Barbecued Seitan Brisket Ala Chef Chad Sarno

There are directions in here to make a reuben sandwich with this brisket. So yummy! 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. This was copied directly from happyhealthlonglife.

• Ready In: 2 hrs 9 mins
• Yields: 4 lbs.

Ingredients

• Wet batch

• 1⁄4 cup soy sauce (or low sodium tamari)
• 2 1⁄2 cups  low sodium vegetable broth
• 3  tablespoons dates, paste I had date paste already made (or maple syrup, you can make your own by covering pitted madjool dates in soy or almond milk overnig)
• 1  cup marsala wine
• 1⁄2 cup tomato paste
• 4  garlic cloves, fine minced

• Dry batch

• 1⁄2 tablespoon  dried chipotle powder
• 2  tablespoons onion powder
• 1  tablespoon garlic powder
• 3 1⁄2-4  cups 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)
• 1⁄4 cup nutritional yeast

• My new version of No-Fat Crazy Creamy Chia Russian Dressing

• 1  cup  of regular plain soymilk
• 2  tablespoons ReaLemon juice
• 1⁄2 teaspoon dry mustard or 1⁄2 teaspoon mustard
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1  pinch sugar
• 1 1⁄2 tablespoons  , chia seed (or use ground chia is you don't have a VitaMix)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. For the wet batch(make twice- you'll need to mix this up twice, I know, it's a big pain:
3. Whisk all above ingredients well, then in a separate bowl mix the dry batch. You will be making 2 separate wet batches.
4. Then mix dry batch separately.
5. Once you have the wet and dry batches mixed separately and thoroughly, then mix both batches together(one wet and one dry).
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. Let me know how it turns out. Can use it for fajitas, stir-fries--etc.
13. Healthy Librarian's Notes.
14. The Reuben is best with real caraway-seeded deli rye, or TJ's or Alvarado Street Bakery's Caraway Sprouted Rye Bread.
15. 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.
16. Each sandwich has sauerkraut & is spread with with either brown deli mustard, or homemade no-oil Russian Dressing.
17. We grilled them without oil on a non-stick grill pan (any pan will do), & used a heavy panini weight to press them down.
18. My new version of No-Fat Crazy Creamy Chia Russian Dressing:
19. Mix all the ingredients in a high-speed blender until well-blended, about 1 1/2 minutes.
20. 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.
21. Make ahead & let this gel about 15 minutes.
22. Refrigerate leftovers.