Making your own fake meat

[Coney]

I've recently discovered Vital Wheat Gluten. It's amazing. You can mix dry seasonings into it, then add liquid, boil it, then voila! you have your own (cheap!) fake meat.

I got 3lbs of gluten from http://www.netrition.com/now_gluten_flour_page.html
for $2.99 per pound. You can also find it in bulk sections if you're lucky. I've never seen it here in bulk, so I ordered it online.

One pound will make enough gluten meat for a large pot of soup. You can also add some flour to make it go farther. Just add whatever seasonings you want to go with 1.5-2lbs of real meat, and you'll have a great fake equivalent.

Vegan-food.net has a big list of "meat" recipes using gluten. Anyone here have good gluten recipes to post? I have yet to make "chicken", but I'm really happy with the Bangers sausage mix I've got!

[ynaffit]

i've attempted to make seitan once, by baking instead of boiling. mine turned out like a seitan-bread hybrid. i'm going to try the boiling method with the rest of my VWG box.

[SOYlent Green]

Instead of spending all of that time making fake meat, why don't you just get off it? Isn't that like an alcoholic drinking processed garbage that tastes like beer and wine after he or she is supposed to have quit drinking? Jeez, there are so many wonderful vegitarian foods out there. Sooo... instead of eating processed gabage that *tastes* like meat why don't you eat natural vegitarian foods. be real, for godssake. You'll forget about meat after a while. I'm sorry to sound harsh but this fake meat stuff just sounds silly to me. In fact whenever I think about it I want to puke.

S

[misq17]

Instead of spending all of that time making fake meat, why don't you just get off it? Isn't that like an alcoholic drinking processed garbage that tastes like beer and wine after he or she is supposed to have quit drinking? Jeez, there are so many wonderful vegitarian foods out there. Sooo... instead of eating processed gabage that *tastes* like meat why don't you eat natural vegitarian foods. be real, for godssake. You'll forget about meat after a while. I'm sorry to sound harsh but this fake meat stuff just sounds silly to me. In fact whenever I think about it I want to puke.

S
Vital wheat gluten isn't all that processed. If we called it a hunk of vital wheat gluten instead of a fake meat, would that make you feel better? The reason we eat it is because it tastes good, it IS a wonderful vegetarian food :lick: Do you eat tofu? You know, in some restaurants, they use tofu and call it fake chicken! I think we should all just stop eating tofu in protest! :gun:

I personally like meat subsitutes and I don't find that most of them taste like the real thing anyway.

[karenM]

Instead of spending all of that time making fake meat, why don't you just get off it? Isn't that like an alcoholic drinking processed garbage that tastes like beer and wine after he or she is supposed to have quit drinking? Jeez, there are so many wonderful vegitarian foods out there. Sooo... instead of eating processed gabage that *tastes* like meat why don't you eat natural vegitarian foods. be real, for godssake. You'll forget about meat after a while. I'm sorry to sound harsh but this fake meat stuff just sounds silly to me. In fact whenever I think about it I want to puke.

So don't eat the stuff.

How can the dietary choices of other people bother you so much? Personally, I cannot stand alfalfa sprouts, but I don't think it's my place to convince others not to eat 'em, do you?

Some folks were raised on an omnivorous diet, so they're accustomed to the taste and/or texture of meat. If eating faux meat products helps them abstain from animal flesh, why knock it? Please consider the fact that others might have different gustatory, nutritional and/or social needs than you have, friend.

[FreshTart]

I'm sorry to sound harsh but this fake meat stuff just sounds silly to me. In fact whenever I think about it I want to puke.

S

I'm sorry to sound harsh but this rant about fake meat stuff just sounds silly to me. In fact whenever I think about it I want to laugh my ass off.

[berrykat]

fresh tart :up:

[silverfire]

SG, Does it bother you that it's called 'fake meat' if so then just call it something else.

If the processed part is the problem, there are many simple, not too processed 'mock meats' out there such as layered tofu sheets etc, even a block of tofu can be made into a 'meaty' texture by freezing it.

Different types of veggie foods add to the variety that a veg*n has in his or her diet. It's not just the 'meaty' taste and texture of these foods, it's the variety they give to a diet.

I see no problem with meats substitutes, if you do, then perhaps it's best not to eat any seitan, tofu, etc. This is not wrong, but it reduces your choice simply for the fact that you disagree with anything that seems vaguely liek meat.

Are you new to vegetarianism by any chance?

Cheers!

[Kiz]

The OP could have also been asking about making seitan. Someone else in the thread mentioned seitan. This product is neither "fake meat" nor is it overly processed.

In reponse to the OPs question, I bought half a kilo of another brand of high gluten rice flour. I have no idea whether this will work for seitan or not, but I'm gonna give it a gol

[silverfire]

Hi Kiz,

high gluten rice flour?

