Making Vegan Salmon out of Tofu .... and it's actually GOOD! 

Do you think freezing the tofu would allow the more flavor to come in and flake like salmon

I love that you used seaweed for the skin!! This was awesome Mark!

I make a vegan fried Chinese fish from a book I bought in mainland china, it uses a sheet of nori on the bottom as the skin and a filling of enoki mushrooms, water chestnut and sliced tofu puffs, seasoned with shitake and kombu broth. The entire lot is wrapped in a tofu skin, lightly scored and fried. There's a simple "five flavours sauce" with it that's kind of a vinegary less sweet version of sweet and sour.

I real like these plant based fish alternatives. Commercial fishing is killing our oceans, I’m not much of a seafood guy but if y’all can make a vegan shrimp and tuna I’d be all over it.

Really appreciate that you show experiments that don't always succeed fully! It helps to see the process. Thanks!

I JUST KNOW IN A FEW WEEKS YOU WILL PERFECT THIS 🔥

I recently bought a package of vegan fish fingers and they really tasted like fish fingers. I looked through the ingredients and noticed they added flax seed oil. There was no other aroma added, only spices. Now partially oxidized flax seed oil has a fishy smell and taste. Maybe adding flax seed oil and heating it up a little could bring a fishy taste to homemade vegan fish alternatives?

I've done this before but marinated sliced tofu in seaweed flake water, then wrapped in nori sheet. Works a treat! Great job. Always a pleasure to watch your videos 😊

Try the "chopped" version as Salmon Wellington. The pastry crust will hold it all together, and you can layer spinach and dill on the tofu to add flavour.

I make a "Tofu tuna" by crumbling up firm Tofu into a mixture of garlic powder, olive oil, soy sauce, vinegar, turmeric (mainly for color), lemon juice, and mayo. It may not be exactly tuna, but it is quite flavorful and works well in a sandwich.

I feel like fish is the hardest thing to make vegan. But every year I feel like we get closer and closer. Can’t wait to see the future of vegan “fish” !

If you want the color to penetrate the tofu, what works well is to simmer it in an alkaline solution. You can use baking soda or a small amount of pickling lime. If you simmer tofu in a solution that basic, the whole thing becomes very soft and your liquid will penetrate right through it (though you have to time it right - fish it out before it dissolves). Then you can simmer it in an acidic version of the same liquid and it will firm right back up.

I'm glad you tried and enjoyed it! I love your tweaks and tests to recipes, so I'm definitely going to be trying this again with your notes

To me, the best vegan fish was from a very simple recipe: white shimeji mushrooms pulsed in a food processor with salt, pepper and lemon juice (and some flour to bind it), then you make it into little "steaks" flour it and fry. Has a great flaky texture and tastes and smells like fried fish. Just be careful with the mushrooms because it turns really delicate with the processing.

My friend and I tried this awhile ago. We marinated it much longer and even cooked in the marinate to help the flavors get through. Didn’t try the seaweed wrap. That looks great.

“Tons of potential! Lots more salt.” Words I’ve definitely uttered before 😅

How have NO companies offered you anything yet as a food scientist? I'm not vegan, but what you're doing is revolutionary.

i like how you changed the testing part of the video, is more interesting now

I'm stoked for the next version of this. I feel like you always do one video testing out an idea, then it sits with you for a bit, and then you make a mindblowing followup video that reinvents vegan cooking lol.

Title: "and it's actually GOOD!" Video: "...tons of potential!"

You're channel is on a whole different level !! I've seen a LOT of vegan RU-vid channels and yours is my favourite.

I love this channel so much. Appreciate you playing with food science!!

It's so awesome how many possibilities there are for vegan options! I love it. Great dish Mark!

I was thinking that fish sticks are kind of made from mashed pieces of fish, no? I think the version where you made it into pieces could be breaded, fried and make great fish sticks 👀👀 combine that with some sauce and bam

This was frickin awesome! Can’t wait to see you new and improved recipe!

You are turning into my favorite food tuber, all these ideas are awesome!

I love whenever it isn't the best the reaction is 'it's got tons of potential', so positive

Looks amazing! Very excited to see this work! I did a smoked salmon with carrot that turned out well. Hoping to add your baked salmon style to the menu! Keep rocking it

Gluten is a common fish substitute in Asia. Use flaked nori in it. And then wrap it in more nori. It’s usually served rolled and sliced the size of sushi. Go ahead and put msg in it as well. You can get the flaky texture more easily with gluten.

Awesome! I can’t wait to see what else you try as you work to perfect this!

looks delicious! there's some really good tofu fish and chips in London here and it looks very similar!

Fried salmon patties on fried cornbread was a staple growing up for me, the blended version would be perfect for that!

