The Seitan Vegan

A Seasonal Sensation 
for a Meat Free Monday

Seitan Stew

Seitan - pronounced 'say-tan' - is the Japanese word for wheat gluten. Called 'mock meat' in China, seitan is similar to the look and texture of meat when it's cooked, making it a popular meat substitute. Try it in this stew of courgettes, mushrooms and noodles.

You'll need:

• 140 g vital wheat gluten flour
• 3 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
• 125 ml cold vegetable stock
• 1 tsp of fennel seeds (ground)
• 1/2 tsp of ground cumin
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp of Stokes Brown Sauce
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 grated garlic cloves

Here's how:

Combine the gluten and yeast in a large bowl with the fennel and cumin and it set aside. Separately, mix the stock, soy sauce, brown sauce, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. Pour this into the gluten and combine everything well together. Knead the combination for 5 minutes or so, stretching it to an elastic dough and let rest for 5 minutes.

Divide the dough and roll it into sausages, about the size of thick German salami and cut it into generous slices. Make and boil a vegetable broth  - water, stock bouillon, Stokes Tomato Ketchup and Brown Sauce and season to taste. Add the gluten pieces and simmer very very gently with the lid on for 45 minutes.

Lift the seitan sausage slices from its cooking broth and set it aside, or add it straight to 'beef up' your other vegetables as they simmer in their own broth.

Stuffed Seitan Roast

Following every step above until you have rested the gluten after kneading it, you can now use it as a 'wrap' encasing a succulent filling before roasting.

Here's how:

For example, a risotto of wild mushrooms, seasoned with generous teaspoon dots of Stokes Creamed Horseradish Sauce and our Cranberry & Orange Sauce.

Spoon the seitan onto aluminium foil and roll it into about a 14" by 12" rectangle. If it resists, let it rest for a few minutes then try again. 1/3 of the way from the bottom of the rectangle, spread your filling out across the long edge of the seitan, leaving about 1" at each end. Now dot it generously with Stokes Condiments.

Fold the bottom of the seitan over the filling, then fold the top over. Pinch the ends of the seitan and the seam to seal, then roll tightly in the foil, twisting the ends of foil like a Christmas Cracker. Place the foil wrapped seitan on a baking tray and bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes to 1 hour and 40 minutes at 180°C/gas mark 4, rotating the roast every 20 minutes. It should be firm to the touch when ready, rest and enjoy.

 Seitan Made Better

Order your 'Christmas Flavours' - HERE

More foodie thoughts for the week:

 


Party Food - 
Finger Food Favourites whether bought in or home made are the centerpiece of great parties - here.







Gourmet Gifting - 
Fill friends', family's and your own larder with the ultimate sauce, condiment & relish Christmas Collection - here.




 

Festive Flavours - 
More delicious ideas from @meat&honey on the busy build up to Christmas - here.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

FOOD MADE BETTER 
www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

Gourmet Gifting

The Gift of Taste

It's not Gold, not Frankincense, not Myrrh. But it is much easier to get hold of - HERE - and tastes amazing.

It's not socks, not perfume, not another pair of gloves.

With a twist, spoon, dollop or squirt to guarantee smiles all round. Give the gift that keeps giving, the taste that says 'yum'.

Don't turn up with a flat Lambrusco or over-smoked Chardonnay at parties this year.

Say 'Hi' with Stokes Chilli Jam, 'thank you' with Award-Winning Ketchups - Tomato, Bloody Mary and Chilli Ketchup or Chipotle and Curry Ketchup too.

For visits, gifts and 'thank you's this season, try the Gift of Taste.

 Christmas Made Better

Order your 'Christmas Flavours' - HERE

The Gift of Breakfast

Keep the party going by giving friends the Stokes Breakfast Collection.

Smell the 'grownup' difference of Stokes Brown Sauce, rich with extra date puree, sweet with black treacle and a unique blend of Persian spices. They will simply adore our Tomato Ketchup, thick and juicy, crammed full with Italian tomatoes.

Fine slices of Seville Orange swim in the soft velvet syrup of our sparkling Seville Orange Marmalade, bringing sunshine to their morning toast. And the Strawberries in Stokes Extra Strawberry Jam carry delicious notes of Wimbledon.

 
Our Bloody Mary Ketchup (also in the Breakfast Collection) is an inspiration.

