Friday, September 01, 2023
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Wheat Meat, It’s What’s For Dinner
We all must prepare for the likelihood of running out of our regular protein sources in an extended emergency. From a dietary standpoint, exploring high protein meat alternatives to incorporate in your emergency preps would be a proactive step in maintaining your caloric and nutritional intake during an emergency.
Wheat meat, also known as wheat gluten and also Seitan is listed as a principal source of protein along with eggs, milk, cheese, lean meat, fish, soybeans, peanuts and vegetables. From a nutritional perspective, wheat meat has 378 calories, 41.4 grams of protein, 1.9 grams of fat, thus making it a viable option for dinner. Wheat meat is made from the protein that the wheat produces, and it is easier to digest compared to real meats. The best part of wheat meat, is it really has no definite taste and can easily be seasoned to take on the flavor of the meat you are trying to substitute it for.
Basic Wheat Meat Recipes Made From Whole Wheat
Stirring Technique:
- 12 c. whole wheat flour
- 7 c. water (or enough to moisten all the flour
Directions:
You’re basically kneading the dough like you would bread and for the same reasons – to activate the gluten. This is nice to know because if the power is out, you can still make gluten. Set this mixture aside for 20 minutes. If longer, refrigerate.
Kneading Technique:
Add two parts flour to one part water in a bowl (i.e. 12 cups flour to 6 cups cool water. Mix with kneading arm. The consistency should be like bread dough and pull away from the sides of the bowl. If it does not, add more four. Mix 5-10 minutes. Now it is ready for the rinsing process.
(This step will separate the gluten from the other products in the wheat flour which has been stirred or kneaded).
Standard Method:
Add water to bowl of rested dough (use enough to cover the dough). Work and squeeze with your hands to loosen the dough (About 10 seconds). When the water takes on a milky appearance and you see specks of bran, pour this water off into another bowl if you want to save the bran and starch (as it contains vitamins, mineral-rich starch, bran and wheat germ). Over a sink, place this dough in a colander (plastic is best). Under a tap of slowly running lukewarm water, work and squeeze the dough with your hands until the gluten starts to hold together and the liquid coming from the dough is clear. It is not necessary to rinse out all of the bran from the gluten. In about 3 minutes or longer, you should have a ball of elastic-like dough. This is the raw gluten. At this point, you can begin to shape the wheat meat into the desired form. Get creative with this meat alternative. The meat lover in you can still enjoy ribs, meatballs, steak, corned beef and ground beef–made even if you’ve run out of meat.
In “The Amazing Wheat Book” by LeArta Moulton, there are some helpful tips to remember when making wheat meat:
- Once a small amount of gluten starts holding together, you will find that the rest of the gluten clings to it, so as quickly as possible get a small ball of gluten started. You may want to work a small amount in your hands to get this started.
- How soon gluten cells start holding together is determined by the protein quality of the wheat flour used, or how often the clean water is allowed to run through the dough.
- The dough becomes slightly stringy and falls apart easily just before it starts holding, so don’t give up too soon. Don’t throw it away, try again! Add more flour to the mixture and let it rest again, only longer – 1 to 4 hours, or even overnight in the refrigerator.
- If you want tighter texture for chicken, pepperoni & bologna type slices, form it into a roll in a cheesecloth, or you can simmer to make thin strips for stir-fry, strogonoff, jerky, etc., using pizza cutter or knife.
Using Gluten Flour:
A kind reader of this website, mentioned that she uses high gluten flour, this flour does not require washing of the dough and saves time. In a situation of preparedness, we must remember we do not want to waste our water, so even though the flour is higher priced, it is well worth it. When using the high gluten flour, you add the water (or broth) to the flour and seasonings, and then boil it. It doubles in size, so it is very deceiving.
Once the wheat meat is formed, now it’s time to cook it. Some of the simpler ways to cook wheat meat are explained below:
Boiling – This is the easiest way to cook wheat meat is to drop shaped dough into flavored boiling broth (equal amt. of broth & raw gluten. Simmer till liquid is gone (@ 30 min.)
Dehydrator – Make jerky or dehydrated wheat meat by drying in the dehydrator.
Baking - Put wheat meat on a sprayed cookie sheet 350′ oven & bake until pieces appear dry on top, then turn & bake until texture is chewy.
Meatball or Burger Recipe
- 2 c. ground gluten
- 3 tbl. finely minced onion or 1 tbl. dry onion
- 1 tbl. sausage seasoning, chicken seasoning, or seasoning of your choice
- 2 tbl. flour
- 1-2 eggs, beaten
- 2 tbl. oil (preferably olive oil)
- salt and pepper to taste
*To make Oriental Style Meatballs
Add the above ingredients along with:
- 1 tbl. green pepper
- 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
- 1 tbl. soy sauce
- 1tbl. sesame seeds
- 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
Directions:
Mix all ingredients together and form into balls or desired shape. Bake at 350 degree F on a cookie sheet 20-30 minutes or until firm.
