Barbecued Seitan Brisket Ala Chef Chad Sarno Recipes

BARBECUED SEITAN BRISKET ALA CHEF CHAD SARNO

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• For the wet batch(make twice- you'll need to mix this up twice, I know, it's a big pain:.
• Whisk all above ingredients well, then in a separate bowl mix the dry batch. You will be making 2 separate wet batches.
• Then mix dry batch separately.
• Once you have the wet and dry batches mixed separately and thoroughly, then mix both batches together(one wet and one dry).
• Knead for 3-5 minutes until it is all is mixed and elastic in texture, like a very firm dough. Add the reserved 1/2 cup of gluten if the mixture is too wet.
• With your hands, shape it into a loaf pressing to be no thicker than 1 to 1 1/2 inch thick.Now you¹re ready to bake it. I used a deep 9 X 13 inch pan (like a lasagna pan). There's a lot of braising liquid, so you need a pan that's deep enough so it doesn't spill into the oven.
• For the braising liquid, make another bowl of the wet batch liquid as listed above, and pour into a very large & deep baking/roasting pan--a 9 X 13 inch with deep sides. Place the seitan loaf in the center and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, flip it--very carefully, baste with liquid and continue to bake for 20 more minutes. I then needed to cook for an additional 20 minutes at 375 degrees--total 60 minutes. Then I lowered the oven to 325 degrees & finished baking for about 20 more minutes, until the braising liquid had thickened into a nice glaze.
• Here's what the Chef advised: Continue this process until most of the liquid has thickened up as a glaze and the seitan is firm to the touch. Allow it to sit and firm up before use.
• When it had cooled, I covered it in foil--and refrigerated it overnight to firm up. Then I cut it into 4 large pieces--to freeze what I wasn't going to use right away. It slices beautifully when it's frozen--and is just slightly defrosted.
• Makes delicious "bbq brisket" sandwiches--maybe add extra bbq sauce or some of the glaze & serve on a delicious bun. My family LOVED it as a Reuben, grilled with a panini press, with no-fat Russian dressing, sauerkraut, & a little Daiya mozzarella cheese---or with cole slaw, Daiya, & Russian dressing.
• Let me know how it turns out. Can use it for fajitas, stir-fries--etc.
• Healthy Librarian's Notes.
• The Reuben is best with real caraway-seeded deli rye, or TJ's or Alvarado Street Bakery's Caraway Sprouted Rye Bread.
• Assemble the sandwiches for grilling. We used a little Daiya Mozzarella--and it works best to first warm up the sliced brisket for one sandwich, topped with about 2-4 tablespoons of Daiya, in the microwave before grilling the sandwich. This way the cheese easily melts, & the brisket warms up before you grill the sandwich. Otherwise it takes too long to get the brisket warm & the cheese melted while grilling the sandwich.
• Each sandwich has sauerkraut & is spread with with either brown deli mustard, or homemade no-oil Russian Dressing.
• We grilled them without oil on a non-stick grill pan (any pan will do), & used a heavy panini weight to press them down.
• My new version of No-Fat Crazy Creamy Chia Russian Dressing:.
• Mix all the ingredients in a high-speed blender until well-blended, about 1 1/2 minutes.
• When it's done, remove from the blender & add about 2 tablespoons of ketchup (enough to give it that salmon Thousand Island Dressing color) & 1 to 2 tablespoons of pickle relish to the mayo.
• Make ahead & let this gel about 15 minutes.
• Refrigerate leftovers.