Pages

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Big B's Barbecue Salad

When I was growing up, Friday night was always "eatin' out" night. We didn't dine out anywhere fancy — just sandwiches or Taco Bell or some other fast food. But every once in a while, my parents would take me to Big Al's, a little old country gas station that served some pretty delicious barbecue (at least, I remember it being quite tasty).

I know, you're thinking "barbecue in a gas station? How white trash is that?!' Yes, it is pretty white trash, but yo, I grew up in Arkansas. Folks eat barbecue in gas stations there. It's just the way things are done. Anyway, Big Al's served a barbecue salad of tangy pulled pork, cheddar, some iceberg lettuce, and salad dressing (I always chose ranch). Being the weird kid that I was back then, I ordered my salad with no lettuce — just meat and cheese, please. My parents used to tease me about eating a salad with no salad in it.

After going vegetarian at age 14, Big Al's was out. And I started eating lettuce. Haven't had a barbecue salad since. Well, until last night ... when I combined barbecue seitan, vegan cheeze, veggies, and homemade vegan ranch:

I'm calling it Big B's Barbecue Salad as a tribute to Big Al's. But Big B's salad is way, way, way healthier. For one, Big Al's salad didn't include any actual veggies besides lettuce ... at least not that I remember. Mine has romaine, red pepper, radish, carrot, green onion, cucumber, tomato, and sprouts. The recipe — along with the recipes for barbecue seitan and vegan ranch — will be included in my cookbook. Here's an extreme barbecue close-up:

I used Follow Your Heart vegan cheeze and bacon bits as well. But those are totally optional. And I served the salad with Kashi Heart to Heart crackers, a healthier version of Triscuits. I'm sure the 8-year-old me would have wrinkled her nose up at all this healthy food, but grown-up me would take barbecue seitan salad over barbecue meat salad anyday.

22 comments:

  1. That looks awesome!

    Is your ranch a cookbook recipe or do you buy it? I'm dying to find a good vegan ranch.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That looks great... I love updated versions of my white trash faves!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Crazy! Good job veganizing an old favorite. I think most of us who grew up in the 80s ate some pretty disgusting stuff...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mmm! That looks so good. I love that you used to order the salad with no salad.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yummy! I definitely want to try this soon!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yum! That looks great. :) I had some BBQ style artichokes recently, which I put in a salad, and it was pretty good. ;) I'm not a big fan of BBQ in general but when it's good, it's great.
    In the Philippines BBQ pork on a skewer (kabob style) is extremely popular and I found a vegan vs. in China town that makes me very happy!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nice! You are killing me with cookbook anticipation!

    Some of the gas stations in East TN (on our way to AVL) serve this kind of food - the bad non-vegan version.

    ReplyDelete
  8. That salad looks DELISH

    ReplyDelete
  9. This salad looks great! Way to keep it real with the gas station adaptation :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Tehehe...I was totally thinking "BBQ at a gas station?!"--you read my mind :-)

    Courtney

    ReplyDelete
  11. Gosh, I think it's SO funny that anyone would get food at a gas station!
    Your salad is totally legit!

    ReplyDelete
  12. i love a big salad!

    ReplyDelete
  13. How r u? your website is cool
    Have a look at that crazy emo song:
    http://tinyurl.com/a6olap

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hot DAMN that looks AMAZING! You know, I spent several years in Texas during uni/grad school and I've got to say that some of the best food comes from gas station restaurants. Seriously! And this looks amazingly yum!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh yeah, I know all about bbq in a gas station. Or huge steaks. There's a place called "Fat Man's" where I'm from and local folks often seek out dinner there.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great story. Can't wait for your cookbook! I'm tired of trying to veganize the recipes from my "Tennessee Cookbook."

    ReplyDelete
  17. And this begs the question: Why have I never had a bbq salad? Looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  18. This salad looks amazing! I know it was posted awhile ago, but I'm currently reading through your entire blog. I love all the ideas, and I can't wait for your cookbook.

    ReplyDelete

I live for your comments!! Seriously. I'm waiting right now for you to write something.