A splendid savory, meaty delight to shine as the star of your dinner table. Moist, tender, rich, savory, just the right amount of bite….it hits all the marks for a good roast, and the leftovers (or maybe the whole thing) makes for some pretty darn good sandwiches to boot. Inspired by the less animal-friendly turkey roast, this happily slides right in to fill the place, and can be gussied up however you’d like or used as a substitute in recipes calling for “the real deal” without skipping a beat. The texture here is rather fine, like a standard vegan roast, perfect for slicing and without being dry or grainy in the least, and seriously, sandwiches….i can’t say enough how amazing it is on sandwiches!
Here are the stars of the show, which are surprisingly sparse given the wonderful taste and texture of the end product. Vital wheat gluten makes up the bulk, providing the bounce and spring, while holding everything together, and giving the roast a pleasant bite. Butter beans (dried mature lima beans) provide a rich, buttery, creamy quality to the flavour and help to round out the protein profile, fauxltry broth powder and fauxltry seasoning provide that wonderful, light, meatiness we’re looking for and classic poultry seasonings, the miso serves to further enhance savoriness and add a touch of sweetness. Small amounts of chinese light soy and liquid smoke help to bring in some heartier elements, enhancing the savoriness of the dish, while coconut oil provides some much needed fat, helping to carry the flavours and prevent an overly dry roast. Finally there is a small amount of pea protein powder (unflavoured of course, no one wants vanilla roast) which you can find easily in any health food stores and quite a few “regular” grocery stores, it helps to boost the protein and alter the texture a little, giving us that fine grained texture we’re looking for and adding some richness of its own.
A word on quantities here, i HIGHLY recommend going by weight for this. I really can’t stress that enough, we’re dealing with a very delicate balance of ingredients here that can be hard (or impossible) to accurately measure by volume. I considered not even providing volume equivalents for this one at all, so if you HAVE to use volume, be very careful to follow the amounts listed, don’t pack or scoop the gluten in the measuring cup, spoon it in and level it off and you will have to adjust later to get the proper texture.
I find it easiest to blend the beans and liquids first, getting it as creamy as possible, then adding in the seasonings and pea protein, it just makes everything easier. I also like to save a little liquid to help get out the last bits of the paste from the blender, using just enough liquid to do the initial blending, scraping what i can out and then adding the rest of the liquid to thin out the yummy stuff stuck in the blender.
What you’ll end up with after blending is a rich, thick paste that gets mixed into (most of) the gluten, then the fun begins! The magical transformation of powders and liquids into something meaty, assisted by a food processor (hopefully) to make the whole thing ridiculously easy. Now, you can mix this by hand or with a stand mixer, but it is going to take a little longer and be a tad more work (in the case of hand kneading) on your part. Suggestions for these will be in the directions. The goal is to end up with a very firm, shiny lump of seitan, when you try to pull chunks off, it should be stretchy, rubbery, and shear unevenly like meat. So regardless of what method of kneading you use, this is how you want it to be in the end. To facilitate the kneading we wait until the final knead to add in the rest of the gluten, this firms it up as a final touch and will be less work on you (or your equipment) during kneading.
The picture above is before the final kneading, see how stringy and stretchy it is? This is what you want before adding the final touch of gluten, after that and the final knead, it should be somewhat glossy and very smooth, and very very firm. So firm that you’ll want to let it rest for a little bit before attempting to shape it, which you do by pressing, pushing, pounding, stretching, whatever works for you, to get it into a log shape that will fit into your steamer basket.
Then you’re going to heat up a pan, preferably just larger than your roast, with enough oil to cover the bottom by at least 1/4 inch, until it reaches 350F or a piece of the bread or the seitan starts to sizzle immediately when dropped in. Then you’re going to brown each side of the roast, this adds a lot of flavour, colour, and helps to keep the roast from expanding during the steam. It doesn’t take very long, around 1 1/2 – 3 minutes on each side, for narrower sides and the ends, i recommend holding in upright with tongs, and be careful! this is very hot oil we’re dealing with, so don’t just go throwing the seitan around in the pan and splashing oil everywhere!!! Now pat yourself on the back, the bulk of your active effort is really over and the rest is easy (though time consuming.)
The roast gets steamed, then allowed to cool, covered with the basting liquid and allowed to rest in the fridge overnight. Do not skip this, it is very important for the texture, flavour, and colour of the roast. Having said not to skip it, you CAN, if you’re in a total rush, move right to the roasting (shame on you for not planning ahead!) just shave about 10 minutes off the total cooking time to adjust for some the temperature discrepancy, it won’t be QUITE as wonderful, but close, and still better than anything you’re going to find on a shelf. On the inverse, this can all be done up to a week ahead of the actual roasting, or longer if you want to freeze it for much later, make sure and that it completely (it takes awhile) before roasting from frozen.
When you’re ready to roast this sucker up, you just heat up your oven, throw some of the liquid in with it, and then do three cycles of roasting. The first is covered and helps to maintain a moist heat around the roast, speeding up the heating time and preventing it from overly drying out, the roast is then basted, flipped and returned to the oven. For the third and final part, the roast is again basted, flipped and roasted. After that you’ll flip a final time, and pour your remaining basting liquid into the pan to deglaze and stuck bits, then cover the whole thing and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes, allowing the mositure to even out and prevent a dry, overly chewy exterior.
That’s it! You can breathe now, it’s over. Despite the length and depth of instructions, this is actually a very easy recipe to make, and far far cheaper than those tiny little loafs you buy in the store. If you’re feeling really brave and adventurous, you can even try flattening this out before searing and wrapping around some stuffing, but it won’t be an easy task. just serve your slices over some dressing and call it a day. I’ve included a recipe for gravy using the leftover basting liquid that is the perfect complement to the roast, but it’s also quite delicious with onion + sage brown gravy. Now, off with you! Go forth and cook!