and the fact that Yves and other companies use Solae soy. So I thought I would try my hand at making my own lunch meat. I figured I could just make a huge seitan log and steam and bake it until done. Just like a huge veggie sausage. I didn't try to make it like chicken or beef or anything, just plain ol' veggie meat. I think the end product was pretty good, but perhaps a tad dry. I think I could lower the gluten a bit and bake it a bit less. Still, the recipe is very postable and Son #1 has been eating it up this week.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Veggie Lunch Meat
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup white beans
- 2 cups water
- 1/4 cup oil
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic
- 1/4 tsp tumeric
- 1 tsp ground fennel
- 1 tsp sage
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 2 3/4 cup vital wheat gluten
METHOD
Get water steaming in your steamer.
1. Place all ingredients except the gluten flour in a blender and process until smooth. Pour into a bowl. Add gluten flour and work into a dough.
2. Shape dough into a log and wrap in heavy duty foil like a tootsie roll. Try to make the roll as thick as possible. Steam for 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees in the last 15 mins of steaming. Remove seitan from steamer and bake for 45-60 mins. Seitan should swell and press against the foil.
4. Cool and slice as needed for sandwiches. This seitan holds up very well and can be shaved very thin. Store in the fridge
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80 comments:
I'm usually not so fond of meat analogs, but holy crap, Vegan Dad, this is beyond beautiful.
Wow, that looks great! My husband will love it. I have a question for you. What type of steamer basket do you use? I have one of those cheap, collapsable ones but the handle in the middle limits the size of anything I steam.
Thank you for this recipe! We're always looking for things like this for pack lunches! Fake meat (Boca) is getting expensive, even at Target! You really make it accessible.
Just what I was looking for, thanks!!
I can't stand that Yves crap anyway. Yuck.
Thanks for posting this! Do you think you'll try out other flavors one day?
elizabeth,
Same here. It is over $3.00 for a pkg of Yves lunch meat (I think there is about 8 slices per pack).
romina,
Agreed. I figured that since the Yves stuff borders on nasty, surely I couldn't make something that was worse. So, misson accomplished: this meat does not taste worse than Yves.
eesh,
Yes, I will play around with the recipe as Icontinue to make it.
celine,
Thanks!
Anon,
I use the stainless steel steamer insert that came with my soup pot. Seems to do the trick.
mmmm, that looks great!
what is the purpose/advantage of steaming and then baking rather than just steaming?
paula,
Good question. I am not sure if there is any advantage--I just posted what I did. My reasoning was this: I made the seitan o'greatness recipe from the PPK forum once and found it entirely too dry. I think steaming keeps the seitan more moist, but it can sometimes make it a tad spongy or rubbery. This is fine for a small sausage, but I wasn't sure how it would translate into a large roll of seitan. I wasn't even sure if steaming would actually cook the whole log. So, I combined the two methods. After one hour of steaming, the seitan was hot but still "raw." I figured that the oven would help toughen it up and cook it all the way through without drying it out too much.
That looks great! What a coincidence-- I just made a post yesterday also, about a lime-walnut seitan that I used for sandwich deli slices. Your recipe looks great; I like the idea of using white beans, and of steaming it.
I will definitely have to try this. We try to avoid the packaged vegan meats. They cost alot and have extra junk in them. Thanks vegan dad. Have a terrific weekend.
Krys
Wow this looks really good, I'm gonna have to print this recipe right away!
Wow, this looks great. Do you think you could slice this on one of those deli slicers? I am really bad at cutting things thin. Has anyone used seitan on a deli slicer, does it work?
This is GREAT!! - the store bought stuff is so pricey, and making your own can only be better anyway - I can't wait to try this...congrats on your Veg Bloggy award - thanks to them you are now in my blog reader :)
kat,
This will definently hold up in a slicer once cooled down in the fridge. I was able to shave mine paper thin with a knife (which makes for the best sandwiches, I think).
Thanks for providing a great alternative to the Solae filled crap from Yves and others. Your DIY ethic is really inspiring VeganDad!
Keep up the great work.
I refuse to call you vegan dad. you are now Seitan King.
Hi VeganDad, looks like I'll be tweaking on this myself, due to the high price of veggie lunch slices (but I confess a weakness for some commercial veggie bologna!) What was the diameter of your raw roll before steaming? I'm thinking 10 cm, more or less? Or is that way too big?
ceblakeney,
10 cms is about right.
This looks v good! I wish I could make it but I've never managed to find wheat gluten in the UK. I will just having to keep wistfully reading your posts!
do you ever make this in a tin juice can in the oven? Does that work? Is there a reason you avoid using that technique?
sarah,
I have never heard of this method. I would assume it would work since it is basically the same thing as wrapping it in foil. I am intrigued.
