Cooked Wheat Flour Gluten

This is one of the mainstays of Chinese Buddhist vegetarian cuisine, providing fodder for numerous mock meat dishes. Its viscous texture, especially after soaking in stock or sauce, harmonises the mushrooms and fungi and contrasts the crisp vegetables that are cooked with it. It also provides tasty bulk to satisfy the appetite. In China, Taiwan and Hong Kong it is produced commercially as a basic ingredient, which is then used by home cooks, delicatessen and restaurant chefs in umpteen dish