Today I made my first seitan. I mixed gluten some spices and herbs with cold water and kneaded a bit, then boiled in broth for 40 minutes; I failed to leave it undisturbed. When done, the chunks were clearly a great part water, but I threw them on a hot pan indifferently and fried them with oil and some more spices.
When I ate them, I found them a bit spongier than I would like, but overall insipid. Would following this recipe improve my results? How should I go about replacing the pot with an electric pressure cooker?
Best Answer
In my experience a pressure cooker does not greatly influence the taste nor the texture of seitan.
The same recipes apply for cooking in a regular soup pot and in a pressure cooker, but here are some suggestions that might help:
Texture:
The sponginess can be reduced by making a bit dryer (less hydrated) seitan dough and kneading it a little more, which makes it more compact and chewier. Also I find that the next day (after the cooked seitan was sitting in broth) the texture tends to be a bit better.
Flavor:
If the broth is too weak (cause of diffusion) the flavor gets washed out of the seitan ... so I always make quite a strong broth (i.e. on the spacier/saltier side). Adding something like some shiitake can help add more richness and umami.
I had great success with variants on this Miyoko's recipe for "unturkey" ... at least the proportions/ratios of spices/salt/soysauce are quite good ... but then you can experiment with different spices (I like it with a bit of smokiness and heat, so I usually add some chipotle chiles).
What this recipe also suggests is:
both also contribute to a nicer texture and crust.