Another success! I made this for the shaved seitan sandwich and also had it the next day cold. It was great! Thanks for the great recipe!
This worked really well! We have had it hot and cold, plain with vegenaise, and with sweet bbq sauce. Delicious. The people at Tofurkey should be nervous....
I made this late last night and my husband has consumed nearly the entire thing - I doubt it will survive to see the 24-hour mark...very tasty, thanks for the recipe :)
I can't wait to try this recipe! It'd be nice to be able to take regular ol' sandwiches to work for lunch.
I'm wondering...do you think this recipe could be modified to make kielbasa? I usually bring Boca's version when going to cookouts, and they're pretty good.
jeevs,
This recipe, or the other sausage recipes I have posted on this blog could be modified to make kielbasa. Actually, this would make a great new kitchen experiment for me.
Any idea how long this will keep in the fridge? I'm the only vegan in the house, so I'm not sure how fast I could eat it up. I do freeze the seitan sausages I make though, so maybe this will freeze well, too? Thanks!
fat-free vegan,
I don't really know. I would say a week or so. And, I would think it would freeze well, so you could chop it in half and freeze part of it.
I am trying to avoid foil; any other ideas on how to wrap this while steaming/baking?
anon,
good question. I have seen recipes for sausages that use cheesecloth instead of foil. I have not tried it myself. And, that would not work for the baking.
I just made this recipe (my first attempt Vegan Dad recipe) and it is f%&#ing amazing. I'm sold and am gonna try the seitan chicken nuggets later this week. Thanks!
PS: I saw you mention that you're Foucault in another post. Are you a gradstudent/professor? My husband and I are both getting PhDs in Comparative Literature right now, working on our dissertations and Foucault is a major part of both.
Please forgive me for such a simple question, but trying to become full vegetarian (and hopefully vegan too) and it's ALL new to me. When you say steamer, do you mean a boiler pot used for steaming, something like a rice cooker or something else? Thanks.
Blessings,
~Toni~
Toni,
Any kind of steaming device will work. I blogged about it here: http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2008/07/on-steaming-seitan.html
Thanks much! I'm off to read the other entry and will definitely be trying out the recipe very soon.
Blessings,
~Toni~
I have been a veggie for over 20 years and vegan for nearly 20. I have had some sad seitan experiences and have been drooling over many of these yummy "easy seitan" recipes on various sites, but felt a little leary to actually jump in. I'm sure a post can not really show how pleased I am, but this was yummy and EASY!!! My 16 year old son (he's been veggie his whole life) is absolutely in heaven with this. He's a big dude at 6' 2" and I think he is excited to have such a huge portion without feeling like he is eating a whole package of "fake meat" in one sitting. Thanks Vegan DAD!!!
To the UK blogger: you can get vital wheat gluten from a bakery supply store (one that supplies commercial bakeries with flour, etc). If the Country Life restaurant is still around in London, you might give them a ring and see if they can't direct you to a source, as well.
To the person avoiding aluminum foil: Is this because of environmental reasons, or because you don't want tinfoil touching your food? If the latter, you can wrap your gluten with parchement paper, followed by the aluminum. It won't burn in the oven as long as the tinfoil is on it, and that way no foil touches your food.
Another great recipe - I loved how moist it turned out. I didn't have a steamer, nor do I have anything I could have rigged to be a steamer so I baked it in the oven. I blogged about on my blog (Dec 8th) if interested. Turned out perfect!
I'm a fairly new follower of yours VeganDad, and wanted to say THANKS for this recipe! This recipe and Earthlings (which I loved your review on btw) is what finally made my husband switch over to the veggie side!
Thanks!
What a delightful recipe but do you think I could make it happen without the oil? I'm a "trying to be" fat free vegan because I am overweight. I would LOVE to make this in a fatfree version. Do you have any suggestions? thank you so much!
Anon,
I think you could make it without the oil--you may have to add a bit more liquid, and you may find the end product a little drier.
where did you get your tag cloud?
boobear,
I followed the instructions here: http://phy3blog.googlepages.com/Beta-Blogger-Label-Cloud.html
Just remember to back up first--that way you can revert back to your old settings if you screw up.
Thanks so much! My roommate and I have been buying Tofurky slices incessantly, and are wasting a lot of money on it. Plus I love having things I've done myself, makes me feel good <3 This is an awesome improvement.
Mine didn't come out dry (baked for 45 minutes), but was not as dense as I would like (or as it appeared in your photo) - just couldn't slice it so thin, but it's no bother because it's delicious!