I was pretty sure that rice did not contain gluten at all! I may be wrong though. The only reason being that my son's uncle is coeliac and can eat rice.

Cheers!

[Kiz]

Rice contains gluten for sure. Sticky rice is also "high gluten" rice. Most people suffering gluten allergys and coelic disease seem to have problems with wheat gluten, not all gluten. Most, but not all.

[Kurmudgeon]

There's gluten-free rice pasta and crackers, so not all rice contains gluten.

[llechler]

Coney, thanks for sharing your discovery, I've never heard of this stuff before, I'll have to give it a try! Thanks.

[karenM]

Rice contains gluten for sure. Sticky rice is also "high gluten" rice. Most people suffering gluten allergys and coelic disease seem to have problems with wheat gluten, not all gluten. Most, but not all.

Rice doesn't contain gluten, but there are glutinous rice & rice flours available. You use them for thickening sauces, or to make some gummy sweets or snacks.

Gluten: Wheat protein
Glutinous: Gummy

ETA: Besides wheat, I should clarify that some other grains (e.g. rye, barley) do actually have gluten. Just not rice. :)

[Kiz]

So what is glutinous rice? It has no gluten added, it grows like that.

[karenM]

So what is glutinous rice? It has no gluten added, it grows like that.
Right, it's a type of rice that's more sticky/gummy. It's used for lots of dishes, like mochi, Thai desserts and Asian steamed rice "tamales".

Glutinous just means "gummy" or "glue-like". (http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=glutinous)

Enjoy that rice!

[Kiz]

So what's with high-gluten rice flour? Do you think they mean the protein, the say way wheat-protein is being called gluten?

[karenM]

No idea! Is that flour from a non-English speaking country maybe? Maybe they've translated glutinous somewhat loosely?

[OhSewRetro]

I wanted to try seitan, and the only place I ever found vital wheat gluten flour was at Sunset foods. It was 6.50 for a small bag, which had to be only a pound!! I didn't want to pay that.

[silverfire]

Hi guys,

gluten is spelt with an 'e', this is the protien found in wheat, oats, etc.

Glutinous rice is spelt with an 'i'. They are totally different words with different origins. As somebody has already pointed out, glutinous means sticky or gluggy and in the rice case, it means types of rice that cake together rather than being separated.

The glutinous characteristics of rice come from polysacharides rather than protein.

Cheers!

[FreshTart]

Hi guys,

gluten is spelt with an 'e', this is the protien found in wheat, oats, etc.

Glutinous rice is spelt with an 'i'. They are totally different words with different origins. As somebody has already pointed out, glutinous means sticky or gluggy and in the rice case, it means types of rice that cake together rather than being separated.

The glutinous characteristics of rice come from polysacharides rather than protein.

Cheers!

Thanks for the spelling lesson.

[silverfire]

He he.

No problem, just that I think people were getting the two a bit mixed up!

[silverfire]

p.s.

I DO know how to spell, but I bugger up a lot in my posts! Too quick and no time to review!

:)

[delicious]

Instead of spending all of that time making fake meat, why don't you just get off it? Isn't that like an alcoholic drinking processed garbage that tastes like beer and wine after he or she is supposed to have quit drinking? Jeez, there are so many wonderful vegitarian foods out there. Sooo... instead of eating processed gabage that *tastes* like meat why don't you eat natural vegitarian foods. be real, for godssake. You'll forget about meat after a while. I'm sorry to sound harsh but this fake meat stuff just sounds silly to me. In fact whenever I think about it I want to puke.

S

There are plenty of wonderful vegetarian foods out there and one of them is gluten. :rockon:

[Coney]

Instead of spending all of that time making fake meat, why don't you just get off it? Isn't that like an alcoholic drinking processed garbage that tastes like beer and wine after he or she is supposed to have quit drinking? Jeez, there are so many wonderful vegitarian foods out there. Sooo... instead of eating processed gabage that *tastes* like meat why don't you eat natural vegitarian foods. be real, for godssake. You'll forget about meat after a while. I'm sorry to sound harsh but this fake meat stuff just sounds silly to me. In fact whenever I think about it I want to puke.

S


It's not "processed garbage that tastes like meat". It's part of the wheat grain. It has more protien than meat, but is natural. It's a flour, basically. Would you call whole wheat flour "processed garbage"? Sheesh. BTW, I love "natural vegetarian foods". That's why I'm mixing up my own fake meat, that way I know what all the ingredients are.

Gluten is a great way to put extra protien in your stir-fry if you don't feel like tofu--again. You can flavor it any way you want, and it's cheap.

I attempted to make Italian sausage seasoned gluten, but I think I added a little more extra plain flour than I should have. It tasted good, though. Very good on noodles with cooked cabbage. (hey, I was raised in Michigan. I like me "beef and noodles" kind of dishes.)