Sigh, another attempt to BBQ for vegetarians. Seitan

gdenby

Up front, this didn't work out so well.

For those of you who may need to cook for vegetarians, let me offer my days semi-failed attempt at smoked seitan.

Seitan is wheat gluten formed into a doughy mass. I followed a recipe that added nutritional yeast, standard 'Q spices and flavorings w. some tamari sauce mixed in. Don't think I mixed it right, ended up w. something more like large curd cottage cheese.

The final result.



BBQ'D nothing.  The stuff soaks up all the flavors, spices, smoke, etc. Even gets a little crisp. Otherwise, no taste of its own, texture like white bread. Maybe toss cubes into ramen.

I guess I need to apologize for sharing.

Theophan

I eat vegan fairly often, but I just haven't gotten much gusto for trying vegan stuff on the Egg.  I grilled some tofu once, and it was pretty good, when doused with enough green chile sauce and made into tacos, but it wasn't good enough that I've ever made it again.

Your loaf picture actually looks pretty good to me!  I'm sorry it didn't taste better.  I really like seitan, but it doesn't like me: I very often get an attack of gout if I eat very much seitan.  <sigh>

THANKS for posting!  Please post any other efforts to grill or smoke something vegan -- I'll be very interested!

GaBGE

Some things are made to smoke/grill like meat and some things aren't.

yljkt

Nice effort. I cant imagine trying to cook for vegans on an egg. The few vegans I know would be p!ssed it was made on it with the smoke and all. 

gdenby

Thank @Theophan . It was sad because it looked good, and tasted OK, just no chew or basic flavor of its own. Like you said about the tofu, if you dump enough other things on it, its pretty good.

caliking

I make it a point not to befriend or be related to vegans. Don't have the time or patience.

 The few vegetarian friends who have been grandfathered in are usually asked to bring something they would like to eat and I'll throw it on a grill or egg for them. 

gdenby

caliking said:

I make it a point not to befriend or be related to vegans. Don't have the time or patience.

Unfortunately, I ended up related w. 3 gals who for awhile were vegans. They are all very admirable. Now vegetarians (who can eat w/o butter?) So I try to please.

When asked, "what is the fastest way to Nirvana?" the budha answered "Patience."  I'm guessing my nirvana is a ways off in the distance.

SkySaw

Good effort! And I admire your bravery for trying seitan on the Egg.

I've been plant-based whole food for five years (it's vegan, but without adding sugar or fat to cooking, and eating whole grains rather than refined grains. Side note - I eat like this for the proven cardiovascular benefits). Smoke adds that umami flavour that is usually found only in meat, so the Egg has the potential to add a unique flavour dimension to vegan cooking. I use my Large a couple of times a week at least to bake breads, pizzas, roast veggies, seitan, tofu, baked beans, etc. 

I make pizza with WW dough, and I don't use cheese or any type of cheese substitute.  I top with tomato sauce, artichoke hearts, olives, tomatoes, thin sliced onions, and whatever else and it is fantastic. My best meal on the Egg without a doubt is baked beans, where the smoke adds so much richness to the flavour.

Another favourite is seitan. My diagnosis is that you made it too thick and cooked it at too high a temp. Your seitan is beautiful on the outside, and undercooked. Next time you try it, shape it into sausage form, or roll it out fairly thin and stuff it like a fattie, or press it out like a thick pizza dough and cook it in a dutch oven.

The DO is my favourite way to make it. Seitan is a good conduit for texture and flavour, so you can get a good basic recipe that you like, and flavour it according to what you are making. I cook it for 30-35 minutes at 350º with some apple and cherry smoke. It takes on the smoke very nicely. Here's one I did in the DO, and another that got basted toward the end with a Char Siu sauce. Making it an inch thick or less will allow the seitan to cook all the way through before the crust begins to get crispy. When cooked through, seitan has a fairly stiff and slightly chewy texture.

Ozzie_Isaac

Lol!  I thought Seitan in your title was a play on Satan.  Didn't realize it was a food.

blasting

Great effort @gdenby .  You put in more effort than I would have.

I'm kind of with @caliking .  Anybody I know well enough to invite into my home would already know my specialty is meat.

Or you could try and convert them...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbJSg4AlV78

SkySaw

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Lol!  I thought Seitan in your title was a play on Satan.  Didn't realize it was a food.

When my daughter was in grade 2 (edit, looking at the art, maybe it was grade 1) at her Catholic school, this is what she produced at school one day - no joke!

Ozzie_Isaac

@SkySaw

SkySaw

blasting said:

Great effort @gdenby .  You put in more effort than I would have.

