Saturday, June 30, 2007

Seitan, What is it?

I get asked this ALL the time by Veggie "newbies", Now that I've given up meat, what do I eat?
So, I dole out to you, some more enlightening information on my fave veggie meat. No, It's not another crap tasting "mock" meat like tofu hot dogs or fakin' bacon. haha.

Seitan is pronounced [SAY-tan] (No, vegeatarians don't worship the devil, well except for satanist vegetarians, but I'm sure there's satanist meat eaters as well. haha.. anyways, why do I digress so much in my posts.. On with it!!)

It's a protein-rich super food made from wheat GLUTEN and used in many VEGETARIAN dishes. Seitan's firm texture is definitively chewy and meatlike (which is why it's also called wheat meat ), its flavor is rather neutral. That mildness, however, allows seitan to be a kitchen chameleon that easily picks up the flavors of the foods with which it is cooked. Available in the refrigerator section of health-food stores and Asian markets, seitan typically comes in foil- or plastic-wrapped cakes that may be square or rectangular and that average about 1/2-inch thick. It also comes in 8-ounce plastic tubs. Check the expiration date on fresh seitan. Seitan is also sold as wheat gluten, a powdered form that can be mixed with water. The wheat gluten-water mixture, however, doesn't have the same chewy texture as commercially packaged seitan. For the best texture and flavor add seitan to cooked dishes at the last minute, heating just until it is warmed through.

If you are alergic to gluten, then you might not be into the seitan, try Tempeh or Tofu instead, I however consume all of the above, regularly.

Enjoy!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'll definately try it. I've never fully committed to a vegetarian diet, but i'd definately like to try. I've been an animal lover all of my life, and knowing what goes on in the meat market, I feel like a hypocrite -in part b/c of you- but thats a good thing. My family owns and operates a large cattle farm in Tennessee. We don't butcher them there, but we sell them off to companies that do. I grew up playing with the cows and i had a couple that i would have considered as pets...weird, i know. I've completely cut red meat (and pork) out of my diet, but i think it's about time to cut out the rest. There are so many alternatives these days. Remember though, I'm in the heart of the Bible Belt, so if i go somewhere and ask for Seitan, they may call an exorcist. Thanks for the enlightenment!