Homemade Wheat-Meat (Seitan)

Wheat-meat, also called wheat gluten, seitan, boneless meat, gluten meat, mock duck, or simply gluten is a food made from gluten, the main protein in wheat.

It is made by washing wheat flour with water until all the starch dissolves and washes out. This leaves an elastic mass which is then cooked in a variety of ways before being eaten.

Wheat gluten is an alternative to soybean-based meat substitutes such as tofu. Some types of wheat gluten have a chewy or stringy texture that resembles meat more than other substitutes.

Wheat gluten is often used instead of meat in Asian, vegetarian, and Buddhist cuisines.

Wheat gluten was first developed in China by Buddhist monks as a replacement for animal flesh. 

To make wheat-meat or seitan:

12 cups of whole wheat flour, about 4 pounds

5+ cups of water

1 medium-sized onion, quartered

1 clove of garlic crushed

1/2 cup of tamari or an other high quality soy sauce

Place the flour in a large bowl and stir in the water. You may use less or more. You want to form a soft, kneadable dough. 

Knead the dough in the bowl for 5 minutes. After kneading, add enough water to cover the dough and then allow it to rest for 15 minutes.

While the dough is resting, place the onion, the garlic, and the tamari in a large pot with 2 quarts of water. Bring this to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and keep the pot at a simmer.

Place the bowl containing the dough and the water in the sink and knead until the water turns milky white -- this is the starch coming out.

Drain off the milky water, cover the dough with fresh water, and knead again until the water once more turns milky white.

Repeat this process until the kneading water remains almost clear.

The resulting ball of glutinous dough is raw seitan. 

Bring the pot of gently simmer liquid almost to a boil. Divide the seitan into 3 equal pieces and add them to the pot.

Simmer for 1 hour. Do not boil.

The longer and more slowly the seitan cooks, the denser the final texture will be.

When cooked, the seitan will be firm to the touch.

Remove the seitan from the boiling water and place on a baking sheet to cool.

The seitan is now ready to use in your recipes. 

Once you have made the wheat-meat a few times, you will feel comfortable enough to spice the cooking liquid according to your own tastes.

Saute it, stew it, soup it, stir-fry it, kebab it. Try in in many ways.