I generally have a backlog of a few weeks’ worth of recipes for this blog. Occasionally I make something and decide I need to post it the very next day, but most of the time my recipes work their way through the list and slow process of photographing, editing, writing and publishing. This recipe has been in my queue for a few weeks now, and my husband has asked me numerous times when I’m going to post it. I usually take that as a sign that the recipe was pretty damn good. In this case, I’ve been informed, that not only is the recipe awesome, but jerky played a part in his journey towards going meatless. I’m lucky to be with a guy whose food preferences are pretty close to my own. But he tells me that during his younger years, long before contemplating cutting out animal foods, he belonged to a band in which he was the only meat-eating member. His vegetarian bandmates mockingly brought him several packages of veggie jerky, which he devoured and loved, much to their amusement. I suppose if jerky had ever been an obstacle to him going veg, he did away with it then and there. I don’t really think it’s surprising that he loved it so much. Jerky’s appeal really isn’t about meat, right? It’s all about the seasonings, spices and flavor. Any recollection I have of eating jerky made from animals is way foggy at this point. I’m sure the texture of tofu jerky isn’t exactly like it, but I definitely had something of an “Oh, yeah, I remember this kind of food!” moment when I tasted it. I made my jerky by basing tofu in a super-flavorful sauce and then cooking it in the oven at a super low temperature. If you’ve got a food dehydrator I’m sure that would work too. And just to show you how easy the oven method is, I went and made a video of it!
