You’d suppose that each one would have long past out the window once I stopped consuming meat, and far of it has. I nonetheless consider my ultimate style of brisket at Austin’s famed Franklin Barbecue greater than a decade in the past; as I marveled at the smoke ring, tenderness and juiciness, I knew intellectually that it used to be the Platonic ideally suited – and emotionally that it didn’t transfer me. It took me many months to understand that what I had misplaced a style for used to be the pork, no longer the smoke. Not by means of an extended shot.
Thankfully, in this day and age, I will get my smoke repair from such a lot of different meals. I’ve long past on document as partial to the smoked egg salad at Baltimore’s Neopol Savory Smokery (which has a well-liked counter at D.C.’s Union Market). I’m a sucker for smoked cheeses, and previous this summer season I couldn’t prevent speaking about the smoked kalamata olives I found out on a Whole Foods Market olive bar.
Get the recipe: Stovetop Smoked Tofu
Those are merchandise I purchase already smoked. What I’ve carried out a lot much less over the years is smoke meals myself, even if I’ve a large yard that incorporates an out of doors charcoal grill that I may just rig up for low-and-slow cooking (aka barbeque). I’ll blame it on a mix of a hectic circle of relatives and paintings lifestyles and not more tolerance for the warmth and mosquitoes of the D.C. summertime (and every so often spring and every so often fall), however each time I prepare dinner out of doors, I would like to make it as fast as conceivable.
The one home-smoked meals that helps to keep tempting me, even though, is one in all my different nice loves: tofu. One of Neopol’s different standout merchandise is its smoked tofu, which I really like to collapse up and bind with mayonnaise and scallions. Every time I do, I surprise at how splendidly wood-kissed the tofu is, with a taste that’s concurrently extra pronounced and extra nuanced than the selection I purchase from the grocery retailer, as excellent as this is. I additionally like to devour it with vegetables or rice, stir it into chilis or put it on such dishes as okonomiyaki, the Japanese cabbage pancake.
Ever since I learn Steven Raichlen’s “Project Smoke” a number of years in the past, I’ve been which means to check out one in all his ways for smoking tofu, however I stored preventing at the hurdle of that out of doors setup. Then a reader requested in a remark lately about how to smoke their very own, so I doubled down and discovered that Raichlen had already given me the key, with a brief reference to how neatly tofu takes to stovetop (aka indoor) smoking. I don’t have a stovetop smoker (like the ones made by means of Camerons), however I quickly discovered I didn’t want that, both. With the assist of a few directions in Cook’s Illustrated, I used my Dutch oven, wooden chips, a steamer basket and a few aluminum foil to do the trick.
Turns out, it’s lovely darn simple: You simply line the backside of the pot with foil, sprinkle it with wooden chips (unsoaked, this means that they’ll get started smoking quicker), and most sensible that with a steamer basket. Thick slices of seasoned tofu (I used barbeque rub) pass on the steamer, you tent it with extra foil, and set the pot over top warmth. In only a minute or two, as soon as the wisps get started to upward push, you cut back the warmth, duvet the pot and use extra foil to seal up the rim. In about 20 mins, the tofu takes on a stupendous smoke taste. You can devour it as is (it’s scrumptious), mash it with mayo for the aforementioned salad, or flip it into one thing much more meal-worthy by means of searing the tofu in oil and serving along with your favourite barbeque sauce.
It’s no longer vintage barbeque, and it’s no challenge. Instead, it’s one in all my favourite proteins, bathed in one in all my favourite flavors. And simply if you happen to had been questioning, it got here with some other bonus: Surprisingly, the recipe didn’t spark off my smoke detector.
Get the recipe: Stovetop Smoked Tofu