john, you were right re: barbeque sauce

[Andrew_TSKS]

after pretty much ignoring that particular condiment completely for 28 years, i recently found myself falling in love with it. it tastes particularly great on sandwiches made with those vegetarian fake turkey lunchmeat slices i get at the natural food store, but i'm finding that it's pretty good on a lot of things.

so let me state it for the record:

,AeuHey, you know what? I like barbeque sauce!,Aeu

[John]

fake meat + bbq sauce = love

my next obsession is gonna be eastern Carolinas style bbq: high on vinegar, low on thick - more marinade than sauce, but you still uses it like a sauce

NB yes I do mean "uses," I am learning my NC verb tenses

[davy]

fake meat + bbq sauce = love

i've been meat-free for what, about 2 years now? happened about six months after i started dating my vegan wife. i'd been raised an omnivore--meat = main course--for 22 years, and then, all of a sudden, it just didn't fit in my life anymore. dropped it all, cold turkey (ack! i tried to avoid it), never looked back.

and as a result, my tastes have really broadened. i love salad (hated it as a kid), i'm a tofu maniac (never would've have touched the stuff before i met erin), and although i'm not vegan and probably never will be, i only buy the organic free range products now (and this is all coming from someone who ate at wendy's 4 days out of the week as recently as 24 months ago). i'm almost fully converted to all vegeterian culinary styles...except...

sandwich meat.

i love the boca and gardenburger items, i eat it all enthusiastically. but as for sandwich meat, the veggie cold cuts...i've just never been able to make myself eat it. that said, i haven't tried hardly any of it. so basically i'm asking for name brand recommendations. what's the good stuff, and what're the best flavors, etc? i'd really love to have sandwiches back in my life, especially with some barbecue (if you can get it, get mrs' griffin's...it's a southern brand, like the other you mentioned, thinnish, heavy on the vinegar/mustard seed...ahhhhhhh).

help me out here. as long as i'm sandwichless, i'm incomplete.

~davy

[Lalitree]

Hmm. I myself LOVE a sandwich of fake turkey, nayonaise, lettuce and tomato. I can't remember which brands I like best, but I have had success with pretty much each one I tried (Yves comes to mind, as does another one who's name I can't quite remember--Good something). The texture is a bit different and I can see how it would be off-putting, but I love it. Oh, additionally, rather than buying the pre-sliced stuff, maybe try slicing up one of those Quorn roasts--much better taste & texture (downside = you have to thaw it and then bake it first, but in my opinion it's worth it).

[Andrew_TSKS]

davy, i have the package at home and will let you know the name of the company that makes the fake sandwich meat i like next time i am home.

lalitree--i actually always hated mayonnaise, and i can't dig on some nayonaise either. just not into it at all.

john--i understand about the verb tenses. i grew up in the mid-atlantic, so i've been hearing it all my life.

[Nickosaurus]

I like to make pulled pork barbecue sandwhiches, but with roasted red pepper and carrots thinly sliced. It's quite delicious.

[sedita]

take a block of wicked firm tofu,
slice of the ends, about 1/4 inch slices
sandwhich-meat-esque
put it all back in the plastic tub
with marinade of your choice
(okay okay, barbecue sauce....)
((i use carrot juice with a bunch of chopped ginger and a squeeze of lemon))
leave it over night.
lay them out on a baking sheet,
brush on the marinade
bake at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes
flipping and brushing periodically.

THAT makes the best sandwhiches there are...
spruce with cucumbers and avacado slices,
some romain and some ripe cherry tomato slices.

yum.

[rtotalexvii]

the tofurkey slices.. they are yummy!  being petty-bourgeois never tasted so good.

they shit all over the yves and most of the other pre-packaged ones i've had.  they taste more like what you'd get if you sliced up a fake roast.

vegetarian/vegan cooking is fun.  thank you, sedita--i will definitely try that.

[swilkes]

take a block of wicked firm tofu,

This tells me you've spent time in the Boston area.

I cannot get enough of Gardenburger's "Riblets," they are my bread and butter, if you'll pardon the phrase.  G'burger now has a bbq "chicken" product which is basically the same thing, only shaped different and the meat is white, not reddish-tannish-whateverish.  The interesting thing here is not the vegetable protein product, but the sauce it's in. I would kill for a bottle of Gardenburger's bbq sauce.

I was anti-tofurkey for awhile, but a couple Thanksgivings ago my roommate turned me on to the Tofurky Roast, and now I see the light.

[sedita]

swilkes,

nope, never lived in boston.
wicked is a pretty nor'eastern thing.
i grew up in upstate ny....


tofurky------------------------------------->
their italian sausage, not the breakfast sausage,
but the big ol' honkin sausage,
damn.
damn
damn.
good on pasta,
good on a roll with grilled peppers and onions.
i want one right now.

j.

