Ready-made vegan meat flavouring for seitan?

Question

I've just been told that the 'fake-meat' I am looking for is seitan (thanks guys!) and was given some tips on how to season it. I'm feeling lazy though so was just wondering whether anyone knows of a ready made seasoning I could use and where i could buy it? thanks

Answer 1

Hi Jenny,

you can buy ready made seasonings but seitan is really best to be creative with so it tastes like the dish you want it to taste like.

say you want to make pasta & "meatballs", you can either buy vegetarian pasta sauce. Knead the sauce into the dough & leave to season covered in sauce overnight (i've posted the method in my last answer).

cook your pasta, panfry your "meatballs", simmer your sauce & the meat balls bring back to a simmer & pour over your pasta.

basically, you can use any ready-made seasoning to do this. if you wanna do terriyaki "chicken" same method, except grill and baste instead.

really, all you have to do is treat it like you would meat (expt the kneading in and overnight bit) add the extra salt & herbs in the marinade & some veggie broth and use any seasoning.

if you've managed to find wheat gluten flour, it's really cheap & easy to make small batches & experiment with your own sauces & cooking methods. i would suggest you do that before using ready made sauces which can be expensive.

the trick is to get the flavour into the dough b4 you cook it.

here's a supper simple grilled "chicken" recipe to start you off:

make a marinade by mixing 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup veggie broth, pepper, salt & 2 cloves minced garlic.

to 1/2 a cup gluten/seitan dough add 1 tsp of tumeric powder, 1 tsp of salt and 1/4 cup of marinade, knead the marinade into the dough till it's an even colour. leave the dough to rest for a few mins.

place the dough on a baking sheet and cover it with another. press it flat and roll it down to a flat square about 1/2" thick. put your "chicken" on a deep plate or dish flat and cover it in the remainder marinade. cover with cling flim & leave overnight in the refridgerator.

when the "chicken" is ready (at least 8 hours), grill it on a grill pan for about 5mins on each side, basting it with the marinade.

when it's cooked slice the "chicken" and add it to a salad or on top of rice.

:-) have fun with your seitan.

Answer 2

I would check around for the best supplier, some grocery store will have it in the produce dept, as they keep all the veggie products there like tofu hotdogs, meatless deli slices, a Japanese specialty store to or a good health food store.

I am a former chef and cook veggie cuisine for myself, I also am diabetic, to get a rich meaty like taste there are a number of ways, one is soya sauce and a product called either vegemite or marmite, these are veg yeast product, made from a veggie based product and brewer yeast, no meat.

A combination of the soya and the yeast product along with one of the Mrs Dash product, a little veg oil, if you marinate the seitan in this and then gently pan firy it slowly to form a golden crust, even a contact grill like a George Forman makes it nice, then sliced it will almost mimic a piece of cooked beef steak, but do not over do it, like meat it can get grainy and taste like sawdust if over done, a cooking time of 10-15 minutes to brown it and heat it threw is fine, after you have tried this, then you can do other things.

I alway tell people to experiment with the ingredients at home, and see what you can create, I used seitan in braised Asian dishes with cabbage, mushrooms, tofu and other veg in my crockpot or my sand pot (a Chinese glazed cassarole) in the oven.

Answer 3

A good grocery store; Whole Foods, Wild Oats, Kroger or Meijer, may carry already seasoned seitan in the fresh veggie section or in the canned veggie meat section.

Also if you have a local ABC store, Adventist Book Center, they may have the can variety or give you some really good ideas on a seasoning mix.

Whole foods http://www.wholefoods.com/stores/index.html
Wild Oats http://www.wildoats.com/u/find/
ABC http://www.adventistbookcenter.com/ABC_Locator.tpl

Answer 4

Usually if you buy it pre-packaged (like White Wave brand) it comes seasoned. Otherwise, you can just throw in some veggie or tomato bullion, or some of that gravy master stuff.

Answer 5

why do u want meat flavouring ? if u like the taste of meat eat meat.sane people eat meat @ 2 veg not meat and veg flavouring. why do veggies eat fake meat meat eaters do not eat fake veg.

Answer 6

I flavor mine with tamari and garlic powder. It doesn't take much to add it to the mix!
:-)

Answer 7

Seems like to me if you were a vegan, you wouldn't want to eat stuff that is meat flavored. When I read your question, it gave me a chuckle.