Ground Hamburger - Wheat Meat

Ingredients
2 1/2 c moderately packed ground gluten (see Basic Wheat Meat recipe)
2 Tbls Beef Soup Base
2 Tbls Vegetable Oil
2 Tbls white flour
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 Large eggs
1/4 c Finely minced onion (or 2 1/2 Tbls dried onion)

Grinding Raw Gluten
When you have finished making your basic wheat meat (raw gluten), form the gluten dough into balls about the size of an orange. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Balls will puff up considerably and brown like rolls. They will be a tough, leathery texture. Remove from oven and allow to cool.



When cool, tear balls into pieces and put through a meat grinder. When ground it has the appearance of ground beef. You can use a food processor instead of a meat grinder, but the texture will not be quite the same.

In a bowl mix 2 1/2 cups of your ground "meat" and all of the above ingredients. Then press onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 300 for 15-20 minutes, just until the eggs are set. DO NOT OVERCOOK! It should not seem cooked but rather it should just seem set. If you do over cook it will become hard and unchewable. If this happens you can sometimes place the "meat" in a plastic bag for a few minutes to restore the texture.

Cool the cooked "meat" and then tear into pieces to resemble cooked hamburger. Add to your recipe just before serving. It does not need to be cooked further and if you add it to your recipe too early, it will absorb too much liquid and the meat like texture is lost.

Basic Wheat Meat

Ingredients
10 c Flour*
5 c Cold water (approximate)

*Use wheat flour for beef and other red meats; white flour for chicken, shrimp, or other light meats.

Mixing
Combine flour and water in mixer. Using dough hook, knead for 5 minutes. It should be the consistency of bread dough.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap or a towel to keep the dough from drying out and let rest in the fridge for a minimum of 20 minutes. If desired it can be covered with cool water and left in the fridge overnight.

Washing
After the dough has rested, divide into 1/4ths and work with one portion at a time, keeping the remainder covered as you work. Place a piece of the dough in a strainer which is placed in a large bowl of cold water. While keeping the dough immersed at all times, stretch and compress the dough to wash out the bran and starch. The volume of the dough will diminish considerably during this process but keep your dough in one lump. In a few minutes of working your dough, it will begin to resemble over chewed bubblegum in texture. Kind of like pulling apart a well chewed piece of Hubba Bubba :)

Rinse the now rubbery glob of gluten in a fresh bowl of clean water and leave it under water while you repeat the process with the remaining 3 pieces of dough. This is a picture of all my dough completely washed.


You should NOT throw out the water you used to wash your dough. Instead, pour it into a gallon+ pitcher and place in the fridge overnight. If it is allowed to sit it will divide into 3 distinct layers. The top layer of clear water can then be poured off and used to water houseplants, pets, or used to mix your powdered milk, or make bread with it, etc. In this picture you can see mine has not yet completely separated.

The second layer is starch. It can be used to thicken gravies, stews, sauces, etc. Just use 4-7 Tbls of raw starch for every 2 cups of liquid in your recipe. Be aware, however, that the starch will only remain good for about 2 days in your fridge. To store it longer, place in the freezer.

The final layer is bran. Rinse the bran using a strainer and cheese cloth. It will stay good, when well rinsed, 4-6 days in the fridge. To keep it longer you need to freeze it or powder it. I used it immediately to make bran muffins, but you can also use bran to make bran flakes for cold cereal.

So, in your bowl with clean water, you now have your raw wheat meat, or gluten, which can be used to make ground beef, roasts, chicken chunks, shrimp, etc. depending on how you prepare it. Look for other recipe posts of mine to find more recipes for the preparation of specific meats.

Butter

Cream (NOT ultra-pasteurized)
Salt

This is not technically a food storage recipe since it is made using cream, but it is useful information just the same.

Let cream come to room temperature. (For old fashioned tasting butter, let cream sour before whipping) Whip cream with mixer.

First soft peaks will form. Then it will begin to form stiff peaks.





Finally the butter will congeal and separate from the buttermilk by-product.





Separate milk from butter and place butter in a large bowl.




"Wash" the butter by filling bowl with cold water and kneading the butter in it. When water gets cloudy, drain water and refill. Repeat these steps until the water remains clear. It is important to wash all the buttermilk out or your butter will go rancid quickly.

Return butter to mixer and add salt. Approximately 1 tsp per pound of butter. If you accidentally add too much, repeat washing step. Mix in salt. Store butter in fridge, or in an airtight container on the counter.


For flavored butter, add garlic, or any other seasoning. Buttermilk by-product can be used in recipes or while baking.

Vanilla Yogurt

2 c Whole Milk
1 1/3 c Instant nonfat dry milk
1/4 c Plain yogurt with live cultures and NO additives
1/4 c Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla
1 3/4 c Warm water

This is not technically a food storage recipe since it is made using non-food storage items, but it is useful information just the same.

Mix milk, powdered milk, and sugar together. In the top of a double boiler heat until it reaches 180 degrees. Do not boil. Cool to about 100 degrees and discard skin, if any.


Blend yogurt with warm water and vanilla, and add to the milk.

Mix well and pour into clean, warm canning jars (I heated mine up to 100 degrees in the oven first). Incubate in wonder oven 4-7 hours.





Place in fridge. Yogurt will thicken as it cools. Stir before serving.

Popped Wheat

1 1/2 c whole kernal wheat
water
vegetable oil
garlic salt

Soak wheat in quart jar filled with water for 3 days, changing water everyday. After the third day, drain and pat off moisture. Heat 1/2" oil in skillet to 400 degrees. Evenly spread 1/2 c what over bottom of skillet and heat with lid on until wheat pops and heavy sizzle subsides. Drain on paper towels and season with garlic salt.

It does not pop fluffy and white like popcorn but it will pop so you will need a lid. Do not let it overcook but if you don't leave it long enough, it will be too chewy. It tastes like popcorn but is meatier. My kids liked it.

Peanut Butter Chews

1/2 c peanut butter
1/2 c corn syrup
1/8 c powdered sugar
1/4 cup dry milk (or more)

Mix peanut butter and corn syrup; gradually add powdered sugar. Stir until smooth. Then add dry milk a little at a time and mix well until mixture is stiff enough to handle. Roll into snakes and cut with scizzors so that each piece is about the size and shape of a tootsie roll. Eat immediately or store in the fridge.

Wheat Applesauce Cake

2 c whole wheat flour
1 c sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cloves
1 c applesauce
½ c oil
Nuts, dates, raisins (opt)

Mix all dry ingredients. Stir in applesauce, oil, nuts, dates and raisins in desired. Bake in 8x8 greased cake pan at 350 degrees F. for 35 minutes or until done. Top with hot applesauce (Don't skip this part or it will be too sweet).