Help me save my spongy seitan.

November 9, 2011 8:40 AM

How can I save my spongy seitan?

I made some seitan the other day and it turned out with a very spongy, slightly rubbery texture instead of the meaty texture that I am used to when I have it at restaurants. I think I know what I did during cooking that caused this to happen (but I'm not sure, so if you have any tips...), and so I can probably avoid it in the future.

That doesn't help me right now, though. Right now I have a lot of spongy seitan in the freezer waiting for future use. I don't want to throw it all out. What types of recipes can I use it in that will either benefit from the spongy texture or, better yet, "mask" the texture?

posted by asnider to food & drink (6 answers total)

It sounds like it could make a reasonable tofu substitute in miso soup, especially a heartier one with some potatoes and vegetables.

When I think of spongy foods, I think of mushrooms or koya tofu, so maybe you could look for recipes that use those sorts of foods.
posted by that girl at 8:48 AM on November 9, 2011

My first ever batch of seitan was on the spongy side. I chopped it up and used it in stroganoff and it was fine. I think as long as your flavor is okay, it's still going to work in most things where it's chopped into smallish pieces. Enchiladas, etc.
posted by something something at 8:57 AM on November 9, 2011

Also - steaming in foil is pretty much the only way I will do seitan now. It's the best way I've found to produce reliably non-spongy results. I like the white seitan in Terry Hope Romero's Viva Vegan the best, although I have heard good things about the seitans in Vegan Diner as well.
posted by something something at 9:08 AM on November 9, 2011

It's still good! It's still good! I would chop it up and use it in a shepards pie with lots of mushroom gravy.
posted by zem at 10:06 AM on November 9, 2011

I often produce seitan like that and what I do with it is to greece a pan with olive oil, cut the seitan into strips and lay it out on the pan and place in an oven pre-heated to 200C for 20- 25 mins turning it once. It is done when the outside is crusty, but don't let it burn.
It loses the rubbery texture and becomes very tasty, we normally eat it straight away like that, with a bit of mustard and dill sauce. Nice!
posted by foleypt at 10:15 AM on November 9, 2011 [1 favorite]

I just made shepherd's pie, as you suggested, zem, and it was fantastic. Thanks for the suggestion!
posted by asnider at 6:14 PM on November 14, 2011