I'm kind of with @caliking .  Anybody I know well enough to invite into my home would already know my specialty is meat.

Or you could try and convert them...

Well, as a PBWF vegan, I'm usually a polite person and know how to go with the flow. I also know how to admire good BBQ, and if it looks good enough, might even try some. IMO vegans have a totally undeserved reputation for being some type of food militants. Maybe it's that many modern vegans do it primarily for cardiovascular health reasons rather than as a demonstration of moral outrage, etc. 

blasting

SkySaw said:

blasting said:

Great effort @gdenby .  You put in more effort than I would have.

I'm kind of with @caliking .  Anybody I know well enough to invite into my home would already know my specialty is meat.

Or you could try and convert them...

Well, as a PBWF vegan, I'm usually a polite person and know how to go with the flow. I also know how to admire good BBQ, and if it looks good enough, might even try some. IMO vegans have a totally undeserved reputation for being some type of food militants. Maybe it's that many modern vegans do it primarily for cardiovascular health reasons rather than as a demonstration of moral outrage, etc. 

@SkySaw   What is a PBWF vegan?  

I'm fine with Vegans, but realistically, I doubt I'd have a lot in common with a true vegetarian / vegan, since a big part of my daily routine is cooking meat.  

Now if they lead off with "Do you know what goes on in a slaughterhouse?"  Well, I probably will force feed them a pound of bacon.

booksw

@blasting I think PBWF means "Plant Based Whole Food"  @SkySaw I commend your bravery for actually reaching out to help @gdenby in what already was turning into a conversation that was turning pretty anti-vegan.

I love all kinds of meat and I don't think I could ever be a vegan.  Having said that, though, my daughter is a vegan and I try to not only keep an open mind about the practice but to also find things that I love to cook that she will love to eat.  The egg is my favorite place to cook and other than roasting vegetables (which we do a lot), I have not been too adventurous in the vegan terrain.  I am looking forward to reading your blog and checking out your posts on the forum to learn!

Also, I couldn't help but notice how clean your egg is in the picture- no chicken fat has dripped and burned on your platesetter.  I bet you have never had a grease fire!  Lucky you.

Ozzie_Isaac

I respect vegans.  I, however, do not want to be one.  They are living their beliefs. 

I enjoy discussing the pros/cons too.  The tasty part is weighted very heavily in my descision matrix.

I am only blessed with so many meals in this life.  I do not want to waste any.

HeavyG

My sister is a vegan. I'll never be totally vegan because I'll never give up cheese and seafood. But I don't eat meat with every meal and I don't always eat any meat every day. To each their own.

There are lots of fine vegan dishes that can be grilled/bbq'ed. Lots of decent cookbooks deal with that arena.

A good first step is to realize that not everything has to try and be a meat analogue.

But if you want to try and make a meat replacement kind of dish there are a lot of creative things that can be done with portobellos - sliders, burgers, "pulled"sandwiches.

Jackfruit seems to be pretty popular for making "pulled pork" sandwiches.

Cooking for vegans/vegetarians isn't that big a deal unless one is the type that the main is bacon and all the sides are bacon and dessert is bacon.

HellrodKC

There are a few bbq places here in KC that do smoked Jackfruit and seems to be pretty popular. I'm sure there's stuff on the interwebs for ideas!

Carolina Q

Tonight, I had fresh collards, stewed tomatoes and kidney beans. That's it. A delicious meal, and filling. And as far as I know, vegan (though I don't care one way or the other). Point is, when I choose a meatless meal, I don't try to make it pretend to BE meat.

As for BBQing something that isn't meat, try asparagus, beets, potatoes, carrots, corn, burnt tomatoes or green beans, etc. Not "barbecued" per se, but grilled... which sure makes it mighty tasty. 

Jon Stewart ranted a few months back about Chicago Deep Dish Pizza (vs NY of course). Among other things, he said... Chicago pizza is not real pizza. I know because you call it "Chicago style pizza, deep dish pizza". You know what we call this (holds up a NY slice)? We call it "pizza"! Fake meat is not real meat. No sense pretending it is.

SkySaw

booksw said:

@blasting I think PBWF means "Plant Based Whole Food"  @SkySaw I commend your bravery for actually reaching out to help @gdenby in what already was turning into a conversation that was turning pretty anti-vegan.

I love all kinds of meat and I don't think I could ever be a vegan.  Having said that, though, my daughter is a vegan and I try to not only keep an open mind about the practice but to also find things that I love to cook that she will love to eat.  The egg is my favorite place to cook and other than roasting vegetables (which we do a lot), I have not been too adventurous in the vegan terrain.  I am looking forward to reading your blog and checking out your posts on the forum to learn!

