Tournedos d'Seitan with Poached Figs

Last week, all of the brakes on my big-ass truck gave out all at once (there's going to be a point to this, I promise), and since I need the fucker to stop when I ask it to, and can't be without it for longer than a few hours because I depend on it for taking care of the rescued ponies (that's a whole 'nother blog right there, though), I took it in to my friendly neighborhood redneck mechanic. While I was sitting in the office there, staring at the Billy Bass on the wall and mentally calculating how broke I was going to be after Big Bessie got 4 new rotors, Bubba came breezing through with what was ostensibly going to be lunch--a big hunk of bloody pork tied up with butcher's twine, ready for the grill.

And while I revile all things that resemble Anthony Bourdain's lower intestinal tract, especially raw, almost-rotten pork, the whole butcher's-twine business has always kind of intrigued me. I mean, it's kind of adorable, if it's not wrapped around something dead. And it sets you up for one of those Billy Badass moments where you snip open perfectly-tied twine to reveal some sort of fancy culinary delight, thrilling your guests or your cats or whatever.

Which is why I made little sorority-girl squealy sounds when tofu666's recipe and beyootiful photos for Tournedos d'Seitan with Poached Figs showed up in my inbox. This is not only a gorgeous, impressive dish, but it also falls neatly into the "really not that complicated" category; if you have a pressure cooker and can manage a fairly simple reduction, then you can piss your mother-in-law off by outdoing her with this at your next family gathering. Although, I'd also be interested to develop ways to make this without a pressure cooker, since not everyone has one (note to self: update wedding registry).

Tournedos d'Seitan with Poached Figs

This is our contribution to the Hezbollah Tofu project: a vegan version of Tony Bourdain's "Tournedos d'Agneau with Fig Confit" p. 155 (picture on p. 157) from the "Les Halles" cookbook.

First, we made the seitan -- a combo of Ron Pickarski (pressure cooking method, ginger/kombu flavored broth), Isa (flavorings), and a couple of our ideas (ratio of gluten/water, jelly roll style). We rolled it into two 6" x 9" sheets, then rolled it up the long way (jelly-roll style), and pressure cooked it for 45 minutes. We also made "medallion" sized pieces as well.

We made veg stock earlier in the day and used some of it to make a little "semi" demi-glace -- brown roux + mirepoix + stock + reducing = sauce espagnole. Take that plus a little maderia (or red wine) and reduce it again.

The seitan after the pressure cooker was cut to size, wrapped with twine to keep the roll secure -- all though it really didn't need it, it was more for show...

The seitan was seared on all sides, then baked in the oven (375F for 15 minutes) finally rolled around in the sauce and plated with the poached figs (in the same banyuls that is also used for the sauce -- a sweet fortified red wine, or you could use port). Served along with braised carrots and tarragon as is the picture in the book.
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tofu666's blog has more photos of the process, including that cute little twined-up seitan.