Barbecued Brisket Seitan Reuben Sandwich
"The only food that I can honestly say I miss the taste of--and I won't rule out eating in the future--is a hot corned beef sandwich. There's no substitute for that one," my husband likes to say.
That is: until November 16, 2011, when he came up with a Reuben Sandwich that's "even better than the real thing!" No exaggeration!
-My Husband, the Lab Rat-
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This recipe has taken me way too long to post. Sorry!! Really.
HHLL readers keep asking for this recipe ever since last November--when I wrote about The Thanksgiving Corned Beef Sandwich - Family's Coming to Town - Stocking the House for Five Days of Thanksgiving Meals.
And what better time than St. Patrick's Day to try your hand at making no-oil plant-based Reubens? Honestly, I don't think you can mess this one up--as long as you follow the directions carefully! It just takes some time to make the seitan brisket--but it will give you four pounds--enough for plenty of sandwiches--Reubens, Philadephians & BBQ Brisket!
Back in November tried my hand at making a barbecued brisket seitan based on a recipe that vegan Chef Chad Sarno's demoed in the film, PlanEat.
Chef Sarno's "brisket" looked delectable, but when I made it, it was clear to me that his measurements & baking times were way off.
I increased the amount of wheat gluten, modified the instructions, & increased the baking time. The results were delicious--and I was rewarded with 4 pounds of barbecued brisket seitan, that I divided into 4 pieces, & then froze three of them.
But, you can thank the Lab Rat for coming up with the Reubens. He's a corned beef sandwich guy from way back--and one day when I came home from work, he surprised me with Reubens for dinner. We relished every bite.
When our kids came home for Thanksgiving they made their own Reubens & Philadephians at least two or three times. They're corned beef sandwich fans, too!
I've made this brisket recipe twice--and I'll definitely make it again. It's easy to do--but, definitely a "pitchkey patchkey" that you want to do when you have a free morning or afternoon.
My friend Fran made a batch & served it a Ladies' Luncheon, along with some real brisket. One of her guests kept going back for more--but, I prefer it sliced & served on a bun, or in a sandwich--topped with barbecue sauce, or grilled in a Reuben.
Let the Brisket-Making Begin
The Ingredients You'll Need on Hand
Barbecued Brisket Right Out of the Oven
Slicing the Brisket after It's Chilled in the Fridge Overnight
Sliced Brisket--Ready to Make Into Sandwiches
BBQ Seitan & Mashers
Trader Joe's or Alvarado Street Bakery's Sprouted Rye Bread
Prepping the Sandwiches with Sauerkraut & No-Oil Thousand Island Dressing
Tada! The Plant-Based No-Oil Reuben Sandwich
The Healthy Librarian's Riff on Chef Chad Sarno's Seitan Brisket Recipe
Barbecued Seitan Brisket ala Chef Chad Sarno
Click here for the recipe on one page.
Makes 4 pounds of brisket--can be sliced & frozen.
Ingredients
NOTE: This is important! You make 2 batches of the WET INGREDIENTS---one batch gets mixed with the dry ingredients--the 2nd batch is used as the braising liquid.
Ingredients--this is for just one batch of the wet ingredients--you'll need to mix this up twice (I know, it's a big pain):
- ¼ cups shoyu (low sodium tamari or soy sauce)
- 2 ½ cups low sodium vegetable stock
- 3 tablespoons date paste (or maple syrup) I had date paste already made--you can make your own by covering pitted madjool dates in soy or almond milk overnight--pour off liquid the next day & process--add a little of liquid if it's too dry.
- 1 cups marsala wine
- ½ cups tomato paste
- 4 cloves garlic fine minced
Whisk all above ingredients well. Then, in a separate bowl mix the dry batch:
- ½ tablespoon chipotle powder
- 2 tablespoons onion powder
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 3 1/2 to 4 cups of vital wheat gluten flour (start with 3 1/2 cups--and add the last 1/2 cup if the mixture is still too wet to knead. You want it to be a kneadable texture. Not wet. I used all 4 cups of wheat gluten)
- ¼ cups nutritional yeast
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
1. Once you have the wet and dry batches mixed separately and thoroughly, then and mix both batches together.
2. 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.