Also, I couldn't help but notice how clean your egg is in the picture- no chicken fat has dripped and burned on your platesetter.  I bet you have never had a grease fire!  Lucky you.

Thanks! My Egg is clean now, but until 5 years ago I was dripping grease on that plate setter daily. 

JohnInCarolina

It's funny because I thought maybe you were trying to say that vegetarians are Satan.

nolaegghead

I love vegetarians.  Some of my best friends are vegetarians.  Some of my favorite foods are vegetarians.  Satan, is he one?  I found this: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060827175920AA3uRRm

blasting

nolaegghead said:

I love vegetarians.  Some of my best friends are vegetarians.  Some of my favorite foods are vegetarians.  Satan, is he one?  I found this: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060827175920AA3uRRm

Is that like how white people always point out that they have a black friend?

The Cen-Tex Smoker

I eat vegan stuff from my egg all the time. Grilled asparagus with EVOO and Kosher, grilled corn, wok seared veggies, baked potatoes...it's not that hard people. 

gdenby

well, folks, lots of good comments. I was hoping to come up w. something i could take of the Egg, and satisfy those who I know avoid meat. Frankly, roasted veg work better than this did. Not as bad as tofu, I do draw the line somewhere. The recipe included nutritional yeast, and I'd hoped that would have added some flavor.

@SkySaw , there's plenty of good stuff that's fine w/o meat. I've enjoyed many good pizzas similar to what you mentioned. My DIL brought home some pizza from a place called Dove Vivi when we visited Portland. One was quite good. The other had ersatz cheese sauce, which just didn't work. Just oil would have been better. As an aside, its a little odd about her preferences. Her family farms in Idaho, and they have a small herd of free range cattle. She and my son get a package every year. Some of the best beef I've ever had. And she doesn't touch it.

HeavyG

gdenby said:

well, folks, lots of good comments. I was hoping to come up w. something i could take of the Egg, and satisfy those who I know avoid meat. Frankly, roasted veg work better than this did. Not as bad as tofu, I do draw the line somewhere. The recipe included nutritional yeast, and I'd hoped that would have added some flavor.

@SkySaw , there's plenty of good stuff that's fine w/o meat. I've enjoyed many good pizzas similar to what you mentioned. My DIL brought home some pizza from a place called Dove Vivi when we visited Portland. One was quite good. The other had ersatz cheese sauce, which just didn't work. Just oil would have been better. As an aside, its a little odd about her preferences. Her family farms in Idaho, and they have a small herd of free range cattle. She and my son get a package every year. Some of the best beef I've ever had. And she doesn't touch it.

I've not yet made this recipe but a "meatloaf" smoked/baked on the Egg might be quite tasty: http://www.connoisseurusveg.com/2015/11/almost-classic-chickpea-vegan-meatloaf.html

If I were to cook that on the Egg tho I would probably lessen the amount of liquid smoke listed in the recipe.

I love chickpeas and the liquid from the can (aka aquafaba) has been getting a lot of buzz lately.

gdenby

HeavyG said:

I've not yet made this recipe but a "meatloaf" smoked/baked on the Egg might be quite tasty: http://www.connoisseurusveg.com/2015/11/almost-classic-chickpea-vegan-meatloaf.html

If I were to cook that on the Egg tho I would probably lessen the amount of liquid smoke listed in the recipe.

I love chickpeas and the liquid from the can (aka aquafaba) has been getting a lot of buzz lately.

I've never had liquid smoke that I liked. Always seems harsh. There are several vendors who sell powder encapsulated smoke. I have some hickory smoke powder from the Spice House in Chi. Small amounts work well when I don't want to cook outside but want a hint of smoke.

I tried something similar to the chickpea loaf not too long ago. I used a recipe from Anson Mills for "Hoppin' John Burgers." They weren't bad. A little dry and crumbly. But not better than a bowl of the real stuff.

HeavyG

gdenby said:

HeavyG said:

I've not yet made this recipe but a "meatloaf" smoked/baked on the Egg might be quite tasty: http://www.connoisseurusveg.com/2015/11/almost-classic-chickpea-vegan-meatloaf.html

If I were to cook that on the Egg tho I would probably lessen the amount of liquid smoke listed in the recipe.

I love chickpeas and the liquid from the can (aka aquafaba) has been getting a lot of buzz lately.

I've never had liquid smoke that I liked. Always seems harsh. There are several vendors who sell powder encapsulated smoke. I have some hickory smoke powder from the Spice House in Chi. Small amounts work well when I don't want to cook outside but want a hint of smoke.

