BBQ and Brussel Sprouts

On Tuesday night, as tornadoes ripped through the Southeastern part of Memphis, I was busy cooking dinner. Sort of. I'd work on chopping seitan and then I'd get scared and run to the TV to see where the twister was headed. Then I'd gather the pets in the bathroom, prepared to hunker down for disaster. Then, I'd get bored, give up, and start cooking again. This went on for about an hour. The tornado sirens were blaring the entire time.

First, I baked my own whole wheat bread using my sourdough starter, whole wheat pastry flour, canola oil, and salt. I sprinkled sesame and flax seeds over the top.



I cut the bread into sandwich slices for my BBQ Seitan Sandwich. I made the BBQ by preparing some vital gluten flour according to package directions. Then I boiled chunks of seitan in a broth of veggie broth, nutritional yeast, and some other stuff to make it taste pork-ish. My friend Greg said it tasted more beefy though. I prepared the seitan several days ahead.



On Tuesday, I chopped the seitan into tiny pieces and simmered it in my special homemade Memphis-Style BBQ Sauce. Every Memphian has a secret sauce, but vinegar is what gives the sauce a Memphis kick. The sandwich was great, especially on homemade bread. But I should have made some vegan slaw to go on top. Oh well, next time.

On the side, I roasted Brussel Sprouts using the instructions in the Veganomicon's "How to Cook a Vegetable" section. I'd never cooked Brussels before. In fact, I haven't even eaten any since I was like 9 or 10. But I think I'll start eating them more often. YUM!



As for the tornado, it didn't pass through Midtown, where I live. But the storms did kill three people in a warehouse in the Hickory Hill area and it destoyed the Hickory Ridge Mall.