Wet Vs. Dry

Folks in Memphis get in drunken fist fights over the virtues of wet ribs versus dry ribs. Seriously. Memphians are crazy about barbecue, and while this behavior totally creeps me out, I hate to miss out on a good debate. I knew I had to create a Dry Rub-Style Seitan BBQ Rib recipe for my cookbook:

For those unfamiliar with barbecue culture, "wet ribs" indicate the use of barbecue sauce. "Dry ribs" contain no sauce, and are instead are rubbed with a salty-sweet barbecue spice mixture. Though I've seen a number of tasty wet BBQ seitan rib recipes out there, I couldn't find a dry one. So I made one up.

My rub recipe — a mix of seasoning salt, brown sugar, smoked paprika, and some other stuff — was actually inspired by my friend Amber's family rub recipe. She uses it on tofu and Morningstar Farms "chicken" strips. I added a few more ingredients and rubbed it into some homemade baked seitan strips, made using my all-purpose recipe for seitan.

I served the ribs with a helpin' of my Mac & Cashew Cheeze:

This recipe's also going in the cookbook, and I've shown pics on the blog several times before. I'm still tweaking the recipe to acheive a creamier texture. I've learned that cashew cheeze dries out quickly, and even though it tastes smooth and creamy in my mouth, I want it to look creamier on the plate. Hopefully, I'll be able to perfect that soon.

I also had some of my Collard Greens:

I typically cook my collards with turnips, but I was in a hurry to eat tonight and didn't feel like running to the store for more ingredients. The greens were still delicious and smoky and comforting without the chopped turnips, though.