Tofu Is A Meat Substitute You'll Definitely Want To Avoid Grilling

Americans love grilling; along with summer baseball games and setting off fireworks during the Fourth of July, it's one of the great American pastimes. And sometimes, you want to grill even though you're a vegetarian or trying to reduce the amount of meat you consume. Nothing wrong with either of those things! So maybe you reach for the tofu to throw on the grill. Logically, it makes sense; it's generally easy to cook with, it's inoffensive, and it tastes like pretty much whatever you want to season it with. In general, it's a great vegetarian protein.

Only when it comes to the grill, it turns out that tofu is the opposite of great. There are a lot of ways to cook tofu (crispy tofu is especially a favorite) effectively, but grilling might be the worst possible choice. There are theoretical ways to make it work, but ultimately, it's not really worth the risk and effort.

The problem with grilling tofu is that it's so delicate, and its water content is so high that it breaks down easily. Hitting it with the high heat a grill provides just straight-up melts the stuff. It generally totally falls apart, crumbling and disintegrating into the lower reaches of your Weber. That said, you can get around this by buying specially formulated firm tofu — that stuff will generally hold up. But your garden variety water-packed silken tofu? Avoid grilling that at all costs.

There are far better choices if you want an excellent vegetarian grilling option. Peppers are firm enough that they're known for grilling well, and charring generally only adds to their flavor. Onions taste great when you grill them, although you must cut them carefully to ensure they don't break apart into their component slices. Meanwhile, Zucchini and squash are easy to cut into grill-friendly pieces, and many people swear by them. Portobello mushrooms are incredible and probably the king of grilled vegetarian options; they often arguably grill up even better than steak. All of these work better than tofu.

Tofu is far from the only protein that shouldn't be cooked on the grill. Bacon doesn't work since it needs to be exposed to consistent, evenly-dispersed heat (this is why it's better in the oven than even the frying pan). Like tofu, flaky fish is an outright disaster, usually falling apart straight into your charcoal. Surprisingly, for all its association with BBQ, brisket is also a no-go on the grill. Since it's full of connective tissue, exposing brisket to high heat turns it tough and largely inedible; it needs time for that tissue to break down, so you always want to go low and slow.

Grilling is a great summer culinary activity (or any other season, if you're committed enough), but knowing the product you're working with is important. If you decide to grill with tofu or any of these meats, godspeed, but you'll probably have a bad time.