Cooking notes: Barbecued seitan and layered vegetables

[ceri]

This is just food porn, I swear.

This is my first time cooking with seitan, pronounced "say-Tan", which is basically wheat gluten. It's got a texture and consistency similar to a boneless skinless chicken breast, and slices up about the same way.

This particular dish starts with onions browned in oil in a skillet, and put into the bottom of the crockpot. A layer of potatoes follows, and a layer of yellow pepper, and then a layer of grated carrot. The recipe calls for zucchini, too, but I sometimes have trouble with that, so I just added more carrot. The seitan gets sliced into quarter-inch-thick chunks and browned too, and then goes on top of all that. Finally there's a classic barbecue sauce: tomato paste, dry mustered, molasses, soy sauce, vinegaar, brown sugar, and some water. That gets spooned on top of all.

The recipe says to cook it at low (200 F) for 6-8 hours. Having found that I like these recipes slightly more cooked, I ran it at 250 F for seven hours, with a walk to the library to help pass the time. Now I've got a cup of it sitting here while I figure out how many Weight Watcher points it is (6, if I'm doing my math right), and nibbling at it some. It is so good.

Visible in the picture: seitan, on the right, potato slices, onion curls at the back, and the sauce surrounding and embracing.

Comments

[onomasticator]

It occurs to me that I do not know: are you a full-time vegetarian or vegan?

[ceri]

I've been nearly a full-time vegetarian since 2002. I do eat some seafood for nutritional spot checks, and I sometimes lapse for poultry or lamb when dining out.

[onomasticator]

I thank you for indulging my compulsion to catalog my friends' dietary philosophies.

[ceri]

Nary a problem. For me it's partly pragmatic - it's easier to get the degree of information and verification I like to have for health safety with veggie dining. Partly it's a mix of moral concerns, including "why take chances with unnecessary pain?" and "let's use the world a bit more lightly where we can".