Vegan Cooking 101 | Gluten-Free Mock Meats and Seitan

Texture

The meaty bite is the goal in making vegan mock meats. Know your ingredients and put your strategy in place on how you are going to achieve your desired end product. If you don’t have access to a certain ingredient, think about how you are going to achieve your desired end product. This takes a bit of creativity on your part. Think about using sliced portabella mushrooms instead of the king oyster mushrooms. No vital wheat gluten in the house, but you have oats, beans, maybe a bit of potato starch? Think with the mind of “Make it happen with what you have”. In those “make it happen” cases just a quick tip water and liquids are typically not your best friend when making meaty textured mock meats. Keep it as little as possible, especially if your cooking application is wet: steaming, braising, stews…etc.

Vital Wheat Gluten
Mushrooms
     -King Oyster
     -Button
     -Portabella
     -Enoki
     -Shiitake
Brown Rice
Beans
     -Chickpeas
     -Lentils
     -White
     -Black
Rice Paper
Bean Curd Sheets
Potatoes
Nuts
Seeds
Dried Produce  
     -Mushrooms
     -Sundried Tomatoes
     -Peppers
     -Onions
Jackfruit
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Flavor

This is just as important as texture. Expand your flavor horizon, your spice cabinet (as a vegan foodie) should look like a mini mart. Asian, Indian, Latin, Caribbean, Mediterranean, French, flavor profiles. Spices from all around the world. Herbs, marinades, oil, bouillon, the list goes on and on.

Bouillons
     -Chickenless
     -Beefless
     -Vegetable
     -Porkless
Herbs
Spices
Vegetables
Fermented Sauces

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Cooking Applications

This can be tricky if you do not gage the moistness of your mock meat alongside your cooking method. If you are making a gluten-free mock meat (similar to what I used as an example in the main channel video) you don’t want to poach or boil it without wrapping it in rice paper. Even then, you don’t want to boil or cook it submerged in liquid for too long at the risk compromising the firm texture of your mock meat. In cases like this you would pan sear your mock meat, pop it in the oven to set up the oat & potato starch; make your sauce (braising liquid) in the same searing pan. Pull the mock meat from the oven and return it to the pan with your sauce or braising liquid. Cook for an additional 8-10 minutes allowing the flavors to meld together and the mock skin to soften and become deliciously gelatinous… but that’s just a hypothetical. I can rant on and on in the name of hypothetical mock meat situations. To bring it all back in take the time to evaluate your mock meat ingredients and you choice of cooking method. If you are baking your meat*, you want to accommodate for the lack of moisture in your cooking process to be sure your end product is not dried out. Likewise in reverse.  

Steaming
Braising
Frying
Sautéing
Poaching
Boiling
Slow Cooker

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Presentation

As I said in the video, presentation is important in my opinion because it pertains to familiarity. Veganism takes on many forms, it's ultimately up to each individual to determine their brand of veganism. With all the variations of it, the core remains the same; cruelty-free. I started my vegan food channel for non-vegans. I w

anted to show vegan food in a practical relatable way. I was shocked at the amount of vegans that subscribed to me to show their support. As I think about it now, I had a misconception of vegans as a whole. I believed the whole of the community were uppity and very “holier than thou” as they say... judgemental. My subscribers have proved me wrong through embracing the presentation and concepts of my vegan food recipes. Now, more than ever I understand the importance of being able to present my food in a relatable way, being familiar to outsiders. So many non-vegans enjoy my vegan recipes and have become intrigued by the lifestyle because of the way I have presented it to them. Don’t under estimate the power of presentation. In presenting your food consider the following as it pertains to your mock meat, to be sure the end product is what you envision.

Shape
Size
Color

No matter what dish you have in mind, take a quick survey of your ingredients and consider these four aspects before you begin cooking. Take into account any potential obstacles and potential solutions for said obstacles. The mind to have is preparedness and "Make it happen".

 

 

 

 

10 Things To Know In Making Seitan and Gluten-free Mock Meats  

 

1. When making seitan always add liquid to pre-portioned vital wheat gluten in that order.

 

2. If you are going to knead the seitan dough on a surface, do not over mix the dough in the bowl.  

 

3. Lessen’ The Liquid. If the end texture of your seitan is too soft or not as meaty as you would like decrease the amount of liquid for the recipe by 1/3. Having reduced the liquid your dough will need more mixing in order to evenly incorporate the moisture throughout the roast. So knead (mix) accordingly. Keep in mind the more kneading, the more you connect and establish long gluten strands. If you are not using mushrooms or baking powder to help break the gluten bonds apart, the end product may result in an overly chewy texture.

 

4. For seitan, do not add wheat flour to any of your mock meat creations. Use any starch-less flour. In Gluten free mock meat, oat flour (in my opinion) is ideal for binding.

 

5. Gluten free mock meats must have a rice paper wrapping if there is a wet cooking application being used. The rice paper helps to maintain texture and appearance of the gluten free mock meat. This is not mandatory for seitan but recommended.

 

6. Seitan mock meat can be stored overnight and cooked the following day when there is mushrooms marbled into the dough preventing the gluten from bonding together into a large tight mass. Gluten free mock meats may be stored overnight and cooked the following day.

 

7. In making gluten free mock meats, be sure to keep the beans to rice ratio 2-1 at the most. 2 parts rice to 1 part bean puree to avoid a creamy end product that is moderately textured. If using uncooked chickpeas the ratio does not apply.

 

8. Potato starch & oat flour are amazing for all gluten free mock meats. 9

 

9. Evenly disperse baking powder in your seitan dough creations before adding any liquid. You cannot marble seitan with Baking Powder.

 

10. If for some reason your seitan turns into a glopy, stringy, separated mess because you didn’t add the liquid to the vital wheat gluten instead doing the reverse… this is the only acceptable time to add wheat/white flour. Add a very small amount at time in ration to your seitan dough. The starch in the flour brings the vital wheat gluten back together into a workable soft dough. Be warned, the same starch also add a starchy end texture and flavor to your seitan mock meat.