Jack Daniels Glazed Stuffed Thanksgiving Roast

As the note suggests: Crazy Jack D's Seitan Stuffed with...Stuffing

This year's Thanksgiving roast was a product of two recipes coming together like Syba to treat, like Syba to dumpster, like soul mates. I took the roast I made last year from here and combined it with this stuffing concept created by Vegan Chick. Next year I might try VC's stand-alone, but this year it was about the Jack D.

I made the stand-alone roast last year. Looks delicious. And it was good....but needed a friend.

If you're looking for something quick, this ain't it. But if you embrace that Thanksgiving is all about waiting, then feasting, you have found your Roast. It's about a 5 hour process total (over half of a work day!)

Let's start with our stuffing -- use your favorite recipe. I adapted this one because I had a bag of cranberries on hand and like the idea of bright red specks throughout (I chopped the cranberries in my Ninja food processor).


A. Stuffing: Make and set aside.

B. Roast

1) Mix these dry ingredients in a medium bowl:

• 5 cups vital wheat gluten
• 1 cup chickpea (garbanzo) flour
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons garlic
  

2) Mix these wet ingredients in a blender until smooth:

• 2 tubs o' tofu (2 lbs)
• 3 cups cold water
• 2 Tablespoons 'chicken' flavor broth powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/8 cup olive oil
  

3) Once blended, mix the dry and wet ingredients together in a large bowl. [Start step 4) before kneading.]

• Knead for about 5 minutes, flipping around, punching it, etc. Or put in your bread machine for 10 minutes.
• Roll out and stretch out on a flat surface. I found it difficult to roll out, so I also used my pizza "know-how" as Dad would say, and stretched it like pizza dough then rolled. Like so:

• Place the stuffing (about 3 cups) in the middle:

• Roll up, and pinch the ends together. They will not stay together well - but the cheese cloth will solve that issue.
• Wrap with cheese cloth, and tie the end if need be.

Seitan mummy! (Pictured after step 4)

4) Boil the simmering broth. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Boil together:

• 5 cups water
• 4 'beef' flavored boullion cubes
• 2 Tablespoons Ketchup
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 5 garlic cloves, minced or grated
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 Tablespoon poultry seasoning
• 2 teaspoons salt

Once boiling, remove from heat.

5) Bake it! 300 degrees.

• Get a casserole large enough for your huge creature-sized hunk of seitan. Preferably with a lid. Something at least a foot long is a good size.
  
• Place a ladle-full or two of the broth into the baking casserole dish.
• Place the seitan hunk on top of the broth, and cover with the remaining broth.

• Put the lid on or wrap aluminum foil on the pot, sealing it well.
• Cook for 1 hour. (Start making the glaze).
  
• Flip -- no easy task; I used two forks, one for each end -- then cook one more hour.
  
• Flip again, then cook for another hour.
  
• Turn the over off and allow the seitan to sit for another hour.
• Let cool before using. Remove twine/ties and cheesecloth.
  

6) Glaze it! See C. below for the recipe. Then bake at 350 degrees F until the roast is heated through and the glaze looks nice -- usually about one hour.

C. JACK DANIELS GLAZE

I modified this recipe slightly (more JD!)

1) Combine the following into a small sauce pan:

• 5 cloves of garlic, roasted or fresh, grated
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 Tablespoon tamari
  
• 1 cup pineapple juice
• 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
• 1 Tablespoon crushed pineapple
• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 Tablespoons minced onion
• 2 Tablespoon Jack Daniels
• 1/4 teaspoon yippie cayenne - a
  

2) Cook

• Bring ingredients to a boil
• Reduce to a simmer, then cook for 30-40 minutes or until the sauce reduces by half.
  
• Do not let it burn or boil over.
  

D. RESULT

Damned fine centerpiece, delivers on taste and texture. Someone said it was so much better than Tofurky, but through the phone chain this somehow got translated into Tofurky starting a class action lawsuit against me for making the roast. Nevertheless, by the end of the night, only a few drops of glaze remained.

Next year I'd like to try stuffing it with something else, perhaps shiitakes and leeks as created here.



More pictures from the 4th Annual Thanksgiving Record Party

Peanut Butter Balls

PBBs using new rolling technique. Smooth operators.

Intros and Inspirations

Mom used to make this and bring it to family gatherings where she was showered with compliments. A close cousin reminded Mom that she in fact had given her the recipe and made them first (near the time when she invented the peanut butter chocolate combo) but this remains a family favorite, origin feud or no.

History of Dish

They are two great tastes that taste great together. This vegan version has tasters exclaiming, “These are vegan?!” with even more italics than I could muster with this font. These are also similar (or identical) to buckeyes.

Yield

Enough to cost you the equivalent of a month long gym membership, biking to work every day until Easter, or More to Love status forever.

Ingredients

• 1 cup peanut butter
• ½ cup non-hydro soy butter (Earth Balance=the best)*
• 1 t vanilla (optional)
• 1 – 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
• 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips**
• 2 T coconut oil or soy butter

Whip together:

Peanut butter, soy butter, & vanilla

Add & whip:

Powdered sugar

*Note: for an even more decadent (but harder to roll into balls) treat, use equal parts peanut butter and soy butter

** Whole Foods semi-sweet and Ghiradelli semi-sweet are vegan last I checked.

Steps

• Refrigerate the mixture for about an hour.
• Roll into balls.
• For best/easiest rolling results, freeze these for another hour.
• Once ready to roll, melt the chips & oil/soy butter using the double boiler method.
• Your PBB’s will be dipped then placed onto a tray/plate. It’s easiest if you place them onto a plate with waxed or parchment paper.
• To dip, use a fork and a slotted wooden spoon (thanks Amanda) and lower each ball into the melted chocolate. Let drip off into pan, then place onto wax paper.

Place into fridge to harden – it should only take 30 minutes or less. Or leave them out if you’re without heat and it’s winter time.

Conclusion

Perfect with a little soy milky, or soy nog.

These are from an experiment I did pouring the chocolate into cupcake cup minies. Makes you feel like Mrs. Reeses!