It is an award-winning ketchup with a shot of Vodka, Worcestershire sauce and a special blend of Bloody Mary spices - perfect for that 'morning after' butty. 

Suggest mixing Bloody Mary Ketchup with Stokes Real Mayonnaise for a Bloody Mary Rose Sauce.

Made with British free range eggs, fine rapeseed oil and finished with a drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil from the Koroneiki olives of Crete - you'll find this velvety smooth Mayonnaise in our Food Lovers' Collection - HERE.

For Food Lovers

Stokes Food Lovers' Collection is a wonderful, specially selected medley of truly tasty goodies.

One of its perky personalities is Stokes Sweet Chilli Sauce. Made with red chillies and red peppers, it overflows with the vitality of the Orient.

With its sweet, clean taste this sauce is deliciously versatile - use as a dip, a glaze, a marinade. It's great in a stir fry (see - HERE) and fab in a wrap.

The chilli theme continues with our incredibly popular Chilli Jam. This is a delicious sticky jam, oozing with flavour from the sweet chilli peppers and red peppers.

We literally spoon it onto and into anything that deserves a bit of chilli enlightenment.

Try it on cheese scones, spoon it into your chilli con carne or add a little 'bite' to a sheepish Shepherds Pie.

Perfect with Cheese

Another perfect pleasure with cheese is Stokes Red Onion Marmalade. This is an absolute beauty being lusciously thick with caramelised red onions in sticky black treacle and a sharp balsamic finish.

It's amazing with just about anything - try it with grilled cheese on toast, or in a sausage sandwich as seen in the video - HERE.

Turn up anywhere with a jar (or 2) of Stokes Fig Relish and you're bound to make friends and influence people.

It is packed with juicy sweet marinated figs and a tang of cider vinegar, a thick relish that sits beautifully on water biscuits and the maturity of a strong blue cheese.

Stokes Sticky Pickle is a further Musketeer guaranteed to lift any plate of cheese to delicious new heights.

With its unique blend of vegetables in a sweet, spicy sauce, it brings cold cuts to life, is perfect with pork pies and sensational with cheese.

Have you posted your letter to Santa yet ?

Christmas Giving Made Better

Order your Condiments & Relishes - HERE

More foodie thoughts for the week:

 


Party Food - 
Finger Food Favourites whether bought in or home made are the centerpiece of great parties - here.







The Seitan Vegan - 
Unveiling the Oriental origins and recipes for this versatile alternative to meat - here.








Festive Flavours - 
More delicious ideas from @meat&honey on the busy build up to Christmas - here.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

FOOD MADE BETTER 
www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

Festive Flavours

Don't miss the fun
on Facebook & Twitter & Instagram

Festive Flavours

Andrea @meat&honey has been busy again, creating these two wonderful dishes, both perfectly flavoursome on the build up to Christmas. Just look at the yolks in those Burford Browns eggs from Clarence Court Eggs and the pairing of smoked trout with Stokes Mustard & Dill Sauce gives the perfect reflections of Scandinavian gravadlax. 

Warm gooey brie with a combination of our Chilli Jam as well as Cranberry Sauce - inspired ! 

You'll find both of the latter in our 12 Tastes of Christmas Collection - HERE.

Those handsome Burford Browns have been busy again ... the beautifully scrambled eggs on an English breakfast muffin with Chilli Jam. Try an alternative sweet, tart, savoury combination using Stokes Blackcurrant Extra Jam instead - the tart blackcurrants in their sweet jam sit well with the gently scrambled eggs.

Facebook reminded followers about our most comprehensive sauce collection ever. It fills the larder with everything you'll need for a deliciously tasty Christmas. There's something for the breakfast, the lunch and the cheese board afterwards - you will even bring the Boxing Day cold cuts to life and make your taste buds smile.

Sing along to our '12 Tastes of Christmas' - HERE.

More foodie thoughts for the week:


 


Party Food - 
Finger Food Favourites whether bought in or home made are the centerpiece of great parties - here.








The Seitan Vegan - 
Unveiling the Oriental origins and recipes for this versatile alternative to meat - here.




