Dang, there’s a couple of Asian grocery stores near me, but I’ve never thought to look for mock duck. Usually I’m just loading up on gochujang.

For seitan, I am pretty much stuck making loaves of the deli meat style “ham” or “Turkey” although I find they both taste about the same. The recipe I based them on is from 86 meats(or something like that), and it uses extra form tofu as the moisture. I’ve tried with just VWG and water/broth, but I never liked the texture when I do that. I’m really wanting to try using beans/lentils instead of tofu, but I’ve been risk adverse now that I’ve got a recipe I like.

In my pre-vegan life I was pretty into making pizza, so I obsessed over hydration levels, proofing time, baking temp, and all those other minor details of making good bread. I see seitan as bread-adjacent, so I think there’s a lot of overlap in cooking bread and seitan. My plan in the coming year is to start tweaking the hydration level, and switching up the additives to see if I can’t find a method that really resonates.

I also think there’s some room for exploring the cook method. Lots of recipes say “simmer DO NOT BOIL”, so you know they’re looking for a specific temp. I’m wondering if it would be easier to achieve with a Sous vide? But other recipes swear by the steam method. Steam is going to be WAY hotter than simmering, so that’s a huge difference in method right away. I tend to favor the oven bake to get a nicer looking “crust”. But I bake at 350F, which is hotter than steam? But less intense heat transfer. I also ALWAYS temp the loaf before taking it out. 190f internal temp (just like a good loaf of bread). The shape and size of the loaf really can mess with your cook time, so I’ve found it best to just temp it with a “meat” thermometer.

Anyway, shame there’s not a c/seitan community on Lemmy yet. I don’t have enough content to run such a place, but I’d be happy to contribute to the discussion.