3. 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 pant). There's a lot of braising liquid, so you need a pan that's deep enough so it doesn't spill into the oven.
4. 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 & then 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.
5. 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.
7. 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.
Healthy Librarian's Notes
Have on hand: sauerkraut, hearty rye bread with caraway seeds, homemade Russian Dressing or deli brown mustard, & Daiya mozzarella cheese.
1. The Reuben is best with real caraway-seeded deli rye, or TJ's or Alvarado Street Bakery's Caraway Sprouted Rye Bread.
2. 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.
3. Each sandwich has sauerkraut & is spread with with either brown deli mustard, or homemade no-oil Russian/Thousand Island Dressing.
4. 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
1 cup of regular plain soy milk
2 tablespoons of real lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard or regular mustard (option: add a little horseradish for extra kick)
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch of sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons of chia seed (or use ground chia is you don't have a VitaMix)
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 2 tablespoons of ketchup & 1-2 tablespoons of pickle relish to the mayo.
Make ahead & let this gel about 15 minutes.
Refrigerate leftovers.
Thank you SO MUCH Debby! We love both the HL and the LR for this one!!!!
Posted by: Carole Hwang | March 12, 2012 at 02:22 AM
Thanks so much for posting this! You read my mind. This is just what I was thinking of for St. Patrick's Day--your sandwich.
Posted by: Lynn Long | March 12, 2012 at 04:20 AM
I've never heard the expression "pitchkey patchkey" - apparently it means time consuming or requiring a lot of attention. Googling it just brought up mostly your post. Just curious as to the derivation.
Posted by: Pat DeFrain | March 12, 2012 at 05:16 AM
@Pat, that's so funny that googling "Pitchkey Patchkey" brought up my posts. My mom always used this expression--which I assumed was a Yiddish expression--and it does mean, a lot of fuss & attention needed to do something. I just love the sound of it-and it reminds me of my mom--who wasn't much of a pitchkey patchkier!
Posted by: The Healthy Librarian | March 12, 2012 at 05:37 AM
I'm a little confused by the recipe. The recipe says to pour the second batch of liquid into a deep roasting pan. Does this mean that we pour the liquid over the seitan loaf or do we pour the liquid into a separate pan? Please clarify. It looks delicious and I can't wait to try it.
Posted by: Jen Wit | March 12, 2012 at 07:23 AM
@Jen: The second batch of liquid is the braising liquid that gets poured over the seitan--and what you use to periodically baste the loaf. As you can see from the finished "brisket"--it seeps in & it forms a nice coating, as the liquid thickens & evaporates. Hope that helps. Good luck!
Posted by: Healthy Librarian | March 12, 2012 at 07:52 AM
You posted the recipe, thanks!
Posted by: Eselpee | March 12, 2012 at 08:16 AM
Yay! Thank you!
Posted by: Sue in Denver | March 12, 2012 at 11:26 AM
Thank you SO much! I have been waiting for this one!
Posted by: Pam | March 12, 2012 at 01:04 PM
Yay, I made it! We just finished lunch with our reuben sandwiches, baked chips and dill pickles. Yay, they were very good! The only trouble I had was turning the seitan. I just couldn't do it using 2 large spatulas so I left it on one side. I cut it into 4 peices and flipped them the very last 20 minutes . The sauce is yummy! I will dream about them tonight at a restaurant while I am eating a side salad and baked potato:(
Posted by: Penny | March 14, 2012 at 11:25 AM
Thanks for setting up your site. I just found your site and it is helpful. I started the Esselstyn dietary program January 2012 and I am still learning the fine points (like getting away from dried fruit due to their effect on triglycerides and blood flow as mentioned in one of your posts). I am looking forward to reading more. Motivation - You asked about peoples motivation? My duty in the past few years was to help with my Mom. During the 5+ years of infusion room drugs and 6 months of hospice there was quite a bit of exposure to how people physically decline. One of the big take aways is that the choices we make do matter in terms of the quality of our existing moment and our decline. With the possibility of several decades ahead of me, my motivation is to be one of those people who are still active and enjoying life when their life ends
Posted by: Clem | March 16, 2012 at 06:17 AM
Okay Deb! I just wanted to report back that I made the brisket last night. Tonight I will construct the Reubens, but I wanted to tell you about my experiences.
