Editor's Note: We double checked, and the recipe is correct as published in the book. See the notes in the post above for why so much salt is used (a key reason is that a lot of the salt diffuses into the cooking water). Nevertheless, it might be too salty for some taste buds. You can reduce the salt, if desired. Keep in mind that the vegan
Better than Bouillon broth bases have roughly twice as much salt as
Orrington Farms brand. And note that the salt is not only used for flavor, it also helps to tenderize the "meat."
Chef's Note: When you first mix the ingredients together, do so with a spoon, but then feel free to dive in with your hands and get messy—it’s simply easier to incorporate all the ingredients this way. The first time you make the meat grind, you’ll likely feel like there’s way too much water in the bowl, but don’t worry:
the gluten will absorb the liquid as it sits and you’ll soon be left with a nice, uniform dough. If you do end up having excess moisture in the bowl, you’ll just lift out the dough and leave it behind—nothing to worry about.
No Meat Grinder? No Problem: I realize that a meat grinder isn’t exactly a mainstay in most home kitchens, so a good hack here is to use your food processor to grind the grain meat. To do so, slice up your meat into roughly 1-inch cubes and divide them into two groups. Because you want some differently sized bits in your grind for optimal texture, you’re going to process one group into more of a fine grind (resembling, say, orzo pasta) and the other into more of a coarse
grind (resembling a small bean). Once the meat is processed, you’ll go ahead
and mix both grinds together into a big bowl, and you’re ready to roll.
This recipe is reprinted with permissions from
Field Roast: 101 Artisan Vegan Meat Recipes to Cook, Share, and Savor by Tommy McDonald.