rants & recipes

About three summers ago, we made ourselves a clay pot smoker (pretty much just like this one). Here are some photos of ours in action last year. It's worked really well for us, although we've only used it 3 times.

We got an early jump on things this year, though, so maybe we'll use it more than once this summer. (And I'm sure we"ll look at this post then - note to future selves - smoker temperature between 200 and 210 degrees!)

We used the same pork seitan recipe that we used the first year. Complete with Eastern NC vinegar-based bbq sauce, homemade buns and homemade coleslaw (recipes below). Absolutely delicious!!!

Creamy Coleslaw (based on this recipe)

• 1 small/medium green cabbage (shredded yielded my about 1lb, 12 ounces)
• 2 carrots, shredded
• 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
• 14 tbsp vegan mayonaise (2 tbsp shy of 1 cup - go ahead, use a cup and slightly generous measures of mustard, vinegar and agave - there certainly wasn't an over-abundane of sauce.)
• about 2/3 tbsp spicy mustard
• 1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 tbsp agave
• dash black pepper
• about 1/4 tsp salt
• celery and mustard seeds

Eastern NC Vinegar BBQ Sauce (based on this recipe)

• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp red pepper
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• pinch chipolte chili powder

Gently heat on stovetop to dissolve sugar. Best made a day in advance.

Hamburger Buns (based on this recipe)

• 2 1/4 cups warm water plus 1/4 cup Better Than Milk Powder
• 1/4 cup turbinado sugar
• 1/4 cup vegan margarine, melted
• 4 tsp yeast
• 2 tsp salt
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour

Bun instruction:

1. Proof yeast for about 5 minutes.
2. Knead dough in bread mixer for a few minutes, adding flour if needed but leaving slightly wet dough.
3. Let dough rest for 5 minutes.
4. Dump dough out onto floured surface, kneading in more flour by hand until dough won't stick to fingers. (I work in more whole wheat flour.
5. Form rolls (I made about 16?), spacing out in two 9*13 greased pans.
6. Let rolls rise for 20 minutes.
7. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
8. Put buns in oven, turn temperature down to 375.
9. Bake for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and leave buns in oven for another 10 minutes or so.
10. Remove pans from oven, flip buns with spatula and cover pans with foil or a towel - the steam will soften the bottoms so they aren't crunchy.