Mesquite smoked soy curls make excellent tacos

Y'all liked those tofu tacos the other day so much I decided to make some more Yucatan inspired vegan food! I seasoned these with cochinita style spices and smoked them with TX mesquite. They were so good! I had been wanted to try to smoke soy curls for months and then weather finally warmed up for some grilling 💚

It's really ironic how much meat was cooked on this grill, and now it's just vegan food. If you had told me a year ago I would be smoking soy curls I wouldn't have believed it, but here I am.

by CharacterForming

CharacterForming 3 days ago

Recipe

Make a flavorful broth to rehydrate the soy curls. I used better than bouillon plant based beef and chicken, soy sauce, spices, pickled red onion brine, and a dash of salt. It’s important to not make this broth too salty, focus on making it VERY flavorful. You will be adding salt in the next step.

Squeeze out the extra broth from the soy, and put it on a large tray. Hit it all generously with spices and neutral flavored oil. This is where a lot of people mess up, you can’t skimp on the oil or the soy will not cook well on the grill/smoker. The texture will not be good and you will get some bad flavors, bitterness. Now salt to taste. It should actually taste great just like it is at this point.

Now, there are many ways to go about the next step, but this is by far my preferred method. I use a product called The Vortex with my Weber kettle. I am not affiliated with either company in any way, I just really, really like this setup. It basically turns the Weber kettle into a charcoal powered air fryer, and it is awesome.

Start your charcoal and when it’s white and hot dump it into the Vortex and place your grate in the grill. Line the edges with foil, leaving some room for air flow. Put your seasoned soy curls on the foil in a ring around the vortex, and place your wood chunks right in the middle. Close the lid and open the vent all the way so you get clean smoke.

After 20-30 minutes the curls are probably ready. Some parts will be slightly crispy, some will be juicy. Put it all in a big bowl and stir and squeeze it together. It will be remarkably like good pulled pork.

Toss it in tortillas with onion and cilantro. I usually hit a taco like this with a salsa, but these were so good I smashed all 4 before even stopping to breathe.

Maybe I should make a sandwich next?

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