To eat meat, or not to eat meat.

September 28th, 2010 Posted by Rachel. Published under DIY Sustainable Living, How to..., Recipes. 2 Comments.

As we have over 3000 lecture on the Forum Network, my place of employment, we have a lecture on just about anything. And that includes about a bajillion on climate change and the environment and diets and being healthy. But what I have yet to find in all those lectures is a definitive answer that satisfies me and my musings about carnivorism. (That’s not a word, I know…)

Now, many people believe you should eat whatever you want. Other people believe you should only eat plant based food. Or as in this lecture, “Food, Inc” by the Ford Hall Forum they just talk about all the implications of what we eat, how we eat and how it’s made (grown).

I’ve decided that I’m going to go with a mostly vegetarian with a sprinkling of animal protein here and there. I’ve got one of the more unhappy stomachs out there so I’ve learned to eat whatever I’m craving and avoid the rest. This means that in restaurants I know what I’m getting about 10 minutes before everyone else because only one, maybe two things look good. Sometimes it’s a burger, sometimes it’s pasta, and it’s almost never fish because I’ve come to the conclusion that fish are unsustainable no matter how hard we try and the health benefits don’t outweigh the soul killing. I also almost never cook meat myself (I’m pretty bad at it because I never learned how).

However, I’ve also found that there’s a great meat alternative out there, and so few people know about it. I promise you that I’ll get you hooked and you’ll never look back – only ordering meat in restaurants but foregoing it at home. And I know it will be on our list during out bike tour because it’s easy and the ingredients are light.

Seitan! It’s thick and chewy like a buffalo burger but it’s lean and flavorful too! It’s great as a steak, BBQ or stir-fried with some veggies and rice. It can be flaked apart to look like pulled pork or made solid like a chicken breast. The best part is that it’s pretty simple (although a teensy time consuming to make).

Any food co-op worth it’s weight in gold will have what you need:

1 cup vital wheat gluten (yep, it’s wheat based, so sorry Celiac’s sufferers!)
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
Any spice you can think of
A small amount of liquid like water or soy sauce.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the gluten, yeast and spices. I love adding Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute, but I’ve also added dried ginger and wasabi powder or italian spice.

Slowly add the liquid choice while stirring the mixture. It will immediately start to clump, small at first, but then as you add more liquid it joins together. After I’ve got most of the gluten, yeast and spices wet, I get in there with my hands to knead it together. It’s pretty sticky and is also this strange green color, but I promise it’s better than it looks.

Then I sort of stretch it out and roll it back up in thin layers, making a large ball. The layers will at the “fibrous” feel later (and allow for flaking into stir-fry perfect strips). Then let it sit for 15min while you bring a pot of water to a boil. I usually use a medium saucepan with a fair amount of water. Bring it to a rolling boil, nothing more, nothing less! This is the most difficult.

*Side note: You can also use veggie stock, soy sauce or any other liquid instead of water to boil the seitan in.

Once the water is rolling along nicely, break the seitan ball into smaller balls making sure to keep or make new layers. Drop them into the water and they should float after about a minute. Unstick them from the bottom of the pot if need be. Flip them over every 20 min for about 90min. Then they should either be ready to fry up or grill and eat, or they can be stored in some stock for about a week in the fridge.

Yummy! (And I promise you’ll be eating it for Thanksgiving this year! Much better than tofurkey.)