 



Gourmet Gifting - 
Fill friends', family's and your own larder with the ultimate sauce, condiment & relish Christmas Collection - here.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

FOOD MADE BETTER 
www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

Fish Friday

Catch of the Day

Winter Fish Soup

Any firm fish (cod, haddock, monkfish, tilapia) and seasonal vegetables work beautifully here.

Add your sliced vegetables to boiling water, 'longest cook first' so they become tender at the same time ... carrots, squash, courgettes. When tender, scoop them out into iced water to stop them cooking, saving the cooking liquor.

Add a chicken stock bouillon to the vegetables' cooking water with additional water to about 700ml in total. Now, add a tin of chopped tomatoes to the pan with 4 or 5 tbsp of Stokes Bloody Mary Ketchup and 3 tsp of our Chilli Jam. Season to taste and blitz with a hand blender to a smooth tomato soup.

Return the vegetables together with your pieces of fish and some dried (or fresh) oregano (you may need to top the liquid up with more stock). Simmer (lid on) for 6 or 7 minutes (5 minutes longer if using monkfish) when the vegetables will have heated through and the fish cooked - just. Taste, season, serve.

Cod with Clam Sauce

Soften 2 finely diced shallots in plenty of butter for 6 or 7 minutes until it is just browning, then add 2 grated cloves of garlic. Put 1 piece of cod loin each in the pan for 3 minutes on one side, basting with the butter, then turn it over for 3 minutes more.

Remove the fish, keeping it aside in a warm place. De-glaze the pan with 125ml of white wine, then add a dozen of so clams to the onions and liquid with 4 tbsp of Stokes Tomato Ketchup, 2 tsp of our Classic English Mustard, a dash of Brown Sauce and frozen peas (for colour and sweetness).

Lid on, simmer, steaming the contents for 4 or 5 minutes until the clams open. Stir in a little double cream and spoon the sauce over your fish.

Tilapia & Mustard Sauce

Firm, sweet fish like Tilapia take the tangy warmth of a mustard sauce so well.

Simply season and bake, steam of fry the fish fillets. 7 or 8 minutes in total will be enough, keeping the fish firm and moist.

First though, make the sauce: In a small saucepan, gently heat and stir together 3 tbsp of Stokes Classic English Mustard with 200ml of crème fraîche and the juice of half a lemon, then set it aside.

If it's too thick when you come to use it, heat it up with a drop of water to thin it slightly for pouring.

It's as simple and tasty as that.

For more tasty Tilapia recipes - CLICK HERE

Tuna Pasta Yummy

Yummy is an essential part of the title of this dish because it is absolutely bursting with flavour.

Cut fresh tuna steaks into cubes, squeeze half a lime over the top and prepare the sauce while cooking the pasta to the packet's instructions.

For the sauce: fry 1 diced red onion in olive oil with 3 anchovy fillets (they break down in the sauce) and 3 grated cloves of garlic before adding 1 tin of chopped tomatoes with half the emptied can of water.

Add a glass of red wine, juicy stoned kalamata olives, 4 or 5 tbsp of Stokes Tomato Ketchup, 1 tbsp of Stokes Cider & Horseradish Mustard, 2 tbsp of capers, 2 tsp of our Chilli Jam, thyme, oregano and seasoning to taste.

Stir in a beef stock bouillon and reduce to intensify the flavours. Add the tuna to the sauce, cover and simmer gently for 8 minutes. Finally, either add the pasta to the sauce, Italian style, or plate the pasta, spooning the tuna sauce over it. Be warned - it's yummy.

Love Fish,  Love Taste,  Love Stokes

Order your 'Taste Love' - HERE

More foodie thoughts for the week:


 


Cinda's Coach - 
After midnight, it and its fellow squashes become the key ingredient in this tasty collection - here.







Basically Tasty - 
Festively gathered, the family is hungry for the flavoursome joys of Christmas, made better - here.


  





Taking the Sun - 
It's not all such hard work at Rendlesham. Enjoy a break from the winter weather - here.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

FOOD MADE BETTER 
www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

Cinda's Tasty Coach

Colourful, Versatile, Tasty - Squash

Winter offers an array of colourful squash. Whether you choose a butternut squash, acorn, spaghetti, a pumpkin, whatever takes your fancy, you can be sure of nutritional, tasty meals throughout the chilly winter months.

Put thoughts of Cinda's magical stagecoach behind you and enjoy these tasty ideas.

