Jerky, Welcome Wagon, Little Hike

The subject of tofu jerky came up on IRC the other day, and it made me want some. Short of mail order, the stuff is unobtainable to me, so I made some. I've made the stuff before, but I had textural problems with it. I did it by the slicing/marinating/drying method that most recipes call for, but since that didn't work for me, I decided to use a "hamburger jerky" method this time.

1 lb. extra firm tofu (not silken!)

1/2 c. soy sauce

4 t. liquid smoke

1 t. med. ground black pepper

1 t. onion powder

1 t. garlic powder

1 t. red pepper flakes

Press/Drain the tofu for at least 30 minutes. You can use a colendar, a big can of tomato sauce and waxed paper to do the sqeezing for you.

I put the tofu through a food mill, but you can mash it by hand if you like.

Mix all the other ingredients together and add them to the tofu. Mix thoroughly. If you can see any white tofu, you need to mash it more.

Smoosh out 1/2 the mixture between two sheets of waxed paper to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Try and make it relatively rectangular and a size that will take up 1/2 or less of your cookie sheet.

Repeat with the other half of the mixture. Take the top sheets off and transfer the tofu to a cookie sheet.

Dry in your oven for 6 hours at 200' or 8 hours at 150'.

The jerky may crack within the sheets. That's OK. Tear into bits or strips, however it wants to go, really. Store in an air tight container.

We were visited by the welcome wagon lady late this afternoon. Seriously. The Chamber of Commerce sends people around with coupons, flyers and promo material for the local businesses. She was nice enough, but the whole experience was a bit weird for us. Don't get me wrong -- we like it here, and people ARE nicer here. I think I've already mentioned this, but the grocery stores are also better stocked and have better hours (24 of 'em) than *any* grocery store in Reston. The Farmer Jack stocks all the Morningstar Farms products we like, more than some of the stores in Reston[1]

I hiked a little bit of the AT local to us. I started at VA55 and went north (the only appropriate direction, of course).

Yeah, funny you should ask, but that's all uphill. Except for the one little saddle that is the road noise blocker. Nothing like putting a few hundred feet of hill behind you to get rid of some noxious road noise. I hiked to a viewpoint, which was very pleasant, but not what I'd call spectacular. Maybe if you hit it at the right time of day. It did have a bench and a name, "Barrington View" or something like that. You could, in a pinch (small and a teeny bit slanty), put a tent on the little patch of non-scrub-covered ground and have a fantastic view for sunset and sunrise though. It was a nice diversion for an hour anyway. It was a gorgeous day, which always helps.

[1]Now that some of the Giant stores in Reston are being renovated, they seem to be stocking an equally good supply of fake meat stuff. Otherwise, I could say more than any of them.

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