I tried something similar to the chickpea loaf not too long ago. I used a recipe from Anson Mills for "Hoppin' John Burgers." They weren't bad. A little dry and crumbly. But not better than a bowl of the real stuff.

This is the smoke I've been using the last few years: http://www.amazon.com/CedarHouse-Ultra-Premium-Liquid-Smoke-Natural/dp/B007A3TBXM?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

The Cen-Tex Smoker

I may be able to offer some insight here. TFJ was veggie for 10+ years before I turned her back to the darkside with our 1st BGE (not kidding). I was guilty of this for years and my family still does it to her to this day- even though she's been eating meat again for 10 years. We always tried to go the extra mile to make sure she had something specifically for her to eat when in the end, she did not like being singled out with "special" vegetarian dishes- especially those made to taste like meat. If something was made "only for the her" she felt obligated to eat it no matter how weird or nasty. The funny part is nobody in my family would touch it with a 10-foot pole yet somehow they thought they were doing her a favor by making it "special" for her.  She always just preferred to eat what everyone else was eating minus the meat- real whole foods that tasted like they were supposed to. Good grilled veggies, potatoes, beans, salads, a good crusty bread with herbed olive oil.

Your veggie friends will really appreciate the effort put in to a high-quality vegetable dish that tastes like it's supposed to and that is offered as part of the meal for everyone. 

Real food from a BGE is just as much a treat for a vegetarian as anyone else. She always loved grilled food and BBQ and that didn't change when she went veggie. There are so many great options and it does not have to be some franken-food dressed up as meat. 

She always enjoyed (and still does) a good homemade veggie burger.

Something like this: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/85452/homemade-black-bean-veggie-burgers/

And another sure to please are grilled Portabello burgers or steaks. They take on grilled flavors just like meat would.

If we were at a cook out and someone threw a few portobellos, a good veggie burger, or some good wood fired veggies on with the meat without any fanfare, that was a real treat for her. People that really knew her just made sure there were a few good options that were part of the same meal everyone else was enjoying and never mentioned anything about it. It was there for anyone to take and just part of the whole meal. Where I may eat a burger, a salad, some veggies and beans, she would eat a salad, veggies, beans, and maybe a grilled portobello burger. Most never even noticed she didn't have meat on her plate. It was just food. Like everyone else.  

I promise you that a good veggie dish done right will blow away smoked seitan or "meat" loaf and it's for everyone- not just the one weirdo who doesn't eat meat. To me that's what eating with friends is all about- sharing a meal together. When you are all eating mostly the same things, someone can say "wow, this tomato salad is incredible, can I have the recipe"? and everyone can relate. When you say "how's your seitan burger bob"? (as the rest of the group pounds down SRF Kobe burgers with bacon) Bob is obligated to choke it down and say "great"! even though it's probably horrible. When Bob can nosh on most of the same awesome things as everyone else, its a much more natural and fun experience for everyone. Just throw a bunch of good sides out with the meal and vegetarians will be thrilled to be part of the group and not singled out or expected to eat some mystery blob of crap that nobody else would get anywhere near their mouth. 

Here are a few good vegetarian suggestions that everyone will love from your BGE.  Throw these on the table next to the meat on your next cookout and don't say a thing about "this is vegetarian". It's just food. For everyone to enjoy.

Grilled Asparagus
A good grilled crusty bread brushed with a good olive oil (and maybe some herbs)
Grilled "street" corn or a good grilled corn salad (or salsa)
Grilled Hearts of Romaine with cherry tomatoes and vinaigrette (My Kids love this salad)
A good smoky potatoes AuGratin in a cast iron skillet (she did eat dairy)
Mac N Cheese (or Lobster Mac if they eat fish- many do)
baked potatoes are awesome on the BGE
Veggie Burger (homemade- not the frozen crap in a box)
Grilled Portobello with bbq rub or S&P drizzled with a nice vinaigrette
Grilled Zucchini with EVOO Salt and pepper
Grilled tomato slices or a whole grilled stuffed tomato
Roasted Chile Rellano stuffed with rice and beans (and cheese if they eat dairy)
Roasted fingerling potatoes with S&P, garlic, olive oil, and rosemary
Vegetarian lasagna off a BGE is out of this world
For dessert- grilled pineapple or peaches with cinnamon, sugar and ice cream or even soy ice cream if you must

I can give you 100 more but I think you get the idea. You invite me to your house and have a table covered in these types of things and I'm a happy guy- vegetarian or not. You have a gray blob of smoked seitan just for me (!)...not so much.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

a great wok stir fry with Tofu would be killer. 

YukonRon

My man, I don't envy you, but I do allure the effort. Good luck, I would have to ring the bell on that.