{"id":1463,"date":"2019-11-08T18:28:37","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T18:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.veganfriendly.org.uk\/?post_type=food&p=1463"},"modified":"2019-12-13T18:48:47","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T18:48:47","slug":"seitan","status":"publish","type":"food","link":"https:\/\/www.veganfriendly.org.uk\/food-drink\/seitan\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Seitan?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Seitan\"Seitan, which is pronounced say-tan<\/em>, is one of many brilliant vegan meat substitutes<\/strong> and is, in our humble opinion, one of the better meat alternatives out there in terms of texture and flavour: it actually tastes quite nice.<\/p>\n

Assuming you wanted to know more than just that, we\u2019ll now look at all things seitan, including its history, what seitan is made from, its many uses, seitan\u2019s nutrition and basically anything else we can think of that might be of use to a budding seitan chef.<\/p>\n

All About Seitan<\/h2>\n

\"Gluten<\/p>\n

Beyond the fact that seitan is an excellent meat substitute and a fine vegan source of protein<\/a>, what is it? What and how is seitan made? Well, quite simply, seitan is gluten, the main group of proteins of wheat (gluten makes up about 80% of the total protein content of wheat).<\/p>\n

Straight away this means seitan is not suitable for the increasing number of people who are gluten intolerant to one degree or another. Whilst bread and other foods on the gluten-intolerant naughty step contain relatively small amounts of gluten proteins, seitan is essentially pure gluten.<\/p>\n

What It’s Made From<\/h3>\n

For those who do want to consume seitan it is good to know that making it from scratch is perfectly plausible. The gluten proteins are easy enough to isolate when you use wheat flour as your starting point. Because the proteins are cohesive and also insoluble in water, if you take a very basic wheat flour dough and then knead it in water the substances that are water-soluble will wash away, along with the starch.<\/p>\n

That will leave you with, in essence, a lump of gluten. This is cooked and usually flavoured to give you a finished product that goes a long way towards matching the firm texture of meat. Many meat-eaters, and indeed lots of vegans, dislike the soft texture of tofu<\/a>; but seitan really does come very close to matching the firm, chewy, resistance of meat. Just without the cruelty and suffering!<\/p>\n

These days, seitan can be bought readymade in a whole range of forms but many vegan cooks prefer to buy what is called vital wheat gluten<\/a>. In simple terms, this means the hard part has been done for you and the starch and other non-gluten content of the wheat has already been removed. In essence, this is powdered seitan and we\u2019ll look at this a little more when we consider in more detail how to make seitan.<\/p>\n

How to Use Seitan<\/h3>\n

Seitan, as with most vegan alternatives to meat, is very versatile and can be used in a whole host of ways. One of the best vegan dishes we have had was a seitan doner kebab from the excellent and excellently named food truck, Doner Summer (tagline \u201cVegan as F*ck\u201d). Highly recommended and comes complete with that distinct doner smell on your fingers. It is almost certainly the healthiest, cleanest, tastiest, dirty food you can get!<\/p>\n

As we will explain when looking at the history of seitan, it has been used for many hundreds of years to create imitation venison and jerky, among other things, and it is also commonly used in China and neighbouring countries to create \u201cduck\u201d.<\/p>\n

Texture<\/h4>\n

It is an interesting addition to your vegan armoury because it offers a very different texture to, for example, jackfruit. Jackfruit is great in vegan dishes<\/a> where a softer, slow-cooked texture is required but seitan is much chewier, in a good way, and offers a more fibrous meaty option. This can be especially good for new vegans who might occasionally have cravings for the meat they have chosen to banish to the past.<\/p>\n

Tan Pups<\/h4>\n

One of the first commercial seitan products was called Tan Pups, made by Boston couple Nik and Joanne Amartseff in 1972. These were essentially seitan nuggets, deep-fried in a breadcrumb batter. Seitan can be used in this way to create cutlets and chops, whilst it also makes a very good substitute for beef in many dishes.<\/p>\n

Dishes with Seitan<\/h4>\n
\"Seitan
Seitan Burger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You can buy seitan pieces from online supermarkets, such as Ocado and the Vegan Kind, and these can be used almost however you want. They are excellent in a stir fry, in curries and even as additions in salads. We have tried seitan ribs (who wants bones anyway?!), seitan burgers, seitan satay, sausages and even steak.<\/p>\n

Whilst it is certainly more suited to some dishes and types of foods than others, it really is very versatile. Why not experiment and give it a try in something entirely new where you would traditionally use meat?<\/p>\n

How to Make Seitan<\/h2>\n

\"Homemade<\/p>\n

Nowadays almost all people who make seitan will use vital wheat gluten as their starting point. This saves you having to separate the gluten from the wheat and means you can miss the fairly laborious and messy process of kneading your base dough under water.<\/p>\n

Vital wheat gluten, essentially 100% pure gluten, is widely available these days and if you can\u2019t find it in your regular supermarket, almost all health food shops and vegan-focussed shops will sell it. This base product is around 80% protein by weight, with 100g of vital wheat gluten containing 81g of protein, 9g of carbs (of which just 1.6g is sugar) and around 5g of fat.<\/p>\n

Whilst it is also used by bakers to add elasticity to some doughs and to help bind them, we rather suspect that most people who use vital wheat gluten domestically nowadays do so to make seitan. It really is rather easy and once you get to grips with the basics you will be more confident in tweaking the recipe and method in order to create different types of seitan for use in different recipes.<\/p>\n

One of the many great things about seitan is that it is cheap, with the base gluten costing around \u00a34 per kilo and about 35% more if you opt for an organic product. Depending what recipe you use, this amount of gluten will make around three times that much finished seitan. That means you should end up with around 3kg of high-protein, cruelty free \u201cmeat\u201d for around \u00a36 (when other ingredients are factored in). That\u2019s amazing value so let\u2019s get to it!<\/p>\n

As said, depending what you want to make with your seitan there are slightly different recipes and techniques. The following recipe is a good all-rounder that leaves you with seitan that you can use for stir fries, meat balls, curries, roast dinners and sandwiches. And just about anything else.<\/p>\n

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Recipe for Making Seitan<\/h3>\n

Ingredients<\/h4>\n