I posted this in another thread, but wasn't getting any responses. I thought I would throw it out there again cause I am really wanting to make the pecan crusted seitan. The book calls for "8-10 pieces" of seitan. I have found seitan at whole foods by a brand named WestSoy. It comes in a box and is more or less a glob. For this recipe, do I take the boxed globby seitan and shape it into cutlets, or is there another brand of seitan that is already in cutlet shaped pieces that I missing at the store? Any help is greatly appreciated, as always! I just don't wanna open the seitan and get to shaping if in fact the latter is out there!

hmmm... i dont know anything about this, but i'll be intereste din hearing the reply!! and let me know how the seitan is, i've been debating trying some.
good luck!

I think most come in blocks and you just cut them up yourself. I make my own so I can't recommend any good brands. Sorry.

Jennifer - I promise you, seitan is the bomb.  you just need to know it is the bomb and move forward with that.  You got the right stuff....the little vacuumed packed seitan in the blue box (you can also get the chicken-style one, but those aren't as good for staying in pieces).  You should be able to pull it apart with your hands when you take it out of the package (to get it out, I like to just slice the whole bag in half) and then cut the bigger chunks into smaller pieces.  You should end up with 1 to 2 inches pieces and you are good to go.  I've made the pecan seitan and the seitan picatta from the book several times.  They are amazing.  Good luck! 

Thank you Megan! Just knowing this is really helpful and now I can finally make the pecan seitan! 

Hi Jennifer, I second what Megan says, you have to cut up the seitan that comes from WestSoy and it doesn't really make cutlets, more like chunks. I bought a bag of vital wheat gluten and I am planning on making my own seitan one of these days, I just have to get up my nerve. There is a recipe for it in Vegan with a Vengance. Cheers,

Yay! I did it. I made the pecan crusted seitan tonight, and Megan, you were right. Seitan is awesome. This recipe was very good. I was pleasantly surprised. I think I will entertain making my own seitan some time soon, perhaps for my next seitan dish. Thanks again you guys for your help! 

Thank you guys for asking this question and answering it! I plan on making a dish with Seitan tonight - after hearing how awesome it is I can't wait to try it!

anyone try making their own seitan yet?  I'm toying with the idea but don't want to go through the process and find that it's a flop. I have the recipe in vegan with a vengence.

I made my own seitan from whole wheat flour.  I took a lot of rinsing/kneading to get all the flour/bran off.  It took a while but was well worth it.  Just make enough to freeze so that you don't need to make everytime you want to eat. it.  I would recommend making it when you have a lot of time to spare. 

I just made it using vital gluten flour.  Easy and pretty fast, just had to stay around for the simmering part.  I'm going to make some recipes with it this week.  Does it freeze well?  Do you freeze it in broth?  If it tastes good I'll double the recipe next time and freeze some.

I love the basic seitan recipe in Veganomicon.  I really didn't care for storebought seitan until I tried Upland's Naturals, but that one is more like ground crumbles, not chunks.

My advice on making your own seitan is 2 part. 1) Start with vital wheat gluten flour! I have NO clue why anyone would do all that rinsing! (unless they don't have access to vital wheat gluten flour) The process is long enough without that part.
2) If at first you don't succeed, DON'T give up! I tried for the longest time before I found success. The regular seitan recipe in Veganomicon did NOT work for me...the cutlet recipe did. My new favs are the sausages in Vegan Brunch, and also a vegetarian ribs (that's the title) recipe on www.allrecipes.com. Its the easiest I've seen thus far and soooo easy!!

I just buy whatever seitan is available, there are not usually many choices, and I rinse it off if in something (mine usually is) and just bread the pieces that come apart.  it tastes the same, better maybe b/c you get more of the crust!

I think the brand is Upton's Naturals....very yummy and available at Whole Foods, don't know if it is at other stores, but I'm sure it is.

I've tried to make my own, but there is an undertaste with it that I can't seem to hide.

Fulenn