LOVE IT! I have been brown-bagging veggie-meat since I went vegan. Do you use canned white beans or dried?
Sorry for such a novice question...
I have dry white beans. Do I put them in the blender after simply soaking them, or should I cook them completely first?
Thanks for your great blog!
traci,
I use canned beans, so I would say cook them first. On the other hand, I see that recipe for vegan spam on the ieatfood blog uses soaked soy beans that are then ground--so it may work both ways.
I made an interesting mistake with your wonderful recipe.
I started putting it together without checking to see if I had enough vital wheat gluten -ended up only having 1 1/2 cups, so I filled in the rest with old fashioned oats that I ground up in my magic bullet.
I didn't have high hopes - usually my improvising doesn't work out -but, I got something that tasted good and vaguely resembles roast beef.
It's great on sandwiches and sliced thinly and braised in flavored broth until somewhat crispy makes a good gyro filling.
Thanks for putting such great recipes on the web!
Thanks for this! I'm totally going to try it. (feeling guilty for just having finished an Yves chicken sandwich...)
When I read this recipe today in Nava Atlas' newsletter, I immediately printed it out and purchased the ingredients. This was so easy to make! I was headed to Trader Joe's tomorrow to pick up some more Tofurky slices, but not now! This is delicious! I can't wait to download your book and try more.
Hi VeganDad,
I received the Vegetarian Kitchen newsletter from Nava Atlas and saw this recipe. I have always thought about making my own lunch meat because I would know exactly what is in it and I could save money. I tried this recipe today and it was fantastic!!! Thank you for sharing.
I tried making my own deli meats a few times with moderate success, so I'll have to try this one out.
I picked up a deli slicer at a garage sale and had been going to town on seitan loafs, eggplants, etc.
I'm having some problems with the slicer. I think a gummy-textured seitan loaf did some serious damage, so I'd definitely cool it down and make sure it has a good texture if you're using a slicer.
hi ---
i went to Good-Dees web site & her cooking technique will enable me to enjoy vegan dad's lunch "meat" --
she wrapped her log in parchment paper, then foil & baked it without the "steaming" step --
thank you Good-Dees & vegan dad --
caminante in colorado
I know this is an old post, but I just wanted to say that I do freeze half the recipe (after cooking) and it's fine. I just take it out of the freezer and let it defrost in the fridge for a day. Tastes just like the half that wasn't frozen. My husband LOVES this stuff. I can't seem to make enough.
Hey,
we just made this and it is so amazing. Thanks for making this public information. Its Soooooo good!
I have been trying to cut soy out of my diet and pretty much all of the vegan lunch meats are made of soy so this is an excellent alternative, not to mention how cost effective it is.
Thanks!
arielle
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For those who live in the UK, you can get gluten powder here:
www.flourbin.com
It's the same thing they can get in the US.
I must've done something wrong, because the recipe came out looking nothing like yours. It's dry and bready, and it looks like a bread log. Back to the drawing board for me!
Wow! This is unbelievable! I was just wondering today if there is a way to make veggie sandwich meat at home then I came across your blog just by chance. I'm a new vegan and having such fun trying new recipes. I can't wait to try this one! Great blog and I'm adding you to my blog roll!
All of your recipes uding steamers are making me want to buy one! But, I have no idea what I'm supposed to buy. Do you use a steamer, lke a rice steamer, veggie steamer, or the kind of metal pot that fits into a stovetop pot?
AB,
See this link: http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2008/07/on-steaming-seitan.html
Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart and wallet! My bf, who almost always HATES seitan even though I've made it many ways, absolutely loves this!
hey Vegan Dad, here'swhat I noticed: Your "wet" ingredients (beans, water, spices, tamari, etc) are about the same measure as your wheat gluten. I made something inspired by this recipe today. I took some white bean pesto I had made. It had been 1 1/2 cups of beans, but after blending them up with olive oil, garlic, lemon and basil, it only measured 1 cup. I figured it as 1/4 cup per serving and had eaten one serving, so had 3/4 cup left. To this bean dip/pesto/whatever, I added some tamari and some ketchup (don't knock it til you try it), then 3/4 cup vital wheat gluten, kneaded for a couple of minutes then formed into the loaf, steamed for 50 minutes and baked for 50 minutes. It came out fabulously and wasn't dry at all. I think the juicy/dry factor is about the wet:dry measurement.
Happy cooking!
Maddy Avena
I made this seitan but seasoned it with one packet of taco seasoning mix, and then ground it up in the food processor til it's like the texture of ground beef. It's REALLY good and because it's all ground up, even the meatiest omni can't tell the difference! Thanks!
