Tofu Tacos at White Duck Tacos, Hendersonville, NC

[jclay]

I visited Hendersonville, NC last weekend, went to White Duck Tacos and had a bahn mi tofu taco; it was spectacular; I could eat them forever but since the WD is ~450 miles away I need to figure out how to make'em. I shoulda asked the WD staff how they were made but didn't since safe $ rides on "can't tell you"; so I snapped a photo; but shoulda tried to ID each component; the carrots are obvious and maybe the white strings are cabbage? But that leaves quite a bit unknown. Spousal unit found the linked recipe from a WD aficionado which I'll try shortly but it does look a little different. Any ideas welcomed.

Aficionado recipe: https://nutritionstripped.com/bahn-mi-tofu-tacos/

Photo of the real deal...powerful good:

20220805_120943.jpg

[COVRTDESIGN]

The white vegetable is jicima, a great root vegetable for this application. Looks like a quick pickled carrot, jalapeno in a simple pickling liquid, apple cider vinegar works best to have some sweetness to offset heat.

The marinade for the tofu could be a ghochujang chili paste, and the sauce on the bottom might be a mango salsa of some kind.

When I was the exec chef of a vegan/vegetarian restaurant here in Denver, I made tofu bahn mi's that were amazing. I made a miso tamari marinade for the tofu and then baked it with the marinade. Quick pickled veg of jicima, jalapeno, and carrot, sweet sambal aioli made with honey or agave, and topped with raw jalapeno and cilantro.

I'll see if I can find the recipes somewhere in the mound of chef notebooks from back in my chef career.

IMG_3904.jpg

[jclay]

The white vegetable is jicima, a great root vegetable for this application. Looks like a quick pickled carrot, jalapeno in a simple pickling liquid, apple cider vinegar works best to have some sweetness to offset heat.

The marinade for the tofu could be a ghochujang chili paste, and the sauce on the bottom might be a mango salsa of some kind.

When I was the exec chef of a vegan/vegetarian restaurant here in Denver, I made tofu bahn mi's that were amazing. I made a miso tamari marinade for the tofu and then baked it with the marinade. Quick pickled veg of jicima, jalapeno, and carrot, sweet sambal aioli made with honey or agave, and topped with raw jalapeno and cilantro.

I'll see if I can find the recipes somewhere in the mound of chef notebooks from back in my chef career.

IMG_3904.jpg

Damn! The windup, and the pitch, the swing....it's....it's....it's outta here!

Thanks a lot! I'll look forward to that.

The photo of your creation....looks mighty tasty!

Could turnips or parsnips be substituted for the jicima if I can't find it around here?

[COVRTDESIGN]

Damn! The windup, and the pitch, the swing....it's....it's....it's outta here!

Thanks a lot! I'll look forward to that.

The photo of your creation....looks mighty tasty!

Could turnips or parsnips be substituted for the jicima if I can't find it around here?

It could also be daikon, thinking about it more.

I found my recipe but of course it makes about WAY TOO MUCH of the aioli, so I will have to break in down for a family portion.

The Miso tamari Glaze is:
6T miso paste
2T Tamari
1/4C Water
2T Agave
3 cloves garlic
2" piece of ginger, minced
2T Rice wine vinegar
1T Mirin
1T Cayenne

Add to blender and blend until smooth.

Press tofu for at least 24 hours. Cut tofu into 1"x4"x1/4" thick pieces and pour marinade over tofu. move the tofu around to have marinade cover all of the tofu. Marinate for 24 hours. Bake on 400 for 10-15 minutes. (Keep an eye on it as I can't give a good estimate not in a professional kitchen oven, ha)

Pickled Veg

Julienne carrot, jicima or daikon, jalapeno, cucumber, red onion. Mince garlic. Pickle in brine for 24 hours or a hot quick pickle for 2 hours.

Brine

2C white wine or rice wine vinegar
1C sugar
2T salt
1C water

Honey Sambal Aioli

8C Sugar
1/2C Water
3/4 Gal Sambal
2 1/4C Agave or honey
4Q veganaise or mayonaise
2T Lemon juice
1T salt. Add in increments to taste.

(I'll break this down for you soon to family size, not restaurant size. ha.)

Make a caramel with water and sugar. Remove from heat and add sambal. this will spit EVERYWHERE so be ready to quickly cover with a towel or lid. Return to heat and reduce mixture by at least half. Remove from heat and add agave/honey and salt.

Once cooled, pour honey sambal into veganaise/mayo and mix. Add lemon juice to taste and mix.

This will have a good bite with the cayenne, sambal, and jalapeno, so add/subtract accordingly based off of your heat preferences.

[jclay]

It could also be daikon, thinking about it more.

I found my recipe but of course it makes about WAY TOO MUCH of the aioli, so I will have to break in down for a family portion.

The Miso tamari Glaze is:
6T miso paste
2T Tamari
1/4C Water
2T Agave
3 cloves garlic
2" piece of ginger, minced
2T Rice wine vinegar
1T Mirin
1T Cayenne

Add to blender and blend until smooth.

