BBQ TOFU?!?!

[lostclusters]

Has anyone ever tried, or tried to make BBQ tofu? The reason I ask is because I saw an episode of "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" a while back (s8e11), with Aaron Sanchez at the Redbird restaurant in Los Angles. Aaron talk about this smoked BBQ tofu. The way he described it definitely caught my attention. And I decided that I had to try it. There was not really enough description of the process envolved to recreate this in the show. So I had to really look into this intently if I was going to give this a serious attempt. It seems that the key to success to having a tasty product is to cook it twice.

Ya, ya I know, it is most likely more blasphemous than boiling ribs, putting salt in rubs, or using a beer can for chicken. But I am intrigued.

[Caffeine88]

Crunches popcorn.... Waits for snide tofu comments to commence......😁



Cook twice, for sure, and then accidentally drop next to the dog?



Seriously, I hate the stuff, but I'm sure there are folks who can make it edible. BBQ might be the only way I could imagine to do so. Hope you get some good ideas!

[bbqLuv]

Try a good Hot and Sour soup--the Chinese do it good.

[jfmorris]

The only tofu I routinely eat is the little chunks of it in my Hot & Sour soup, but I am interested to see what develops here...

[Attjack]

Those are soft white chunks. Fried, baked, or BBQ tofu is going to be a lot tastier because it's going to have a discernable texture and most likely, more flavor.

[DTro]

I do it quite a bit. Makes for a heart-healthy tasty meal. Start with a good brand of firm or extra firm tofu. Press as much water out of it as you can. I rest a cast iron skillet on it for about 40 minutes. Then portion and marinate in asian sauces with ground ginger, garlic and red pepper. Recently I have bean using a mix of soy, sherry, sesame oil and black bean sauce. The tofu will take up the flavors of anything you feed it. I try to get a flavor big on umami and find that a drop or two of fish sauce helps. Grill with your favorite method. It turns out very meat-like. I have never cooked it twice, but I am interested in hearing about that.

[Jim White]

Definitely a very interesting idea. Since I have lots of vegan friends and acquaintances, this could be a very good thing to throw into the rotation while entertaining.

[RonB]

Just get new friends...

[Jim White]

What I might not have made clear, RonB, is that I think I'd enjoy eating this too.

My attitude is that I like food however known.

[JCBBQ]

DTro is right about draining the water. That’s one of the most annoying parts. I’ve done it in the past but since my vegetarian daughter lives abroad I haven’t done it in years. His method above is one way. Really depends on how much water you remove and how long you can marinate it. I think I remember preferring frying it - nice crunchy texture - and then adding a sauce to the outside. Faster too

[Donw]

One of my sons is a vegetarian. He was attending training in Raleigh the company took them out for BBQ to one of the well known places. He tried their bbq tofu and talked about how good it was. Since then whenever we have a guest to a BBQ who doesn’t eat red meat we prepare some tofu for them. Personally I’m not a fan but they seem to enjoy it. As stated above get firm or extra firm, drain the liquid off as much as possible, and giving it a good coating of something they will enjoy.

[Attjack]

My buddy's son smokes it on his kamado. I have not tried his though.

[lostclusters]

I have a extra firm block and a super firm block to test with. I squeezed out quite a bit of water from the extra firm block. But I could hardly get any water out of the super firm block. I dry brined and rubbed them both last night and then they went in the fridge. I plan on smoking today, vacuum sealing, and back in the fridge to bbq and glaze tomorrow. This is the process used at that restaurant.

[Huskee]

I smoked some once as a test, I also didn't really know how to do it so it got a little rub and went beside some wings or chops or something. It was god awful, tasteless mush. I have since been informed by pros here it needs cooked way more, fried, or the snot seared out of it. I do not intend to find out unless it happens to be the only thing I have available.

[rickgregory]

A tip on getting the water out. Slice it... then... parboil it. The tofu will quickly contract, expelling its moisture. Remove the tofu, pat dry and you're good to go.

Looking at the Redbird menu, it's not just smoked, they serve it with "fried wild rice, mustard greens, togarashi, shiitake xo". Not sure what the last item is, but togarashi is a Japanese spice mix that's easy to find in any well stocked Asian market.

