Seitan: Wheat Gluten as a Meat Substitute and How to Make It

Origin: mian jin, mock duck and fu

Chinese cooks have extracted gluten from wheat dough for many centuries. In the Buddhist monastery kitchen it replaces meat, which the monks don't eat. In Chinese it is called miàn jīn (麵筋), literally sinew of flour. From Shanghai comes kǎo fū (烤麸), a spongy, slightly sour gluten that cooks braise with mushrooms and soy sauce.

At an Asian grocery store you find canned mock duck: gluten in a savory braising sauce, shaped and seasoned like duck. In Japan wheat gluten is called fu (麩). Dried fu slices float in miso soup there. The name seitan also comes from Japan and came to Europe and the US with macrobiotics in the 1960s.

Making seitan yourself

With gluten powder

For about 400 to 500 grams of seitan you need:

• 200 g wheat gluten (gluten powder)
• 1 tsp garlic powder and 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 180 ml cold vegetable broth and 2 tbsp soy sauce
• for the simmering broth: 2 liters vegetable broth, 4 tbsp soy sauce, 3 slices ginger, 1 star anise

1. Mix the gluten powder and spices in a bowl.
2. Pour in the broth and soy sauce and stir with a spoon until a lump forms. Then knead with your hands for 2 to 3 minutes, until the dough springs back elastically.
3. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes, divide it into four pieces and press them flat.
4. Bring the simmering broth to a boil and turn the heat down. Lay the pieces in and let them simmer uncovered for 45 to 60 minutes. The broth should bubble only gently; boiled hard, seitan turns spongy.
5. Let the seitan cool in the broth. Then cut it into slices or strips.

You control the texture through kneading and ingredients. If you knead longer, the seitan gets firmer and chewier. If you replace 50 g of gluten powder with chickpea flour, it gets softer and is easier to cut. Instead of simmering, you can wrap the pieces in foil and steam them for 45 minutes, which keeps the surface smooth.

Washed out of flour

Chinese cooks work this way too. Knead 1 kg all-purpose flour with about 600 ml water for 10 minutes into a smooth dough and let it rest covered with water for an hour. Then knead it in a bowl under water. The water turns milky from the starch. Pour it off and repeat until it stays almost clear. After 20 to 30 minutes you have about 250 to 300 grams of raw gluten in your hand, which you cook in simmering broth as above.

Flavor and preparation

Seitan tastes neutral and slightly of bread until you season it. It takes on the flavor of the simmering broth and the marinade. Cut it against the grain into thin strips, marinate them for 30 minutes in soy sauce, garlic and a little starch and fry them in the wok over high heat. This way seitan replaces meat in Kung pao chicken, in Yu xiang rou si or in a sweet soy marinade following the recipe for Bulgogi. In cubes it braises in red curry.

Rinse canned mock duck briefly and fry it crisp in a pan. Thin pancakes, cucumber, scallion and hoisin sauce go with it, much as with Peking duck.

Gluten and other allergens

Seitan is concentrated wheat protein. For people with celiac disease, wheat allergy or gluten intolerance it is unsuitable, even in small amounts. If you cook for guests, ask beforehand. Ready-made seitan, mock duck and many marinades contain soy sauce, so soy and usually more wheat.

If you need a gluten-free substitute, use firm tofu, pure soy tempeh or king oyster mushrooms that you pull into strips. You can read more about the alternatives under Types of tofu.

Buying and storing

You find ready-made seitan on the refrigerated shelf of health food stores and many supermarkets, as a block, slices or shreds. Canned mock duck and dried fu are at an Asian grocery store. You buy gluten powder as wheat gluten at a health food store or online. Store it dry and well sealed.

Keep homemade seitan with some of the simmering broth in a container in the refrigerator and eat it within four to five days. To freeze it, cut it into portions first; it thaws faster that way.