Press tofu for at least 24 hours. Cut tofu into 1"x4"x1/4" thick pieces and pour marinade over tofu. move the tofu around to have marinade cover all of the tofu. Marinate for 24 hours. Bake on 400 for 10-15 minutes. (Keep an eye on it as I can't give a good estimate not in a professional kitchen oven, ha)

Pickled Veg

Julienne carrot, jicima or daikon, jalapeno, cucumber, red onion. Mince garlic. Pickle in brine for 24 hours or a hot quick pickle for 2 hours.

Brine

2C white wine or rice wine vinegar
1C sugar
2T salt
1C water

Honey Sambal Aioli

8C Sugar
1/2C Water
3/4 Gal Sambal
2 1/4C Agave or honey
4Q veganaise or mayonaise
2T Lemon juice
1T salt. Add in increments to taste.

(I'll break this down for you soon to family size, not restaurant size. ha.)

Make a caramel with water and sugar. Remove from heat and add sambal. this will spit EVERYWHERE so be ready to quickly cover with a towel or lid. Return to heat and reduce mixture by at least half. Remove from heat and add agave/honey and salt.

Once cooled, pour honey sambal into veganaise/mayo and mix. Add lemon juice to taste and mix.

This will have a good bite with the cayenne, sambal, and jalapeno, so add/subtract accordingly based off of your heat preferences.

Wow, thanks a lot! I'm looking forward to giving this a whirl.

Even though I grew up in a fairly culinary adventuresome and well traveled family I continue to be astonished by the galaxy of vastly different approaches to food that exist elsewhere...and here. Coming across vegan/vegetarian foods that have incredible flavors is pretty fantastic and it's an area in which I know very little. This will be quite a treat.

[mnoble485]

Just an aside, wife and I drove by White Duck Tacos in Asheville recently. Wanted so badly to stop but the line was ridiculous. Next time.

Mike

[jclay]

It could also be daikon, thinking about it more.

I found my recipe but of course it makes about WAY TOO MUCH of the aioli, so I will have to break in down for a family portion.

The Miso tamari Glaze is:
6T miso paste
2T Tamari
1/4C Water
2T Agave
3 cloves garlic
2" piece of ginger, minced
2T Rice wine vinegar
1T Mirin
1T Cayenne

Add to blender and blend until smooth.

Press tofu for at least 24 hours. Cut tofu into 1"x4"x1/4" thick pieces and pour marinade over tofu. move the tofu around to have marinade cover all of the tofu. Marinate for 24 hours. Bake on 400 for 10-15 minutes. (Keep an eye on it as I can't give a good estimate not in a professional kitchen oven, ha)

Pickled Veg

Julienne carrot, jicima or daikon, jalapeno, cucumber, red onion. Mince garlic. Pickle in brine for 24 hours or a hot quick pickle for 2 hours.

Brine

2C white wine or rice wine vinegar
1C sugar
2T salt
1C water

Honey Sambal Aioli

8C Sugar
1/2C Water
3/4 Gal Sambal
2 1/4C Agave or honey
4Q veganaise or mayonaise
2T Lemon juice
1T salt. Add in increments to taste.

(I'll break this down for you soon to family size, not restaurant size. ha.)

Make a caramel with water and sugar. Remove from heat and add sambal. this will spit EVERYWHERE so be ready to quickly cover with a towel or lid. Return to heat and reduce mixture by at least half. Remove from heat and add agave/honey and salt.

Once cooled, pour honey sambal into veganaise/mayo and mix. Add lemon juice to taste and mix.

This will have a good bite with the cayenne, sambal, and jalapeno, so add/subtract accordingly based off of your heat preferences.

I am preparing to start working on this journey; any last minute flight plan change suggestions, sauce simplifications...any coaching that would help me land on the right runway while keeping the number of go-arounds in the single digits? This is a new level of sophistication and in an unfamiliar jungle of ingredients!

Thanks for everything!

[jclay]

Working through your notes.

The Aioli: We keep garlic, lemons, eggs & olive oil, around; would that stuff along with sambal & honey work fine for the sambal honey ailoi? Or is making fresh not worth the trouble? Just opened a qt of mayo so I can go that way easily.

Now I see that agave is used in the miso tamari glaze; can honey be substituted reasonably? Trying to minimize things that won’t likely be widely used in our kitchen (and subsequently spoil before being used up) but if it's needed for that I'll get it.

Never pickled anything; just read some “Pickling 101” guides on the interwebs. Can do.

You noted that ghochujang chili paste and mango salsa might have been in the White Duck taco photo; I’m going to follow your recipe so won’t get that stuff at this point. But I think that learning to make a mango salsa is a good idea.

It will be interesting to see if I can find jicima; if not turnips won’t be a problem.

Thanks again!

Edit: Daikon...it's a kind of radish! Man, I'm learning all kinds of stuff from this. I do love root vegetables...and rarely consume them. Go figure.

[COVRTDESIGN]

A parsnip would certainly work, but not have a ton of flavor when pickled. I would recommend a daikon, most grocery stores have them now, finally. If not a regular turnip works, but I would let them pickle longer to get some of that "spice bite" that they have, out of it