[Mr. Bones]

Just throwin shite @ th wall, but ah'ma guessin one would possibly marinade and or cook said smoked tofu in such a sauce???
Shiitake Xo

[rickgregory]

Oh... nice find Mr. Bones. Now I think i need some of that stuff...

[lostclusters]

I don't know Huskee this tasted pretty damn good! Nice crust. Cooked indirect 250 - 300 for about an hour. But it is only the first cook. Tomorrow is the next step, grilled and glazed in BBQ sauce!

[bbqLuv]

BBQ tofu, gag me with a Ginsu, on 2nd thought I eat it in Chinese food, so I just may have to give it a try.

[Lost in China]

Poor tofu. It gets such a bad rap. It's not tofu's fault. It's Americans and specifically vegetarians fault that tofu is held in such low regard.

Tofu isn't a meat substitute. It's its own thing. But so many vegetarians have been pushing it as a meat substitute, and it's just not. I get it, when someone shoves this in your face, it's not even in the same class as meat. Add to this hectoring health nuts who are always talking about tofu like it's some miracle food. No wonder nobody likes it.

The secret to tofu is to appreciate it by as its own culinary category. It's not meat, it's not vegetables, it's tofu. And tofu is the rubber-faced actor of the kitchen. It can be anything. Just dress it up however you feel, and the tofu will do the rest. There are all sorts of textures of tofu: soft, firm, so hard you need a knife, and so soft it's a challenge to pick it up with chopsticks without dividing into fragments. But all are bland and merely blank slates for you to imprint your creativity on.

One of my favorite dishes in the world is mala tofu. This dish is cubes of medium-soft tofu in a spicy sauce. Absolutely delicious. It goes well with a Chinese meal as it provides a break between rich foods, somewhat like a piece of bread in western cuisine. Another favorite is a simple dish of white tofu with scallions. A perfect cold dish to start the meal while you wait for the hot food to arrive.

Barbecue tofu? Sure! It works. You get the firm, flat tofu and cut it into 2 inch squares. Stick three of them on a skewer, season, sauce and put on the grill. Brown the exterior and serve. Or use this sheet tofu which is like lasagna pasta. Get a long piece and thread a skewer through it, spice, brown and serve. Of course, you never cook just tofu. It's one of many foods in Chinese shaokao barbecue. Nobody would dream of only eating tofu. There's lamb, string beans, cauliflower, squid (surprisingly good - kinda like tofu in that the spices and sauce give it the flavor), scallions, shrimp, lotus, and a million kinds of seafood including these open face scallops served with noodles in the shell. And...ugh, hot dogs. There are always hot dogs. And these are no Oscar Meyer wieners, either, they are extruded pink forms in plastic cigar-like wrappings that need to be peeled open before eating. I'd rather have barbecue tofu than one of these horrors any day.


Tell me that doesn't look good.


Several of these are tofu! And those damn hot dogs.

And after all this we must admit that there are indeed mock meats made with tofu. If you go to the right restaurant, these can be amazing. I had lemon chicken that really tasted like lemon chicken. But honestly it's been years since I was in that kind of restaurant. But forget the meat substitute, if you're expecting meat and get tofu it's hard not to be disappointed. Appreciate tofu for what it is: its own category separate from everything else, and you're on the road to a new discovery.

[bbqLuv]

Nice write up, great pictures,
"Tofu isn't a meat substitute. It's its own thing." Another way to say Tofu is Tofu.
How about suggesting a recipe or two for BBQ Tofu?
Season with SPG, or pork and chicken rub? Internat temp when done? Sauce?

[Caffeine88]

I think you hit the nail on the head for me - don't tell me tofu is a meat substitute and then get upset when I tell you it's a pretty miserable choice! Make the case for tofu as it's own thing, and delicious when treated as such. I can meet you more than halfway with this approach.

Great description - thanks!

[fzxdoc]

lostclusters , what is the purpose of the dry brine step? Just curious.

Kathryn

[lostclusters]

fzxdoc to season the tofu

[fzxdoc]

So you don't dry brine the tofu overnight or for several hours. It's just a step to add salt. I get it. Thanks, lostclusters .

Kathryn