Let us know if you made the UnTurkey!

So we’re back and better than ever (well, okay, mostly the same as ever), with the original UnTurkey recipe and our garish yet comforting red and green holiday theme, as your sherpas through the wilderness of turkey-shaped vegan food pods.

Click here for the original UnTurkey recipe!

- We poured one full cup of yeast spice mix in with the gluten flour (NOT in with the liquid). We used the bulk gluten flour at Rainbow instead of the usual Bob’s Red Mill.
- We replaced two cups of water for the gluten with two cups of veggie broth. We also added two Tbsp of tamari.
- We used the cheese cloth (rather than the baking-only modification).
- We poured in 1 and 1/3 cup of yeast spice mix in with the gallon of water.
- We wrapped the UnTurkey with three sheets of yuba, by first laying the yuba on top of the margarine greased cookie sheet.
- After boiling, we basted the unflesh (under the yuba) with a paste of yeast mix and olive oil.
- After covering with yuba, we basted again with yeast mix, olive oil and white wine.

Okay I think that’s it. More updates as they happen. And yes, we’re still on cam.

We’ve set up a cam if you want to follow along at home. Can’t promise we’ll be interesting, but we’ll definitely be cooking! Music in the background is SomaFM’s Xmas in Frisko.

UPDATE: It’s going well. The rolled up UnTurkey is on the boil, about an hour in. The stuffing is done, and we’re moving on to our other dishes before we wrap up the UnTurkey with yuba.

So stay tuned! And if you end up making it for your Thanksgiving feast, let us know, and remember to come back and post your own pics.

Click here for the original UnTurkey recipe!

- Made a double batch of the Yeast Flavouring
- Used double the amount of spices in the actual UnTurkey and triple in the basting mix
- Substituted 1 cup of veggie broth for water in the UnTurkey, and added a fair amount of soy sauce
- Basted the inside of the UnTurkey before we wrapped it in yuba

Next time I make the UnTurkey I plan to:

- Use three times the amount of spices in the UnTurkey
- Not knead the gluten dough so much – I hear this can make the UnTurkey tougher

Here’s our pictures from this year!

Here are some pictures we took last year while making the UnBird. You can find the full set over at Flickr. Hopefully the photos can shed a little more light on the process, and address people’s questions about the Yuba skin (also known as “Bean Curd Sheet” – we get it at an Asian supermarket).

Happy Thanksgiving and remember, the UnTurkey will never die as long as it lives on in our hearts and on our holiday tables!

So anyway, faced with the prospect of never having another UnTurkey again, we here at UnTurkey.org decided to take matters into our hands. Information wants to be free and all that, so we tracked down a used (and grease splattered) original Now & Zen cookbook and did what comes naturally: we started a blog.

After all, why not? The cookbook is out of print, and the company is out of business. No one is going to be making money off of this, so why not open source the recipe? Don’t get me wrong, I’d LOVE to call Green Options and ask them permission to distribute UnTurkeys, but “this voice mailbox is full, goodbye!”

And besides, for some of us, the UnTurkey has become a holiday tradition, and you just don’t fuck with people’s holiday traditions.

That said, if you love this recipe, please buy Miyoko Nishimoto Schinner’s new cookbook, The New Now and Zen Epicure: Gourmet Vegan Recipes for the Enlightened Palate.

(Disclaimer: We’re not associated with her or her book publisher in any way. We just love her recipes, and we’re peeved that we can’t get them in frozen form anymore!)

Okay, so on to the recipe.

First thing you should know is that the UnTurkey is actually five (5!) recipes. And we’ve lovingly transcribed them for you. The recipes posted here all link to each other, so just start with the first one and click through. Or, they’re all linked here for your convenience.

The Great Gluten Turkey: The fake bird.
Great Gluten Dressing: The delicious stuffing.
Gravy for Mock Turkey: The creamy gravy.
Light Yeast Flavoring Powder: A base ingredient.
Homemade Gluten: The other base ingredient.

Oh yeah, and we haven’t had a chance to actually cook the UnTurkey, since we wanted to get the recipe out there before Christmas, and cooking this looks like it will take at least a day or two. When we do, we’ll post pics and any pointers we pick up along the way, and we hope you will too.

Happy cooking!

