A Redneck Bar-B-Que

To celebrate my hubby’s birthday yesterday, we had an authentic redneck bar-b-que. It was a perfect day for it—so hot & sunny that we chased the shade all over the yard.

To see the invitation that we emailed out to our friends, click here. We invited guests to come dressed in their redneck attire, and they didn't disappoint!

As our guests walked toward the backyard they were greeted by my husband, the birthday boy, lounging in the ‘redneck pool.’

To decorate for this event, we didn’t have to do much. Our backyard is not great-looking, complete with an ugly, rickety deck and the daylily bed that my husband mowed down, cruddy swingset that came with the house (we have no children so it goes largely unused) and an assorted surrounding of various wood, chain-link and chicken-wire fencing courtesy of our neighbors all ‘round. To add to this ambience, we used lots of found items—including a shopping cart turned into a bar-b-que warming cart, dubbed ‘the grocery pit.’

I moved the kitchen table to the deck along with a fold-out card table, and sheltered them somewhat with a garden umbrella secured to the railing with bungee cords. The tables were then adorned with assorted holiday vinyl tablecloths and littered with the party food—note no organization of any kind. Tableware forks were offered in lieu of plastic, to go with the foam plates and paper napkins! The food was excellent—shredded roast pork, roasted potatoes, baked beans on the barbie, pickles, taco dip, a giant can of nacho cheese (which was delish on those taters!), a jumbo watermelon, beef stew, cole slaw, devilled eggs, southern-style sweet tea served in cleaned-out milk-jugs, generic sodas, chips and pork rinds.

My darling sister-in-law made a deeee-lish birthday cake with a NASCAR theme--featuring Dave's favorite driver, Kasey Kehne, complete with tire smoke!

Under the table we placed a cd player to serenade us with a selection of party tunes provided by my sister-in-law’s wonderful & very musically-minded brother. The songs we enjoyed were:

- Born to be Wild
- Cat Scratch Fever
- The Devil Went Down to Georgia
- Fire on the Mountain
- Green Grass and High Tides
- I Can’t Drive 55
- Let it Roll
- That Smell
- Born on the Bayou
- Midnight Special
- Dimples
- Delta Lady
- Sweet Home Alabama
- Freebird
- Redneck Mothers
- Dim Lights, Thick Smoke and Loud, Loud Music
- Panama Red
- Amy
- Red Hot Women and Ice Cold Beer
- House of Blue Lights
- Good Clean Fun
- Dixie Chicken/Tripe Face Boogie
- I Know a Little
- Take the Highway
- Uneasy Rider
- The South’s Gonna Do it Again
- Ramblin’ Man
- Too Much Fun
- Road House Blues
- Texas Radio and the Big Beat

I had a few empty beer bottles in the basement from when a friend came to visit and brought (and drank!) his own beer. So I tossed them around the perimeter of the yard. As guests finished their sodas and beer, I encouraged them to just chuck ‘em in the yard. Everyone had the same response.

“Really?”

After each person did it the first time, they looked around sheepishly, obviously uncomfortable with the idea. But as the afternoon wore on folks were tossing their empties obliviously over their shoulders, all inhibitions gone.

We did have one guest that could NOT tolerate the cans & bottles all around the yard and HAD to pick them up.

Our beverage cooler was a recycle bin, which worked beautifully.

Everyone lounged in the yard on an assortment of stools, chairs and a disgusting old sofa draped with a hideous green sheet. It was really very comfortable!

Now this wouldn’t be a decent food blog if I didn’t include at least one recipe. And I only have one to share from this party. I made the cole slaw from a recipe I adapted from one of the wonderful gentlemen who frequents the Martha Stewart food message boards. (Thank you, Norm!)


Vinegar Slaw

Combine in a large bowl:

2 small heads cabbage, shredded (about 4 lbs total)
1 large green pepper, grated (make sure you get all the juice)
1 medium Vidalia onion, peeled and grated (make sure you get all the juice)
2 carrots, grated
1 bunch romaine lettuce, chopped fine

Sprinkle with:

2 teaspoons salt
2 cups sugar

Do not mix. In another bowl, combine:

1 tablespoon prepared mustard
2 cups vinegar
1-1/2 cups light olive oil

Whisk to combine thoroughly. Pour over slaw. Do not mix. Refrigerate overnight. Toss just before serving.

Note: I had a bottle of Tasselberry Farm Strawberry Vinegar, so I used it—it was only 1-1/2 cups, so the other ½ cup was red wine vinegar.

We had lots of rave reviews from the party—this might just become a yearly event at our house! Yee-haw!

Until next time,
Mrs.W