I can't cook with any alcohol, so I substituted 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp white grape juice plus 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar for every cup of marsala wine. It probably won't be as good, but I don't have a choice. Hopefully, it will do.
I could not, for the life of me, flip the "brisket" during baking. It was so spongy! So I just kept it in the oven at 375 for the full hour, then lowered the oven to 325 for an additional 20 minutes. I let it cool for a while and then refrigerated it overnight. In the morning I sliced off a big hunk so that I could freeze it for use tonight (you said slicing it frozen is the best) and I could tell that it was a really great consistency already (even without the flipping). It looks exactly like a real brisket. What a RIOT!!!!!!!!!!! I will cut the remaining huge piece into 3 and freeze them all seperately for use in the future. All in all, this was super easy to make (except for the stress of not being able to flip it) and it yields a TON of wheat meat. Can't wait for dinner tonight! thanks Deb for being a pioneer.
Posted by: wendy (healthy girl's kitchen) | March 20, 2012 at 11:12 AM
@Wendy: So glad it worked out for you--and hope you like the taste. It's not exactly the "corned beef taste", more like barbecue brisket, but it works well as a Reuben or a Philadelphian, or on a bun, shredded with extra barbecue sauce & maybe some cole slaw on top, too.
My friend Mary also made it without marsala wine, mixing part balsamic vinegar, part water, & some no-sugar blackberry jam to cut the acidity of the vinegar. It tasted just great. Your combo sounds even better. About the freezing to make it more easy to slice--it works when it's not too solidly frozen--if it's been in the freezer for more than a day, I found out, you can't even get a knife into it. So either partially freeze it, or if it's solidly frozen, just let it thaw until you can slice it. IMPORTANT: warm the "meat", topped with the Daiya either in the oven, toaster oven, or microwave before "grilling" the sandwich. Otherwise, the bread will be done long before the cheese is melted & the "meat" is hot. Just saying...
Posted by: The Healthy Librarian | March 20, 2012 at 12:36 PM
Okay, more notes on my experiences . . . the sandwich was . . . amazing. A totally winner. Not difficult at all to make and everyone who had a sandwich (me, Randy, Quinn, Scott and Sophia) was going wild for it!
I did mess up on the seitan though. I did not use enough vital wheat gluten to achieve a firm dough. I used all 4 cups and then I stopped, even though my dough was still really spongy. When I make it again, I will not make that mistake. The spongy dough resulted in seitan with the wrong consistency, but the flavor of the other ingredients more than compensated for the texture. It was simply outstanding!
With the Russian Dressing, I did need a full 1/4 cup of ketchup (I used one that I got at Whole Foods that is sugar and corn syrup free) and 1/4 cup of relish (also a healthier version I got at Trader Joe's) to get it where I liked it. I also substituted 10 drops of NuStevia Liquid Stevia for the sugar and the dressing was AMAZING.
Thank you again Debby!!!!!!!!!!! I will be making this again and again.
Posted by: wendy (healthy girls kitchen) | March 21, 2012 at 07:24 AM
I just made this, let the sauce sit for an hour, and it is still very runny. Any suggestions?
Posted by: wreana | July 08, 2012 at 03:35 PM
I haven't thought about brisket in years, wow. Recently made Corned "beef" though, just flavored the seitan and cooked it like you would to make corned beef, with the pickling spices and all. Definitely gave it a good flavor. It was even better the next day when we sliced it super thin with a mandolin and made Reubens. They were amazing.
I knew I was with my peeps when I saw the word "potchke." When we were little we thought it was potchker, because my mother's Brooklyn accent always added an R at the end of words that ended in vowels. LOL.
Posted by: Andrea | March 25, 2013 at 11:32 AM