"Vegan "Ham"burger

Vegan burger with "mayo" 

So as I already stated calling it a "ham"burger is truly head scratchingly, numb minded, bendingly... strange. (and that actually makes more sense then calling a "ham"burger a "ham"burger (being that it's made from COW and not ham).... so I am not a person that NEEDS to create a "meat" kind of, replacement. But! I will tell you it sure is fun.... and this is what I think.... meat (as we know it nowadays) is not meat..... it's so full of STUFF and things that it actually and very rarely  honest to goodness meat.... now If I knew a farmer and a butcher that I could trust. Well frankly I would feel a lot better about eating meat... but in truth? I most likely would not, and this is why... When I stopped eating meat my body, and my health improved so much that I would hate to test the balance. So with all due respect to the animals- and everyone- that chooses their own path. Mine is what it is for my body. No judgement and I don't care to be judged back.  Food tho is common ground and frankly fun. So this is the closest thing I have had to "hamburger" made from Seitan and "No soy"(tofu)!  Soy sauce is its own thing and Not a bad word as far as I'm concerned...neither is Miso.

Dry Ingredients:

just mixed dough

• 2 cups Vital wheat Gluten
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast  
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/4 cup -or more Dried onions
• Seasonings ( Pepper, Garlic, Emerial's, salt)
• 1/4 cup tapioca pearls 

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 cup boiled lentils
•  2/3 cup Mushroom broth*
• 1/4 cup (at least) steak sauce*
• dash of "smoke sauce" .. I soak 3 chipotles in enough water to slightly cover them in a small bowl and drain them of the "smoke flavor" usually about 4 tablespoons
• *feel free to add additional liquid's till it comes together 
• 2 tablespoons Molasses 
• 4 tablespoons oil 

Add dry ingredients and mix, Mix and add wet ingredient's stir with fork till it comes together .... mix by hand the little bit of dry ingredient into the wet ingredient adding any additional wet into the mix to just pull it together, when it's mixed cut into 4 parts. press out into a 6" by 2 1/2 inch round log ...roll into cheese cloth and tie off each end. Add each one to the cooking liquid and turn on . Cover and set to boil. "Just as it boils!" turn down to simmer and let simmer for 1 hour. Turn off and let sit in pan until cool. When cool take out of cooking liquid and cut the cheese cloth off ... put into a pan and add 2 cups cooking liquid, cover with tin foil and let cook in a 350 degree oven turning every 30 mins until liquid has started to simmer off.... then remove the tin foil and cook for another 30 min's or so. Turning as you see fit. Whats left of the cooking liquid makes a great gravy. Wrap and keep it in the fridge or freeze it. I save and use the cooking liquid for braising and reheating when I want to reheat it ...Place the seitan in a deep dish and  add a little to the pan,  cover it with tin foil and let reheat in oven (350 degrees)....  any extra liquid ....just freeze it and reuse it the next time you want to make more.

Cooking liquid

just out of the oven

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup mushroom brooth
• 1/3 cup steak sauce
• seasonings (pepper, garlic, salt etc..)
• a little olive oil (3Tbs.
• 6 qt's water 
• (feel free to add more or less of the above to your own taste)  

sliced in half

*Mushroom broth

 1 pound  (approximately) of mushrooms chopped and placed in a 3 QT sauce pan. Any kind will do ( I use a mix of White, Shiitake, and Oyster, and or King Oyster
Place in pan, Fill with water

Cover and Boil, when it boils turn to simmer and cook till mushrooms are cooked through. Turn off and use either a hand held blender or let cool and add to a blender and mix. It freezes well for later uses.

*Steak sauce

"steak" sauce

• 4 cups tomato sauce 
• 1 cup raisins
•  1/4 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 red wine 
• 3  chipotle's  soaked till soft in water (just enough to hydrate, add  the soaking water also)
• seasoning's (sweet?, hot? ) you get to add what you want .... it's a taste test process (onion, garlic, fennel, pepper(s) of all kinds, seasoned salts(smoked?, lemon?, Emeril's? Lowery's?) a little cumin? Taste is what your looking for. If it doesn't "pop" quite as much as you want, try adding a little more vinegar or squeezing a lime into it .. Have fun!

Add all ingredients to saucepan and cover. Turn on high when starts to boil turn down and simmer. You need to watch it and stir it often or it will burn. When it's done, again either use a hand held blender or wait till it's cool and add to blender. Now this is the fun part...... you get to make it what YOU want... adjust any flavors you need to, (sweet barbecue sauce, hot sauce, steak sauce...don't forget molasses is a big flavor addition also, sweet, but strong and smoky)