Pressure Cooked Seitan Lunchmeat

I have been on a pressure cooker kick this week. Today I decided to try seitan in the pressure cooker and see what that does to the texture of the roast.

The results …… the texture is softer than when you simmer the seitan. I think this would make a nice lunchmeat substitute. I tried a little piece after it cooled (as you see in the photo). This reminds me of turkey or chicken roll that you buy at the deli counter. Mine has a somewhat brown exterior from the reserved master sauce I made with my last batch of seitan in the slow cooker. You can find that recipe here.

Pressure Cooked Seitan Lunchmeat
Serves 12

Ingredients:

10 ounce box of vital wheat gluten
1 ¾ cups of water
Enough water or master sauce to come up the sides of the roast

Directions:

If using the master sauce from your prior seitan roast place that in the pressure cooker and bring to a simmer. If using water start with 5 cups of water and bring that to a simmer.

Combine the vital wheat gluten and 1 ¾ cups of water in a bowl. Using your hands combine the gluten and water thoroughly. Knead the resulting dough until it is stiff. This should take about 5 minutes.

Cut a piece of cheesecloth that is approximately 24 inches long. Wrap the seitan with the cheesecloth and tie the ends with kitchen twine. You want the cheesecloth to go around the seitan at least two full times. When I rolled my roast in the seitan I went around about 1 ½ times and the roast partially came out of the cheesecloth causing it to be somewhat misshaped. It still tastes good, but looks a little too organic for me.

Lower the wrapped seitan in the simmer broth or water. You want the liquid to almost completely cover the roast. Lock the lid on the pressure cooker and bring to temperature over high heat. When steam begins to escape set the timer for 30 minutes and reduce the heat to as low as possible while still having steam escape (this is medium low on my stove).

When 30 minutes have elapsed allow the pressure to come down naturally. When it is safe, remove the lid. You can serve the seitan now, refrigerate or freeze the seitan for later. I find it works best to slice the seitan when it is cold and use a serrated knife.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 87.41
Calories From Fat (4%) - 3.91

Total Fat - 0.44g
Saturated Fat - 0.06g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 7.89mg
Potassium - 23.97mg
Total Carbohydrates - 3.26g
Fiber - 0.14g
Sugar - 0g
Protein - 17.76g

Comments:

I really liked the texture of this seitan. It reminded me a lot of the Quorn roasts if you are familiar with those. It is also very similar to the turkey or chicken roll they sell in the deli, in terms of texture.

The flavor of the seitan is dependent on the sauce. I used my leftover master sauce from the last batch of seitan I made in the slow cooker. If you don’t want to use that I suggest at a minimum you add liquid aminos for color and a little garlic and onions.

I will be making seitan again soon in the pressure cooker. This kitchen experiment exceeded my expectations.