Frozen Tofu, Seitan, and Zoos, oh my!

[megamuphen]

Hello, all! I've been saving up questions so I can do it all in one post

Comments

[vaalea]

Zoos are fake - you don't really learn a whole lot about the animal there and apparently people only spend a few seconds looking at each animal... see zoocheck, which also recommends "zoos" that are good, and doing real conservation and education. http://www.zoocheck.com/links.html

[megamuphen]

Thanks!

[meriel_leirem]

you don't really learn a whole lot about the animal there and apparently people only spend a few seconds looking at each animalnow that really depends on the visitor though. In all Zoo's I've been (not many, admittedly) you can read about every animal where it comes from, how it lives there etc etc. (it angers me if I hear children asking "what animal's that?" and parents answer with plainly wrong names or facts although it's written everything there, just one meter away from where they're standing :( if the children are interested let them learn something). And although people might be interested in different animals and thus not look closely at all of them, the majority definitely does not just stroll by without looking at the animals for more than a few seconds - that would be a waste of the entrance money too. many zoos also offer workshops, seminars and programs for children and adults alike to find out more about animals, wildlife and nature in general

[meriel_leirem]

btw, before you kill me for it... I'm not saying at all that there aren't zoos where animals are kept in way too small cages being bored out of their minds and slowly driving into madness or behavioural problems or that zoos are the place to be for animals, I'm just saying it's not all black and white and that things are changing towards better conditions

[xcalamity_janex]

I freeze my tofu in the container it comes in. I'm not sure if that's how its supposed to work, but its never failed me. I press it after I defrost it. And cook it at that point. To defrost it I'll usually let it sit out if i have the time or pop it in the microwave if not. Hope that helps.

I've made seitan via the rinse and wash wheat flour method. I wasn't terribly pleased with the flavour and it took forever. I've seen some recipes that use vital wheat gluten and such and I'd love to use one of those. Good luck!

[rebirthoxide]

I freeze the tofu in its package it came in, after defrosting I wring the sucker out like a sponge! Defrost = in a shallow pan in the oven on low heat for a while, or ill take it out of its package and put it in a bowl in the fridge for 24 hrs or so.

Seitan: experiment with wheat gluten! You can make it really basic or really complex. My base recipe = 2 cups wheat gluten, 1 3/4 cups water with a couple tablespoons soy sauce and a splash of liquid smoke. Add any other seasonings you like to the liquid mixture as well. You can boil or bake the stuff, whatever suits you. The last one I made I added sage/rosemary/garlic powder/onion powder, sauteed some portobello chunks and rolled them inside the dough, shoved it in a bread loaf pan and baked it. If you bake it add some broth to the baking container and make sure its greased up well. Cover with foil to keep the steam in.

[megamuphen]

My tofu turned yellow when I froze it. Creepy. Is that normal?

How long do you boil your seitan?

[megamuphen]

(My powers of google tell me that yellow is normal. But the seitan question still stands)

[rebirthoxide]

Yes, color change is normal.

As for the seitan, 1 to 1.5 hours is best. make sure to boil it in a flavored, salty broth. It also needs to be sored in this broth.

[buymysnakeoil]

http://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/383/thought_to_exist_in_the_wild
An excerpt from a whole book which I haven't gotten around to reading yet, but the article is very good!

[death_by_soy]

I just read Thought to Exist in the Wild, it's more personal/emotion based than anything else. It's a nice read (Jensen is a great writer), but won't give you much in the way of ammunition for a debate. I'd recommend reading A Different Nature: The Paradoxical World of Zoos and Their Uncertain Future, it covers a pretty in depth history of zoos, and their evolving design. I believe that the author is pro zoo ::sigh::, but his book certainly hurdles the reader to the opposite sentiment.

[megamuphen]

Thanks!

Re: Zoos

[megamuphen]

Wow, thanks for all of the info!