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So happy with this Italian Prosciutto Crudo!
It’s perfectly chewy, salty, with just a hint of sweetness, savory, very meaty... and perfectly captures that unsmoked, uncooked, dry-cured prosciutto taste we all know and love.
The two different reds up it visually, and the washed flour “fatty” parts perfectly capture the chewier texture and elasticity of fat, giving it a different feel when eaten. It’s freakishly realistic and it may freak/gross out some people (It completely did me! 🙈).
This recipe incorporates VWG and a little WTF.
Both are very novice-friendly, and good ways to get into these two ways of seitan making, while also creating something amazing along the way. I highly recommend it!
Ingredients
Directions
First, make the "fatty parts", by making a firm dough that bounces back once poked.
Let it rest submerged in cold water for 1 hour.
Wash until very little starch is still left.
Once done washing, squeeze out as much water as possible, and then let it rest in the colander for 30 mins, occasionally flipping, so it doesn’t stick, and to squeeze out even more water.
Massage in the seasoning by hand. You can leave out the vegan butter, and add it as you are combining the white and red seitans later... or mix it in now.
Let the seasoned dough rest for another 30 mins, and while it rests, start making the red parts.
Red parts:
In a food processor, blend jackfruit and tofu, until they are fully puréed, then add the rest of the red meaty parts. Process until the gluten develops.
Depending on the strength of your food processor, this might take 10-20 minutes. Work in two batches, and alternate after a minute-two, giving each dough ball some time to rest, before being processed again. Dough attachment really works best here, so use it if you have it! The dough should come together after a while and stick, but break it up again, and process it some more, while still working in two batches. You need to see long, smooth and twisted gluten strands clearly. Do not stop before this!
Once they are uniform and stretchy, shape two logs, flatten them and then cut them into 4 long strips each. Take one red strip out of each log, place it back into the food processor, and add 10 drops of red food dye (Or more! Eye it, until you get a visibly more saturated red than the one you already have) and a few drops of dark soy sauce, if available.
This redder, more saturated strip, is amazing as a finishing wrap on your prosciutto seitan (see pic!).
Let the strips rest a few minutes, flatten them out, then mix in the “fat” WTF dough, by tearing it apart, stretching, half-ing/knotting, twisting the red and white seitans, imitating fat lines in a prosciutto, and re-forming two logs again.
This should make two prosciutto logs, 7 inches long (18 cm), and 3 inches (8 cm) in diameter.
Let your two finished prosciutto logs rest a few minutes, while you prepare their dry rub.
Roll the logs in the dry rub (I like doing this part on parchment paper), then transfer them to oiled aluminum foil, and seal each log tightly. Do not leave any bits open!
Bake sealed at 350*F for 30 mins.
Bake unsealed (just open up the foil, no need to discard it) for another 40 mins.
Refrigerate overnight. The texture will not be right if you try to eat it on the same day. It really needs to be refrigerated for at least 12 hours.
Cut thinly along the long side to get those perfect fatty lines.
* Press out as much brine from your green jackfruit as possible. I like to flatten them with my knife, on some Bounty paper towels, pressing out the liquid, but also popping out the larger seeds, to discard.
** If you have a tofu press, use it, and get as much water out from your tofu. If not, just do your best with what you got, but try to get that water out. The more you take out, the more flavor it will be able to absorb.
*** If baking on a pizza, make sure to brush the seitan prosciutto slices with olive oil, otherwise they will dry out.
**** If you end up with little air holes in the corners of your prosciutto seitans, it’s because they got too hot, too fast. This most likely means that your oven runs hot, or has certain corners that do, so next time you make it, go for 325-335*F instead. This will not affect the taste however, just the visual.
Ingredients
Directions
First, make the "fatty parts", by making a firm dough that bounces back once poked.
Let it rest submerged in cold water for 1 hour.
Wash until very little starch is still left.
Once done washing, squeeze out as much water as possible, and then let it rest in the colander for 30 mins, occasionally flipping, so it doesn’t stick, and to squeeze out even more water.
Massage in the seasoning by hand. You can leave out the vegan butter, and add it as you are combining the white and red seitans later... or mix it in now.
Let the seasoned dough rest for another 30 mins, and while it rests, start making the red parts.
Red parts:
In a food processor, blend jackfruit and tofu, until they are fully puréed, then add the rest of the red meaty parts. Process until the gluten develops.
Depending on the strength of your food processor, this might take 10-20 minutes. Work in two batches, and alternate after a minute-two, giving each dough ball some time to rest, before being processed again. Dough attachment really works best here, so use it if you have it! The dough should come together after a while and stick, but break it up again, and process it some more, while still working in two batches. You need to see long, smooth and twisted gluten strands clearly. Do not stop before this!
Once they are uniform and stretchy, shape two logs, flatten them and then cut them into 4 long strips each. Take one red strip out of each log, place it back into the food processor, and add 10 drops of red food dye (Or more! Eye it, until you get a visibly more saturated red than the one you already have) and a few drops of dark soy sauce, if available.
This redder, more saturated strip, is amazing as a finishing wrap on your prosciutto seitan (see pic!).
Let the strips rest a few minutes, flatten them out, then mix in the “fat” WTF dough, by tearing it apart, stretching, half-ing/knotting, twisting the red and white seitans, imitating fat lines in a prosciutto, and re-forming two logs again.
This should make two prosciutto logs, 7 inches long (18 cm), and 3 inches (8 cm) in diameter.
Let your two finished prosciutto logs rest a few minutes, while you prepare their dry rub.
Roll the logs in the dry rub (I like doing this part on parchment paper), then transfer them to oiled aluminum foil, and seal each log tightly. Do not leave any bits open!
Bake sealed at 350*F for 30 mins.
Bake unsealed (just open up the foil, no need to discard it) for another 40 mins.
Refrigerate overnight. The texture will not be right if you try to eat it on the same day. It really needs to be refrigerated for at least 12 hours.
Cut thinly along the long side to get those perfect fatty lines.
* Press out as much brine from your green jackfruit as possible. I like to flatten them with my knife, on some Bounty paper towels, pressing out the liquid, but also popping out the larger seeds, to discard.
** If you have a tofu press, use it, and get as much water out from your tofu. If not, just do your best with what you got, but try to get that water out. The more you take out, the more flavor it will be able to absorb.
*** If baking on a pizza, make sure to brush the seitan prosciutto slices with olive oil, otherwise they will dry out.
**** If you end up with little air holes in the corners of your prosciutto seitans, it’s because they got too hot, too fast. This most likely means that your oven runs hot, or has certain corners that do, so next time you make it, go for 325-335*F instead. This will not affect the taste however, just the visual.
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