Cheesy Bake

Peel and slice equal amounts of potatoes and butternut squash. Slice 2 or 3 onions and soften them in butter with fresh thyme for several minutes. Stir a few shakes of Stokes Tomato Ketchup, 1 tbsp of Stokes Chilli Jam and 1 tbsp of our Cider & Horseradish Mustard into the onions and set them aside.

Layer your squash and potatoes in an ovenproof dish with a scattering of the seasoned onions and grated Cheddar cheese between each layer. Combine equal amounts of chicken stock and double cream together (about 300ml in all) and pour it over the vegetables until it soaks into the layers.

Top the contents with a combined grating of Cheddar and Parmesan Cheese, then bake in the oven, pre-heated to 200°C/gas mark 6, for 30 minutes until the vegetables are soft and the cheesy topping is brown and bubbling excitedly.

Pumpkin, Pig 'n Pasta

Any squash will do here but as butternut squash is the easiest to peel, we'll go for that.

To intensify the flavour of the squash, peel, cube, dust with a little cinnamon and brown sugar, drizzle with oil and roast it on a tray for 15 to 20 minutes at 220°C/gas mark 7 to caramelise the edges and soften the flesh.

Squeeze the meat out of pork or Cumberland sausages, breaking it into rough balls and fry this with 2 shallots that have softened in butter or oil (or both) with 1 tsp of thyme leaves and a handful of smoked lardons. After 5 minutes, add 350ml of chicken stock, 4 tbsp of Stokes Chipotle Ketchup (for smoky chilli heat) and 1 tbsp of our lovely Brown Sauce.

After 5 minutes simmering the smoky lardons, sausage and onions, add the roasted squash. Very gently, let the flavours get to know each other while your chosen pasta finishes cooking. Drain the pasta, put it back in the pan with a drizzle of olive oil and stir in a Mozzarella ball, broken into small pieces. Pour the pig 'n pumpkin mixture into the pasta with a good grating of Cheddar cheese and serve.

Rustic Acorn Tart

It's rustic because it's untidy, the acorn is Acorn Squash - but it's easy to make and tastes so good.

Halve, de-seed and slice the squash into thin 'moon' shapes. Cut a sheet of puff pastry to a rough circle and, imagining a 2 cm border all round, spread about 100g of goats cheese within the border with a scattering of thyme leaves and a few slices of sage leaves.

Liberally dot Stokes Chilli Jam and Red Onion Marmalade across the the base then fan the moons of squash over the filling.

Fold up the pastry edges and paint them with egg wash. Grate a tangy cheese (such as Caerphilly) over the squash with a few twists of pepper, needles of rosemary and sage leaves, then into the oven, pre-heated to 200°C/gas mark 6 for 25 to 30 minutes.

Classic Pumpkin Soup

Finely chop 2 shallots and soften them gently in butter for 6 or 7 minutes before adding 800g of peeled, pith removed, cubed pumpkin flesh.

Add a little more butter and caramelise it gently for 10 minutes, then add 650ml of vegetable stock and simmer, lid on, for 12 to 15 minutes until the flesh of the pumpkin is soft.

Blitz with a hand blender adding 150ml of double cream, 1 tbsp of Stokes Brown Sauce (for its heady spice) and 3 tbsp of our Tomato or Bloody Mary Ketchup. Blitz again and season.

For more great pumpkin recipes ... 'look behind you' - HERE

It's beginning to taste a lot like Christmas

Order your 'Tastes of Christmas' - HERE

More foodie thoughts for the week:


 


Fish Friday - 
This winter wonderland of colour and taste is just one of our delicious fish recipes this week - here.







Basically Tasty - 
Festively gathered, the family is hungry for the flavoursome joys of Christmas, made better - here.



  



Taking the Sun - 
It's not all such hard work at Rendlesham. Enjoy a break from the winter weather - here.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

FOOD MADE BETTER 
www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

Gathered for Christmas

The Festive Family
Oh how the family has grown

We enjoy the simple taste of Stokes thanks to the complexities, efforts and passion that go into creating the ketchup, mayonnaise, condiments, pickles and preserves that add so much to the meals we prepare and enjoy.

Stokes has evolved from the instinctive drive to achieve ... FOOD MADE BETTER.