I made this last night and it smells FANTASTIC. I can't wait to try it at work tomorrow.
I made this today for the first time and both my fiance and I loved it!! I can't wait to play around with flavors in it. To the one who had asked about leaving out the oil awhile back, I replaced the oil with an equal amount of unsweetened applesauce. I tend to do that with a lot of baked things. Turned out just fine! Thanks, VeganDad, for this superb and easy recipe. Your blog rock.
Any chance you'll add nutritional information to your recipes?? Servings? Yield?
Hi Vegan Dad,
Looks amazing! Maybe I'm completely delusional, but is there any way of making this without gluten, as it's not available here in the DR? I can't order it in either, unfortunately, and Googling no-gluten vegan lunch meat didn't give me any results.
Thanks!!
Hi Kenza,
If you don't have access to gluten, you can make seitan from whole wheat flour. It takes more work, so if you can get your hands on vital wheat gluten I recommend that instead (although it's good to try it from scratch once!)
It would probably affect this recipe since you would be dealing with it in seitan form instead of a flour. Hopefully, someone else has a recommendation on how to integrate it into this recipe.
Otherwise, you could make the seitan and use it as a base for other dishes. The easiest (and one of the most delicious) is barbeque seitan. Boil the seitan for 45 minutes or so then saute it with onions and barbeque sauce.
This site has good instructions on making the seitan from whole wheat flour. Good luck!
http://forkable.blogspot.com/2008/07/courtesy-of-toliveandeatinla.html
Hello! The recipe looks great! I don't know if anybody asked you the same questions 'cause I didn't read all comments but I would like to know if the white beans have to be boiled before making the seitan? And the steaming and baking time are ok? Because you said you would make some changes. I'd really like to make this recipe so I'd be glad if you could help me!
We just made this recipe and it's great for subs.
Does anyone know what's the longest you can keep it on the fridge? So, for how long can I store this on the refrigerator?
Oh so seitan is just beans/gluten/herbs&spices?!
I must get a steamer and make this as I cannot find seitan of any kind here in England :(
Now I have discovered your blog I may never leave :)
VeganDad, I just made this, and it is pretty darn good. I substituted crushed rosemary for the fennel because, as I was gathering my mis en place, I discovered I had no fennel. Result was good anyway.
In addition I did not steam it. I wrapped in parchment and aluminum foil, and baked in a convection toaster oven at 350* for 95 minutes. It is done (most importantly), moist, and sliceable.
A couple ideas/theories: The place of the beans can be taken by any similar mashable vegetable--some of the things that come to mind are garbanzos, butternut squash, pinto beans, green peas (might look frightful), any other winter squash, any other bean or pea. And as these are cousins to your Homemade Sausage recipe, practically anything desired between these could be concocted: A large vegan pastrami or corned beef (think of the Reuben sandwiches!), hot dogs, a pickle loaf... the mind fairly boggles. And all with no soy (beyond a minimal soy sauce), which is a huge plus to my wife and me.
Any gluten-free suggestions? My middle son and I are gluten-intolerant and get congested and sick. Would love to have some lunch alternatives like this - yes, packing lunch every day for kids is not easy.
Logan,
I don't have any gluten free alyernatives to this recipe since the gluten is what gives this meat its "meatiness." My kids love eggless salad, though, ans bring it often to school for lunch.
I just discovered your blog this weekend. The photos of your recipes look so yummy that I couldn't help but want to try them out! I made this last night. I steamed then baked it for only 35 minutes and it turned out fine. I really enjoyed it. I thought it tasted good warm out of the oven, and cold later as a sandwich. This was my first experience using vital wheat gluten, and I'm really excited to use more of it instead of soy. I once bought a Tofurky for Thanksgiving and it was AWFUL. I think your recipe has possibilities for a Thanksgiving loaf as well. Thank you so much for sharing! I look forward to trying more.
Blogs are so informative where we get lots of information on any topic. Nice job keep it up!!
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hey. cooking n00b here. do the 2 cups of water go in the blender?
If it ends up dry and bready, like Charles above, you need to follow the recipe! :), i.e. step 4: "Cool"
Mine came out of the oven bready.
I had to split the roll into two smaller rolls because my steamer was too small, so I put one in the freezer and one in the fridge. The next day the roll I had put in the fridge was no longer bready (and very tasty!). I have not got around to the frozen one yet, but as I generally leave seitan in the fridge to defrost I expect it to be equally tasty.
Yes, water in the blender.
I like your blog, it's very good!
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