Anyway, I figured that I'd like to have something similar at my new restaurant - not a fake chicken or a fake beef, but a unique seitan that diners could order in substitution for real meat - ie, their choice of beef, chicken or seitan quesadillas. I wanted a name, though, so I polled friends on Facebook and got a lot of humorous suggestions as well as some really good ones. I decided to go with "sureloin," although if you have any more ideas, please let me know!
Having a name's one thing, but more important is the actual recipe. I've been experimenting, trying to come up with the perfect sureloin, and by total accident, I think I stumbled upon the secret of kalebone yumminess: mushroom stock. Of course, I obviously need to take a trip to Atlanta and do a taste test comparison, but at least from fond memory, this tastes pretty similar. At any rate, it has a pretty nice umami flavor and good texture without imitating meat.
Since after this, I've been craving gyros, that's what I decided to make for dinner. I made the tzatziki earlier this afternoon with mint and basil from our sadly neglected garden. I'd forgotten how good tzatziki is. Since Soul Vegetarian is actually vegan, they use a different kind of cucumber sauce, but the real stuff reminds me of pre-veggie childhood and getting freshly carved gyros from the little cart at festivals. Thick and rich and tangy with lemon and garlic and herbs ... I don't know if I will make it till dinner time, but I'll try to at least take some pictures of the finished product before scarfing it down!
Gyro Fixings
The Gryo Itself
My Greek Dinner Platter: Gyro, Hummus, Falafel and Olives
The sureloin looks interesting. I am glad you didn't try to replicate meat. As far as I am concerned there is no such thing as a meat substitute. These days my diet is largely vegetarian; but I still eat meat. So I am not interested in fake meat. What I am interested is tasty vegetarian/vegan things that some might classify as a meat substitute. Seitan looks like something I will have to try. It's too bad you didn't include a recipe for sureloin. Oh well, once I try my hand at saitan; I am sure I can come up with something tasty.
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