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Wheat gluten is the stretchy protein part
of wheat flour. The rubbery strands you see
when you knead dough to make bread is
gluten. Pure wheat gluten is used as a meat
substitute or as a tasty, high-protein food
in it's own right. Traditionally it is
called Seitan (Say-tan), which is a Japanese
word. I can't really bring myself to call it
this because to me it sounds too much like
Satan, the biggest, meanest, bad guy in my
religion. I have tried to call it Seitan,
but every time I imagine my kids running
through the house singing "Yay! Mommy made
deep-fried Satan Nuggets for supper!" it
sort of makes my skin crawl. In America,
seitan is often referred to as Wheat-Meat.
For religious reasons, this is what I prefer
to call it.
I discovered wheat-meat in the mid '80's. I
found a book at the library by Nina &
Michael Shandler called "How to Make all the
Meat You Eat Out of Wheat". I took that book
home, read it from cover to cover and began
my experimentations. I can honestly say that
my early work with wheat-meat was barely
edible. Creating wheat-meat was a
complicated process that afforded me too
many avenues of failure.
Back in the 80's the only way to get wheat
gluten was by rinsing the starch and bran
out of flour. This is a time consuming, but
relatively easy process. Whole wheat flour
and water are combined to form a stiff
dough. Then the dough is allowed to rest for
a bit. Finally it is kneaded under slow
running water until all of the starch and
bran wash away. Most methods recommend the
starch and bran be saved and used to make
crackers, ice cream, and bread. The stringy,
rubbery gluten that is left is then simmered
in a savory broth for an hour or two to make
it firm and give it flavor.
I always had trouble getting all of the
starch and bran out of the gluten, and I was
confused about how to cook it because all
the books I read said it could be cooked so
many different ways. There wasn't any
consensus on which methods gave the best
results. I tried one method after the other,
from baking to steaming to frying and
simmering. My results were inconsistent at
best.
Then I discovered Wheat Gluten Flour, or
Vital Wheat Gluten. Gluten flour has all of
the starch and bran already removed. Only
the pure protein of the gluten remains.
Gluten flour may be combined with regular
tap water and instantly, you have raw
gluten. No more kneading or rinsing under
cold water. No more frustration with spongy
wheat-meat. Wheat-meat is easy and
convenient to make all of a sudden, which
paves the road for a great deal of rejoicing
and gratitude.
I buy my gluten flour in bulk at my local
Co-op. I've seen it in small boxes in the
baking aisles of larger grocery stores, and
natural food stores too. Since there is no
rinsing and very little kneading involved,
the likelihood of success is much greater.
The standard method with gluten flour is to
combine 1 cup of Vital Wheat Gluten & 3/4
cup of water or flavorful broth. Stir the
two together until they make a nice rubbery
dough. There now you have raw wheat gluten.
Boy, that was easy wasn't it? The
traditional way of cooking gluten is to
simmer it very gently in a liquid seasoned
with soy sauce, Kombu (a sea vegetable), and
a hunk of ginger. Slow simmering is a MUST.
If the gluten boils then you will have
spongy, bread-like wheat-meat instead of
firm chewy wheat-meat. When you are pressed
for time, Crock-pots and Slow Cookers offer
the perfect environment for this type of
cooking.
Wheat-Meat has very little flavor of it's own, much like tofu. You must
give it flavor by simmering and marinating
it in a highly seasoned broth. The flavor of
the broth is up to you. You can make your
own seasoned broth using soy sauce or
vegetarian flavored broth powders. Many are
available including ham, chicken, vegetable
and beef style flavors.
Other ways of cooking gluten include baking
it, steaming it and a two-step process where
the raw gluten is deep-fried and then
simmered. The most common, and easiest way
to get reliable results is to simmer the
gluten in a flavorful broth for 1-1/2 to 2
hours. If you cook it for a shorter time,
the texture of the finished wheat-meat will
not be as dense and chewy as it could be.
The term Seitan refers to cooked gluten. The term Wheat-Meat also
refers to cooked gluten. Gluten refers to
the raw or uncooked state of this product.
Raw gluten is simmered or otherwise cooked
to make Seitan or Wheat-Meat. A four-ounce
serving of Wheat Meat contains 70 calories,
15 grams of protein, 1 gram of fat and zero
cholesterol. It is an easy-to-make,
delicious and versatile, vegetarian food.
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