First came Stokes Tomato Ketchup - which now wins awards. This was quickly followed by our Real Mayonnaise - which now wins awards.

Then Pete said "...we need a Brown Sauce that's truly amazing" and - yes ... it too now wins awards.

Gathered - Our Festive Family

FOOD MADE BETTER

Stokes Tomato Ketchup

Our award-winning ketchup is packed with plump, sweet tomatoes that have ripened on the slopes in southern Italy.

Ripening in the Mediterranean sunshine guarantees a long growing season and continuity of quality and taste.

We gently simmer 200g of these beautiful tomatoes, reduced into every 100g of ketchup.

That's why our Award-Winning Tomato Ketchup is sumptuously thick as you shake it or squeeze it and tastes naturally of delicious tomatoes.

And now we have a squeezable version with 30 % LESS sugar.

Same taste, less waist.

Stokes Real Mayonnaise

We are so proud of our Mayonnaise, it really is very special.

We use only whole eggs from British free range Welfare Assured hens, into which very fine rapeseed oil is drizzled to create the product's core.

Then, to make this real mayonnaise stand out from the rest, extra virgin Cretan Koroneiki olive oil is added too.

There has to be salt in any mayo, but because we use only the finest, natural sea salt from the Dead Sea, we get all the flavour using far less.

Stokes Brown Sauce

Every time someone new discovers our exceptional Brown Sauce, they send us a photo, like this, to celebrate their new found joy.

Ours is a truly 'grown up' brown sauce. You can smell the exquisite difference the moment you twist off or flip open the lid and squeeze.

It is a lush sauce, rich with extra date puree, sweet with black treacle and heady with a unique blend of Persian spices.

Add it to a sausage casserole for flavour-bursting depth - simply delicious.

Gathered - Your Festive Family

Order your spoon, shake, squeeze - HERE

More foodie thoughts for the week:


 


Fish Friday - 
This winter wonderland of colour and taste is just one of our delicious fish recipes this week - here.







Cinda's Coach - 
After midnight, it and its fellow squashes become the key ingredient in this tasty collection - here.




 

Taking the Sun - 
It's not all such hard work at Rendlesham. Enjoy a break from the winter weather - here.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

FOOD MADE BETTER 
www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

Taking the Sun

Don't miss the fun
on Facebook & Twitter & Instagram

Taking the Sun 

It's not all such hard work at Rendlesham, as our friends here demonstrate in the recent sunny spell. The break in the winter clouds was warmly welcomed by the growing menagerie of rescue animals whose lives have vastly improved thanks to Rick and his family.

What starts as a cute and cuddly Christmas gift idea, grows into vet bills and despair. It takes big hearts and no little effort to give sanctuary in the paddocks behind the kitchens of The Old Stables here ... the home of great sauce.

It's not all relaxing in the sun on the other side of the wall though.

Here, thanks to the team's hard work and spirit, Stokes has achieved Grade AA (Double-A) for BRCv8, the British Retail Consortium's official assessment of a food manufacturer's adherence to the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety - again.

This basically means that not only does it taste amazing, the teamwork and passion that make it all happen is amazing too.

Thank you Team Stokes.

This example of 'amazing' is one of my personal favourites.

Our Fig Relish captures the teeny weeny short season of fresh figs, as a relish packed with juicy sweet marinated figs and a tang of cider vinegar. It's a thick relish that sits beautifully on water biscuits, topped with the maturity of a strong Cheddar or blue cheese.

Learn more - HERE.

Behind the scenes we are constantly checking, tasting, discussing the ins and outs of our sauces to make sure that the quality and taste are consistent and fabulous.

Our Mint Sauce is an absolute classic in our Roast 'Dinner' Collection of sauces, chosen by our taste aficionados to sit with other delicious beauties in this special collection of - 'yummy'.

Learn more from a recent Newsletter article: 'Autumn Roasts & Roots' - HERE.

More foodie thoughts for the week:


 


Fish Friday - 
This winter wonderland of colour and taste is just one of our delicious fish recipes this week - here.








Cinda's Coach - 
After midnight, it and its fellow squashes become the key ingredient in this tasty collection - here.







 
Basically Tasty - 
Festively gathered, the family is hungry for the flavoursome joys of Christmas, made better - here.

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

FOOD MADE BETTER 
www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150