Seitan Asada
Also called washed-flour seitan tacos, seitan carne asada
Washed-flour seitan, knotted, seared, steamed and chilled overnight, then marinated in citrus and garlic, torn and crisped for tacos. Not vegetarian: it uses beef bouillon, fish sauce and tallow.
- Makes
- about 12 tacos (450 g seitan)
Based on the seitan asada at Mis Tacones, Portland. Seitan method adapted from Jen at Seitan Society
Ingredients
Amounts are for the recipe. Sizes, times and temperatures in the method are not scaled.
Seitan dough
Dough seasoning
For searing the seitan
Marinade
To cook and serve
Amounts worked out from the other system are rounded.
Method
Day 1: make the seitan
Make the dough. Mix the bread flour (1 kg8⅓ cups) with about two thirds of the water, adding more only if it won't come together. Rest 15 minutes, then cover with cool water and rest 1 hour.
Wash. Knead and squeeze the dough underwater. Pour off the milky water, refill and repeat, usually 5 to 8 rounds. Stop when the water is hazy but you can still see through it. Too much starch left in makes the seitan doughy; washing until the water runs clear makes it rubbery.
Drain 20 to 30 minutes. Expect about 430–450 g of gluten. It can be refrigerated at this point for a few days.
Season. Mix the tomato paste (16 g1 tbsp), and the liquid soy sauce if using, with the dry seasonings into a paste; a paste keeps the dough from getting soggy. Work it into the gluten in one of two ways. In a stand mixer with the paddle, not the dough hook: tear the drained gluten into thumb-sized pieces, because a single ball just rides the paddle. Add the paste and mix on low for 60 to 90 seconds; it will look shaggy and wrong. Rest 10 minutes, then mix on low another 60 seconds, stopping when the color is roughly even. Overmixing shreds it into strands that won't re-form into a rope. By hand, about 10 minutes: press the gluten into a rough rectangle on the counter. Spread a third of the paste over it, fold in thirds like a letter and press flat again. Stretch, fold and press a few times, then rest 5 minutes. Repeat twice more with the rest of the paste.
Taste. Microwave a pea-sized piece for about 20 seconds and taste it. Adjust with a pinch of salt or more bouillon. Don't taste the dough raw.
Rest. Leave it on a draining surface for 30 to 60 minutes or more, until it stretches without tearing.
Knot. Cut into 4 pieces. Stretch each into a rope, twisting as you go, then tie it in a knot and press it flat. If it tears, rest it longer.
Sear both sides in the beef tallow (2 tbsp) over medium heat until just browned.
Steam. Wrap each piece tightly in foil and steam 1 hour, turning halfway.
Chill. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate overnight. This rest is what turns the texture from spongy to meaty.
Day 2: marinate and cook
Make the marinade. Blend all the marinade ingredients. Set aside ¼ cup before any of it touches the seitan, for the tortillas or for drizzling at the table.
Slice and marinate. Slice the chilled seitan against the grain, about ½ inch thick. Marinate 4 hours to overnight.
Tear. Lift the pieces out and tear or chop them into roughly ½-inch bits. Keep the marinade left in the bowl. Tear rather than dice: frayed edges crisp better than clean knife cuts.
Pat dry. This decides whether the seitan crisps or steams.
Crisp. Heat a cast-iron pan or griddle until ripping hot, then add the beef tallow (1 tbsp). Add the seitan in a single layer, in two batches if needed; crowding steams it. Leave it alone 2 to 3 minutes. Toss once and give it another 2 minutes.
Glaze. Off the heat or at the very end, splash in a few tablespoons of the marinade from the bowl and toss 30 seconds to glaze. Any earlier and the seitan goes soft. Taste; for more depth, add a few drops of fish sauce.
Serve. Warm corn tortillas in the tallow left in the pan. Top with diced white onion, cilantro, lime and salsa.
Notes
- Timing. Day 1 takes about 3½ hours, mostly hands-off. The overnight chill is not optional: freshly cooked seitan is spongy.
- Salt. The dough has no added salt; the bouillon and soy cover it.
- Flour. All-purpose flour yields less gluten and takes longer to wash.
- Soy sauce. Liquid soy in place of the powder gives a softer result. Mix it into the paste and let the gluten drain longer. Keep citrus out of the dough, since acid weakens the gluten.
- Mixing. A dough hook winds the gluten into a tight ball and smears the paste around the outside. Whichever way you mix, the rest afterward matters more: give it the full 30 to 60 minutes before knotting.
- Knotting and wrapping. Twisting as you knot develops more grain, which pays off when you tear the seitan. Wrap tightly for steaming; that limits puffing and keeps the seitan firm.
- Tear after marinating, not before. Small pieces sitting in marinade get waterlogged and steam instead of browning.
- Pan. A flat cast-iron griddle over two burners gives more room, which helps, because crowding is what ruins the crust.
- Serving. Mis Tacones adds cashew crema and pico de gallo.
- If it goes wrong. Spongy: under-washed, or the overnight chill was skipped. Rubbery: washed until the water ran clear. Bland in the center: more bouillon in the dough next time.
- Freezing. Best is the washed gluten before seasoning, wrapped tightly and bagged; thaw overnight in the fridge and carry on from the seasoning. Most convenient is the steamed seitan after its chill, each knot wrapped whole and bagged, since thin slices dry out; it can also be frozen in the marinade. Don't freeze seasoned gluten that hasn't been steamed, or the finished crisped seitan, which reheats soft. Thaw in the fridge, squeeze out any liquid and pat dry before cooking. Use within 3 months.