Veggie Burgers
- 4 eggs
- 3 tbl. olive oil
- 2 tsp. sausage seasoning
- 1 tsp. each of garlic and onion powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 1/2 c. potato or oatmeal flakes
- 1/4 c. flour (whole grain or bean)
Add to:
- 4 c. ground gluten
- 1/2 c. grated vegetables (about 4 tbl. each of green and red bell pepper, celery, onion and carrots).
Note: could use dried vegetables, softened
Directions:
Spoon onto preheated, medium heat fry pan and brown on both sides or place formed patty on a baking sheet and bake 20 minutes or until firm. Serve on bun with your favorite condiments. Makes 14 patties (1/4 c. each).
Savory Vegetarian Meatloaf
- 1 c. raw potato, grated
- 1/2 c. grated onion
- 1 c. celery, chopped
- 1/2 c. rolled oats
- 1/3 c. oil
- 3 c. ground gluten
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 1 tsp. crumbled sage
- 1 tsp. meatloaf seasoning
- 1 tsp. soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp. celery salt
- 1/2 tsp. salt
Directions:
Mix all above and place in oiled baking dish. Bake at 375 for 1 hour. Slice and serve with sweet and sour sauce or gravy.
This article was based on the information provided in The Amazing Wheat Book by LeArta Moulton.
To purchase a cookbook about Wheat Meat or Seitan, consider Cooking With Seitan by Barbara Jacobs
Also, a special thanks to some of my readers and friends on Facebook for their contribution to this article.
Author: Tess Pennington
Web Site: http://www.ReadyNutrition.com/
Date: January 16th, 2012
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Vegetarian fare at White House save for the prawns
- Potato and eggplant salad
- White House arugula with onion seed vinaigrette
- 2008 sauvignon blanc, Modus Operandi, Napa Valley, Calif.
- Red lentil soup with fresh cheese
- 2006 Riesling, Brooks “Ara,” Willamette Valley, Ore.
- Roasted potato dumplings with tomato chutney, chick peas and okra or green curry prawns, caramelized salsify with smoked collard greens and coconut-aged basmati
- 2007 grenache, Beckmen Vineyards, Santa Ynez, Calif.
- Pumpkin pie tart, pear tatin, whipped cream and caramel sauce
- Sparkling chardonnay, Thibaut Janisson Brut, Monticello, Va.
- Petits fours and coffee
- Cashew brittle
- Pecan pralines
- Passion fruit and vanilla gelees
- Chocolate-dipped fruit [LM1]
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Pig, Smoke, Pit: This Food Is Seriously Slow
Scott's Bar-B-Q in Hemingway, S.C. draws local people as well as day-trippers.
Published: June 9, 2009
Hemingway, S.C.
Audio Slide Show
The Whole Hog
Interactive Graphic
Drive 900 Miles. Cook a Ton of Pork (Literally). Drive Home.
“Flip the pigs,” he said, his voice calm and measured. “Let’s go. Some char is good — too much and we lose him.”
Ten butterflied pig carcasses — taut bellies gone slack, pink flesh gone cordovan — were in the pits when Mr. Lewis reached for the sheet of wire fencing on which one of the pigs had been roasting since 4 the previous afternoon. In lockstep, Mr. Shaw topped that same pig with a second sheet of fencing, reached his gloved fingers into the netting, and grabbed hold.
As the men struggled, the 150 pounds of dead weight torqued the makeshift wire cage. When the carcass landed, skin-side down, on the metal grid of a recently fired pit, skeins of grease trailed down the pig’s flanks, and the smoldering oak and hickory coals beneath hissed and flared.
“I cooked my first one when I was 11,” Mr. Scott said, as he seasoned the pig with lashings of salt, red pepper, black pepper and Accent, a flavor enhancer made with MSG.
Working a long-handled mop, he drenched the pig in a vinegar sauce of a similar peppery composition. “You’ve got to always be on point, when you’re cooking this way,” he said.
Cooking this way isn’t done much any more. This place, a couple of hours northwest of Charleston, as well as the Scott family approach to slow-smoking whole hogs over hardwood coals, appears to be vestigial.
For aficionados in search of ever-elusive authenticity, Scott’s offers all the rural tropes of a signal American barbecue joint. The main building is tin-roofed and time-worn. Dogs loll in the parking lot, where old shopping carts are stacked with watermelons in the summer, sweet potatoes in the fall. On church pews under the eave, locals visit with neighbors and barbecue pilgrims commune with foam clamshells stuffed with pulled pork, $8 a pound.
The cookery is simple, but the processes used by the Scott family are not.