Amazing, fun, incredible, and tasty, this creation will delight and satisfy any vegetarian wondering what to make for the centerpiece of a Thanksgiving or Christmas table. Like any good turkey, this one looks quite imposing with its golden and juicy-looking “skin” which, when cut, reveals white “meat” enclosing whatever kind of dressing you like. Accompanied by a tasty gravy and homemade cranberry sauce, no vegetarian will ever feel left out when the holidays roll around.

The skin for the turkey is made from “yuba,” a product made from the skin that forms when soy milk is heated. It can be purchased as fragile, dry sheets at Japanese food stores, or at certain Chinese markets in the freezer section. “Yuba” is a Japanese term and will not be understood at a Chinese grocery. The Chinese form, often labelled “bean curd sheet” or “bean curd skin,” is usually less fragile than the Japanese variety, easier to use and less expensive. To be sure you purchase the right product, avoid flat square sheets which, when closely examined, look like thick canvas (you can actually see the “weave”). Instead buy sheets that look heavily wrinkled. Sometimes they are sold as large (over 20″) circles that are folded and sold in small packets. They will be yellow in color. Some tofu cookbooks contain a recipe for making homemade yuba. The process is not hard and can be adopted when commercial yuba is not available.

Ingredients

Using wheat flour:
10 lbs. high-protein whole wheat flour, preferable finely ground
Approximately 14 cups water
1/3 cup Light Nutritional Yeast Flavoring (or more)

Using vital wheat gluten flour:
8 cups vital wheat gluten flour
mixed with 6 cups water
and 1/3 cup Light Nutritional Yeast Flavoring

One yard of cheesecloth
2/3 cup Light Nutritional Yeast Flavoring (or more)

1 gallon of water
1/3 cup margarine [we recommend Earth Balance --s5]
1/3 cup white wine

2 round circles Chinese bean curd sheet (yuba), or enough smaller squares to cover “turkey” in two or three layers (3 or 4 packets)

6 – 8 cups Great Gluten Dressing or stuffing of choice (bread, wild rice, chestnut, etc.)

Method

The “yuba” must be soaked and reconstituted to a soft, pliable texture before using. It is best to put individual sheets between wet towels until they turn soft and white in color. They are then ready to use.

Using either wheat flour or vital wheat gluten flour, make gluten according to the Homemade Gluten recipe. Roll it out into a rectangle approximately 15 inches long and 8 to 10 inches wide. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup yeast flavoring (unless you’ve added it in with your vital wheat gluten). Roll it up lengthwise. Spread out the cheesecloth and place the gluten roll in the middle. Wrap the sides of the cloth around the gluten roll first, then tie the ends together. It should be wrapped fairly loosely so that the gluten can expand a little while cooking but not so loose that it expands too much and becomes too soft and spongy in texture.

Place the roll in a large pot. Pour over it the gallon of water and the remaining 2/3 cup yeast flavoring. Cover, bring to a boil, turn down the heat, and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. This process can be done up to two days before serving.

Prepare the Great Gluten Dressing or stuffing of your choice. Remove the gluten roll from the stock, saving the stock for gravy. Untie and remove the cheesecloth. Unroll the “turkey” and fill it with the stuffing, or mound the stuffing on a large, greased baking sheet and place the gluten around it. Place the stuffed gluten on a large, greased baking sheet.

Reconstitute the yuba by soaking for five minutes in water in a flat, shallow dish, or between layers of wet towels. It will turn white and be pliable but will still be fragile. Cover the “turkey” with two to three layers of yuba. Melt the margarine and brush the entire “turkey” with some of it. Pour the wine into the remaining margarine: this will be used to baste the “turkey” while baking. If desired, two tablespoons of the yeast flavoring can be added to the margarine-wine mixture to give it an even more authentic flavor.

Place the “turkey” in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, basting every 15 minutes with the wine-margarine mixture and the juices in the pan. If it browns too much, cover loosely with aluminum foil.

Carve as you would a regular roast and accompany with stuffing.

Per serving: Calories: 514, Protein: 46 gm., Fat: 8 gm., Carbohydrates: 58 gm.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. margarine
1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
6 oz. mushrooms, sliced [optional? not in Unturkey ingredients list. I used a carrot instead! --s5]

1 1/2 lbs. bread crumbs
1 1/2 tsp. sage
1 1/2 tsp. marjoram
1 1/2 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. salt
1 cup stock

Method

Melt the margarine. Saute the onions, celery, and mushrooms. Combine with the remaining ingredients, moistening with stock as necessary.

Per serving: Calories: 174, Protein: 7 gm., Fat: 2 gm., Carbohydrates: 30 gm.