Seitan (or Seitain) is a wonderful meat replacement that you make out of vital wheat gluten. (Vital wheat gluten is the protein portion of flour, with the bran and fiber removed. Gluten flour is used to help make bread rise quicker and higher and it can be found in most grocery stores, including Walmart.) It has a great texture and taste and is easy to make, although it does take a little extra time than other dishes I prepare. Nothing beats Seitan when it comes to making recipes that use cutlets. Many a people have been fooled by these cutlets!
Start with 1 1/4 cup gluten flour. Add seasonings like sage, pepper, poultry seasoning or whatever you want. The flour has almost no taste, so add whatever you like. You will get the flavor you want by the sauce, gravy or toppings you add to the cutlets at the end.
Add 3/4 cup water….
…. and stir until a ball of glutenous mass is formed. Sounds delicious doesn’t it!
You’ll only have to stir for about 30 seconds to get the right consistency!
Yummy! Looks like a potato, but it’s really just gluten flour and water. The raw ingredients for a delicious meal. Just don’t let anyone who isn’t committed to trying a vegetarian meal watch you make this.
With a serrated knife or a really shape knife, slice the “lump” of gluten into thin slices.
Kind of looks like cookies, but it’s not. The dark spots you see are just a beef-style flavoring I added. Make sure your slices are only about 1/4 inch thick – the cutlets “plump” when you cook them.
If you want something to simulate strips of steak or chicken, then slice into strips instead of small slabs.
Now, this is a really important step. If you skip these next few steps, you will end up with a type of chewing gum rather than a nice tender cutlet.
Bring about 4-6 cups of water to a rolling boil in a medium-large saucepan.
I get the pot of water hot while I am making the seitan.
I get the pot of water hot while I am making the seitan.
Add some soy sauce directly to the water. No, I don’t measure it, probably about 2-3 tablespoons. Just make the water brownish color.
Any type of soy sauce will do. Feel free to use tamari or Bragg’s amino acids.
I just use what I have on hand.
I just use what I have on hand.
Add about 1-2 teaspoons of ground, dried ginger. Fresh ginger would work too, but today I only had dried on hand.
As the water and spices are boiling, slowly add the seitan cutlets. Before going in the water, the cutlets are like wet, gooey dough – although the do hold their shape pretty well. I add one slice at a time.
Stir the mixture gently after each addition. This just makes sure they don’t all stick together.
Keep the water and cutlets at a rolling boil for approximately 15 minutes. No need to be exact. Anywhere between 12 and 18 minutes should work just fine.
Looks really yummy now doesn’t it! It smells great even if it doesn’t look like dinner. But, close-up pictures of meat don’t look very appetizing either!
After approximately 15 minutes, turn off the burner and this is what they look like.
Remove the pan from heat, and with a slotted spoon or fork,
carefully remove the cutlets and let them drain.
carefully remove the cutlets and let them drain.
Let the cutlets drain for a little while. Often, I fix the seitan up to this point early in the day and then finish them right before dinner.
Once the seitan cutlets are drained, place them in a frying pan with just a tiny bit of oil. Remember, the seitan is already cooked, now we are just trying to slightly brown both sides. This helps both the appearance and texture and doesn’t take very long at all.
I’ve used my electric skillet here so you can see all of the cutlets cooking at once. This is a pretty big skillet and the cutlets are more than enough to feed our family of 5 hearty diners.
It only takes about 5 minutes to lightly brown the cutlets on one side. Once browned nicely, simply flip the cutlets over for another 5 minutes or so.
Now, we’re talking good looking main dish!
Once browned on both sides, remove the cutlets from heat. Now is when your imagination can go wild. There are so many wonderfully delicious gravies and sauces to top these with. We love to use them in Marsala dishes or top them with a nice brown gravy. Click here for step-by-step “beef” gravy.
For more picture recipes, click here.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you for this recipe; I’ve read how to do it, but seeing it as well is very helpful for me. One question … can these be frozen if I cooked the batch and only needed one or two for a meal?
Thanks.
You shouldn’t have any problem freezing extras for later use. We usually use up any leftovers within a day or two, but I believe I froze a few once and they turned out fine.