Blue Plate Special #1: BBQ “Chicken” Nuggets and Slaw

First of all, I didn’t realize tonight’s dinner would make my whole house smell like apple cider vinegar. It does. Nor did I realize that I was going to have to stock up on cider vinegar and vegan Worcestershire sauce to make it through the Whistle Stop Café Cookbook. I do. But as I sit here with my belly full and the tang in the back of my jaw beginning to soften, I’m perfectly happy to stock my cupboard full with both if it means I’ll be eating like this!

First, I made the “chicken”, using Sarah Kramer’s faux chicken recipe from La Dolce Vegan. It was first foray into making seitan, and it was much easier to make the “chicken” chunks than I had imagined. Excluding a few mock meats, I will be using seitan for the bulk of these recipes. Tastes good, is pretty easy to make, and is seriously about 5 times cheaper than buying premade mock meats. I then laid out the chunks in 2 quart glass baking pan, poured the below BBQ sauce over them, covered the pan in foil, and baked in the oven at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

Modified “Aunt Bess’s Barbecue Sauce”

Whistle Stop Café Cookbook (WSCC pg. 70)

½ cup water

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

¼ cup soy free earth balance

2 tablespoon cane sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons vegan Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon prepared mustard

1 ½ teaspoon salt (I used black lava, gave for a more earthy taste)

¼ teaspoon chili powder

1 small drop liquid smoke

1 thick slice lemon

1 thick slice peeled white onion

½ cup ketchup

Combine all the ingredients except ketchup in a medium saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce and simmer halfway covered for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and take out lemon and onion pieces. Stir in the ketchup.

This is not a thick BBQ sauce, and while it is quite good, I think a dash of chipotle, and adding in 1-2 tablespoons of agave at the end would really just take it over the top. Maybe molasses. I also used yellow mustard, as that’s what I had in the house. That was a huge mistake. Likely should have used dijon. Will try that next time.

For the slaw I quite simple made Fannie Flagg’s slaw as the recipe instructed (WSCC pg. 135) which I’m not sharing, as I think it’s rude to just post other people recipes, but it’s pretty close to this. There’s half an onion blended in the sauce, and the sauce is blended in the blender, so it’s not quite the same, but you get the idea. Prior to making this slaw, I had no idea people even made slaw without miracle whip, but I’m sure glad southerners got it right first and left me nothing to improve. This stuff rocks! Especially when it’s served with tater salad, corn on the cob, and on an actual blue plate. Yum!