As an Ohio transplant to the Carolinas who doesn’t eat meat, I’ve never gotten into the debate about which state has the best barbecue sauce. North Carolinians love vinegar based barbecue sauce, whereas South Carolinians swear by a tangy mustard based sauce. I recently discovered a type of Japanese barbecue sauce called Bulldog Sauce. It’s a tangy, umami-rich sauce with just a few simple ingredients, and is perfect over Seitan for a super quick summer supper. Since Bulldog Sauce is easy to prepare, you could be eating a hearty vegan meal less than twenty-five minutes from now.
Seitan is an often overlooked plant protein, but it has been around for hundreds of years. It is often called “wheat meat” because its main ingredient is vital wheat gluten, which is the basis for a lot of well known meat substitutes made by companies like Field Roast and Tofurky. Spoiler Alert: if a plant protein isn’t labeled as gluten-free, there is a very good chance that it contains seitan.
I used Upton’s Traditional Seitan as I was initially developing this simple recipe, and it’s one of the two commercially produced seitans I recommend (unless you valiantly decide to make your own seitan like I did a couple of weeks ago!) Upton’s Traditional Seitan is very much a “blank slate” because it only contains water, vital wheat gluten, soy sauce, wheat flour, and simple seasonings like salt, garlic and onion.
Since originally drafting this post, I’ve also found a tasty rosemary garlic seitan by Blackbird Foods, called Meat Made from Plants. I remade my recipe this week to tweak the ingredients, and give it very high marks as a great tasting seitan!
I also have a new vegan Worcestershire sauce to recommend, since Worcestershire features prominently in bulldog sauce. For years I used Annie’s Organic Worcestershire Sauce, but I no longer see it on the website or in stores. My new favorite is The Wizard’s Organic Vegan Gluten-Free Worcestershire Sauce. It is very close in both taste and smell to the classic Lea & Perkins Worcestershire Sauce, which contains anchovies.
After removing seitan from its vacuum sealed packaging, just break it apart with a knife or your fingers. In the photo below I did both to get different size pieces which I think look more meat-like. Here is the Upton’s seitan . . .
And here is the Blackbird seitan . . .
I really like that the Blackbird Food’s seitan is not uniform in color like the Upton’s seitan, but has darker places, which make it look more like meat. This is the FAQ on Blackbird Food’s website which explains why pieces of the seitan are darker in color:
“I opened the Seitan package and there are dark brown pieces. Is this normal?
Yes, totally! Seitan starts out as a big block with dark brown skin. When we shred the block into small pieces, some shreds naturally retain the dark brown skin. This is normal and can be prepped, cooked, and consumed just like any other piece of seitan!”
My version of bulldog sauce is amazingly simple to make using just organic ketchup, organic vegan Worcestershire sauce, pomegranate molasses, and a squeeze of lime. I sauté an onion in organic extra virgin olive oil for about 7-8 minutes until it is translucent, add a clove or two of pressed or minced garlic to the sauté, and then add my cut up or broken up seitan. I then add all the remaining ingredients except for the lime, which I add at the end, along with a few grinds of black pepper and sea salt. I’ve made it three times in under 25 minutes.
Here are a couple of ideas for suggested summery sides that go well with the barbecue bulldog seitan – how about zephyr zucchini and roasted tomatoes with a fresh ear of bi-color sweet corn?
Or maybe steamed sugar snap peas and oven roasted potatoes with rosemary and a lemony Dijon mustard sauce?
This easy weeknight meal is only limited by your imagination – and whatever veggies you have in your produce bin!
Here’s the recipe . . . please let me know if you like it!
- 1-2 tablespoons of organic extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Vidalia or yellow onion (preferably organic)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
- i package seitan
- ½ cup organic ketchup
- ¼ cup organic vegan Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ cup pomegranate molasses
- Squeeze of lime (about half of a small lime)
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, and sauté the sliced onion until it is translucent (about 7-8 minutes).
- Add the minced or pressed garlic and sauce for another 30-60 seconds.
- Add the broken up pieces of seitan and saute for about 2 minutes.
- Add the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and pomegranate molasses. Cook for about 3-4 minutes. Squeeze the lime over the top, and add freshly ground sea salt and black pepper to taste. Stir and serve!
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