You got me. I’m that person. The one who shows up at your 4th of July barbecue with the homemade tofu hot dogs. It’s okay though. You really don’t need to invent an allergy to tofu or pretend to like them. You probably will actually like these. They’re pretty darn good. Hear me out. I do not like veggie hot dogs. In fact, I didn’t even like regular old meat-based hot dogs when I was a kid. These franks are not an attempt at impersonating hot dogs. That would be a really tough thing to do, and probably not all that great an idea. I have yet to see a cookbook or blogger attempt a realistic version of vegan hot dogs, instead usually seeing things like carrots and eggplants stuffed into hot dog buns. That’s just fine by me, because carrots and eggplants are way better than any hot dog I ever ate. I opted to stuff tofu into hot dog buns. Savory, marinated, baked and grilled tofu, to be accurate. As I often do, I chose to play up the good features of meat foods I never really liked. Works every time. Getting the tofu right was a little complicated. The marinade is key. All those smoky, savory flavors, those are the aspects of hot dogs that I wanted in my tofu franks. Baking is my favorite way to prepare marinated tofu, because it cooks all of those delicious flavors in, but I wasn’t happy with the outer texture when I finished baking these, which is why I went and grilled them up in a bit of oil. This gave the dogs a nice crisp outer shell, which is exactly what I wanted. I made these a couple times, and on one attempt I left my skillet unattended and burned them a bit…and it was awesome. If you like burned food, then burn these on the stove. If you’re grilling, then burn them on the grill, as that would probably be even better. Just brush the outer surfaces of your franks with a bit of oil and you should get that outer crust I was so fond of in my stove top version. The recipe yields three to six links. If you want big fat franks that barely fit in the bun, go for three, cutting the brick of tofu lengthwise into three identical strips. For smaller franks, cut into four strips, and for little baby franks, go for up to six, keeping in mind that the outer surface is the best part, and the greater your number of franks, the higher your outer surface to inside ratio. My favorite way to eat these was actually do go with six franks and double them up in the buns. Finally, if want round-ish franks, go and shave down the edges of your tofu strips. Totally not necessary, but fun. Throw your tofu shavings into the marinade with everything else and then eat them on a salad, in a sandwich, or by the handful. They’re delicious.