[Roque]

Hah, "wicked" definitely is a New England thing, but it's rightly spread.

/////

[John]

I love a lot of fake meat, but I gotta admit that none of the thin-sliced-sammich-meat substitutes have ever done the trick for me. However, I only ever wanted sandwiches like that once in a blue moon anyhow, so it's no great loss for me.

[redstar]

yea, I've had no luck with finding good fake lunch meat....

speaking of bbq sauce and fake meat...gardenburger  (I think?) makes these bbq "riblets" that are pretty damned amazing

[justinh]

the tofurkey slices.. they are yummy!  being petty-bourgeois never tasted so good.

they shit all over the yves and most of the other pre-packaged ones i've had.  they taste more like what you'd get if you sliced up a fake roast.

this is the gospel truth.  all other fake sandwich meats are terrible.  

props to the tofurkey loaf, too.  

sometimes i don't even know why i'm a vegetarian anymore.  now it's just sort of something i've been doing for the better part of a decade and aren't comfortable with changing, really.  after the better part of a decade, when faced with a food/language conundrum in greece i ate some chicken broth a couple of months ago. it was weird.

[davy]

I cannot get enough of Gardenburger's "Riblets," they are my bread and butter, if you'll pardon the phrase . . . The interesting thing here is not the vegetable protein product, but the sauce it's in. I would kill for a bottle of Gardenburger's bbq sauce.

YESSSSSSS!!!

if forced at gunpoint to eat only one food for the rest of our lives, my wife and i would choose gardenburger riblets. no doubt about it. we like to cook up a couple bowls of brown rice, heat up the riblets, lay them steaming hot on top of the rice, and sprinkle with bakers' yeast and/or shredded parmesan. yeah, we have that dinner about twice a week.

of course, when we're in athens, we have a lot more options for eating out, and we cook less.

john, not sure if anyone has told you before, but when you swing through athens on tour, you should always, always, ALWAYS eat dinner at the grit. it's honestly the greatest vegeterian restaurant i've ever eaten at in my life--by leaps and bounds--and yay, it's in my town. also good are the bluebird cafe (for breakfast), 5-star day cafe (my favorite for lunch), and clocked, the new burger joint (they have fakin' bacon!) a few doors down from the 40 watt. all those are downtown...the grit is a couple blocks north of downtown.

oh, and always, always, ALWAYS ask for the golden bowl w/cheese[/i]. greatest. dish. ever.

~davy

[jebreject]

I've never had any of the gardenburger products.  I LOVE those Boca Chik'n patties though, especially the spicy ones.  On a whim, I bought some Smart Turkey and it was ... okay, but nothing special.  The texture was too weird and it kinda smelled funny.

[davy]

sometimes i don't even know why i'm a vegetarian anymore.

have you read fast food nation by eric schlosser? although less a vegeterian manifesto than a food industry expose', it pretty much did the trick for me. that, and driving through southeastern colorado and southern kansas, past the enormous meat processing plants...yeah, your desire for a big juicy hamburger really takes a nose dive after seeing that sort of thing.

and, as aforementioned, my wife being vegan didn't hurt any.

~davy

[justinh]

yeah, but it's like i don't really think not eating meat is any better than buying organic/free range meat.  i mean, i guess i'm not really against the whole death of animals thing, but i'm into sustainable/healthy agriculture and animal death.

[stephanie]

♥ fake coldcuts = Tofurky!  their peppered 'turkey' is most excellent, esp. on toasted wheat bread.  and WORD on the Quorn roast thing.

♥ BBQ sauce = Sweet Baby Ray's - Hickory flavor, if you can get it.  yesssssssss.

[jacob]

Fake meat + barbecue sauce:

Take a package of chicken seitan, rip it to medium sized chunks, and saute it up. When it's just about done, pour a goodly amount of barbecue sauce straight into the pan. Stir and cook for a while until the sauce reduces to a syrupy glaze, then serve in a hamburger bun with some veganaise.

= deliciousness

[wordsofglass]

my next obsession is gonna be eastern Carolinas style bbq: high on vinegar, low on thick - more marinade than sauce, but you still uses it like a sauce

Never could learn to like that stuff, growing up in western NC myself. Usually I'll hate all over some eastern NC BBQ (ours IS better), but if you think you'll like it someday, more power to you.

[John]

Usually I'll hate all over some eastern NC BBQ

This is the best phrase I've heard 1) all year 2) since moving to the south

[Maaik]

I want to call a big What The Fuck on Morningstar/the collective grocers of the middle/north Georgia area.

I don't know who's responsible, nor do I care, but goddamnit, whoever is better bring me back my friggin' Spicy Black Bean Burger Patties.

Damnit.