In the manner now expected of the nation’s white-tablecloth chefs, the Scotts shop local, whenever possible. They buy pigs from farms in three nearby counties. And they turn to Mel’s Meat Market, in the nearby town of Aynor, for butcher work and delivery.
And then there’s the issue of the wood itself. Barbecue, as it’s traditionally defined in the South, requires loads of it. Some North Carolina restaurants buy surplus oak flooring from planing mills. Some Tennessee pitmasters bargain for hickory off-cuts from ax-handle manufacturers.
The Scotts take matters into their own hands. They trade labor and chainsaw expertise for oak, hickory and, occasionally, pecan. “If you have a tree down, we oblige,” Rodney Scott said that afternoon, following the all-night pit vigil. As he talked, his father, Roosevelt Scott, 67, founder of Scott’s, stood on the highway, negotiating with a man who had arrived with a limb from a live oak and the promise of two to three truckloads of pit fuel.
“We keep our own wood in reserve,” the younger Mr. Scott said. “We’ve got 100 acres. But most of it comes walking in. Everybody knows we’ll bring some boys and cut your tree for you, so long as we can get to it and it’s not hanging over your house or your garage.”
The crowd that Saturday afternoon was typical: Half black and half white, half locals and half pilgrims.
Locals, many of whom work at the Tupperware plant, on the other end of Cow Head Road, came to pick up half-pound orders, pulled from various quadrants of the pig and tossed with sauce in the manner of a meat salad. They knew to ask Virginia Washington — Rodney Scott’s cousin, the woman behind the high-top order counter — for a cook’s treat of fried pig skin, still smoky from the pit, still crisp from the deep fryer.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Vegan with Soul and in the Tropics: Two Cookbooks (and Recipes!)
Vegan with Soul and in the Tropics: Two Cookbooks (and Recipes!)
by Esther Sung
on 04/22/09 at 07:45 AM
As a former quasi-vegetarian, I never quite got the hang of consuming processed meat substitutes like tempeh and seitan. I understand that texture is an important part of the eating experience for many people, myself included, but if I wanted chicken fingers or sausage, I'd go for the real deal, not a vegan imitation of it. But that's just me. Factor in a mild allergy to soy, and I'm eating mostly whole grains, fruits, legumes, and vegetables. A vegan, perhaps, I was not meant to be? But in my quest to give a vegan-ish diet a second chance, I picked up Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine by Bryant Terry (Da Capo) and The Tropical Vegan Kitchen: Meat-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free Dishes from the Tropics by Donna Klein (Penguin).
Bryant Terry's recipes dispel the common myth that soul food is heavy, rich, and unhealthy. In fact, soul food can be vegan, light, and healthy. Who ever thought that traditional recipes (with a slight twist) such as Succotash Soup with Garlicky Cornbread Croutons, Pan-Fried Grit Cakes with Caramelized Spring Onions, Garlic, and Thyme, and Chocolate-Pecan Pudding Pie could be vegan? And just for some more soul, Terry lists at least one song to listen to while making the recipe. "Chicken an' Dumplins" by Art Blakey & the Jazz Masters, anyone?
And then there's the culinary tour of tropical countries around the globe in Donna Klein's book. You'll find recipes representing a myriad of nations and regions, including India, Brazil, Taiwan, Costa Rica, and Haiti. Klein's brief descriptions of common tropical fruits such as taro root, chayotes, and chili peppers could have benefited from accompanying images so that anyone unfamiliar with the produce would have an easier shopping experience. (Many of the fruits and vegetables Klein's recipes use can be identified with our visual guides to Latin American and Asian produce.) The recipes had my mouth watering from the start with recipes such Arugula and Star Fruit Salad with Pineapple Vinaigrette, Orange-Glazed Snow Peas with Cardamom, and African-Style Caramelized Ripe Plantains.
Ultimately, I think these two books have recipes that are great for anyone in the following situations: 1) You're not looking to radically alter the way you eat or cook; 2) You want to ease into veganism and want recipes that are a bit more approachable and natural; 3) You're already a vegan but maybe you're looking for recipes with a new angle or point of view. No matter which one describes your situation, Terry and Klein make the transition as painless—and oh-so-delicious—as possible.
Recipes to try from Vegan Soul Kitchen:- Agave-Sweetened Orange-Orange Pekoe Tea-
Black-Eyed Pea Fritters with Hot Pepper Sauce-
Citrus Collards with Raisins Redux
Recipes to try from The Tropical Vegan Kitchen:- African Curried Coconut Soup with Chickpeas-
Belize-Style Sweet Potato Pudding-
Search our recipe database for more delicious vegan recipes.
Interested in another vegan cookbook recommendation? Consider This Crazy Vegan Life.
Source: http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2009/04/vegan-cookbook.html#more
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