It's so fun to see you test stuff out. I really love the creativity... like ur making stuff that's never been done before and it's so cool

Thanks that you write the recipe in the infobox! I love your videos!

Love to see different versions of it ! Very interesting :) thanks for your videos !

That seaweed wrap is incredibly clever. You always surprise me, dude.

Love to see the experimentation! That's what keeps me coming back to your videos

Really great Video - I love seeing the process there!

You are so creative!!! You keep me inspired to try new recipes - great work 🙂

Changing the world one recipe at a time. You're the best!

Loving the taste testing and critiques at the end! Thank you!

Just found your channel and binging tons of videos! I subscribed and can’t wait to see more!

Looks amazing, my man!

I tried a variation on this where i marinated the tofu in a kelp dashi with some olive oil and umeboshi paste and cutting thin slices in the tofu leaving a couple of mm at the bottom so I didn't cut it apart to mimic flakey fish texture ~ honestly my verdict is that tofu is not fish aha but it was still tasty

Incredible! We definitely have to try it! 😍💚

Yum! This looks fantastic 💖😊

I made Bosh’s version a few nights ago and I’m definitely taking notes from your video for the next time I make it! Mine tasted good, but needed more flavor. I think I might marinate mine in more than just beet juice (caper brine, white wine, lemon, shredded nori...) and let it sit longer. Oh, and maybe add vegan butter.

Try using algae oil for the fishy flavor. The vegetarian "fish" I eat uses that and it tastes pretty good.

Good timing, I just finished Seaspiracy last week. I'm assuming no dolphins were killed in the making of this "salmon".

I'm not sure how much would I enjoy your recipes, I'm not sure how much I'd relish your vegan dishes. But one thing for sure, I really respect you for all the hardwork you do trying to make plant based foods taste like meat and fish. I really appreciate the efforts you put into it.

Very nice, I've been thinking about assembling sliced things to make a fish thing for a while but I hadn't tried it yet, good job !

Hey guys, I just had an idea. Why don't you make your own tofu starting from the soy milk? Use beetle juice instead of water and flavour it so that the tofu gets pink everywhere and it's already tasty when you cook it. To make the beetle juice water for the soy milk even tastier, boil it with kombu to get an even fisher taste. You can still use capers, black olives and stuff to garnish but the objective is to have your tofu taste like fish out of the box.

I'm a big fan of these "who knows what's gonna happen when i try all this crazy stuff" videos... It's fun watching your creativity flow, even if it's a fail

Thanks for the ideas 💡

I’d love to see you try this again with more marination and then the method you said at the end!

Monica taste-testing is a great addition! Still wish she had her own mic! Thanks, Mark.

Watching him do all these hard dishes makes me think he could maybe find a way to make an actually good vegan poutine.

I'd definitely try to play around with yuba for mock fish, seeing that it is already used in Buddhist cuisine for that purpose.

great experiment man, thank you 🙏🏽

It loooooks so good. Im drooling even if I dont know what does it taste yet! im trying for sureeee

Thanks for the ideas on this one guys.

Kelp powder in the wet ingredients would be one of the tickets to make it taste seaworthy.

What you do reminds me of the work a special effects (makeup/prop) artist would do. Very very cool art!

When I saw a vegan salmon based on seitan(which you should probably test too!), on one of our fave fb groups, some time ago, I was wondering if there is a way to make an easier, but also realistic one based on tofu and here you are, coming with this video for us :D So many creative ideas for a tofu-Salmon! . My idea, which I might actually test one day, would be to slice and soak the tofu in a more ocean-tasting beet juce (you know, with some seaweed and capers already) and then spread thin fatty layers (maybe starch and flaxseed oil based for the texture and flavour at the same time?) in between the slices, for a more realistic feel. And already having as much flavour in there, I would only cover one side with nori for that skin aspect :D . Anyways, sending you lots and lots of love! I absolutely love your content

Can't wait to try :)

Nice! Looking forward to the next version :) what about fish mint?

Love the experimental style! Maybe a broth made out of ramen staples, kombu, wakame and Shiitake, boiled down til it's thick and then marinate the tofu in that?

Besides freezing it, one thing to try is slow-frying medium-firm. If you just take the whole block of medium-firm tofu, salt, and put it in a frying pan with oil over low heat and let it fry for about 30 minutes per side, only pressing slightly, the block shrinks down and it develops buttery, flaky layers. You can fry it for quite a lot of time for a denser texture. Also, for fishy flavor, nothing beats the subtle seafood flavor you get from high-quality algal oil!

I made this dish a ton of times and it became a family fav for sure but I usually do it by cutting into "fish fingers" and then also cutting diagonally almost all the way through using a set of chopsticks to keep me from cutting completely. This gives me a lot of space for the taste to go through and the texture of the "meat".

There's a "tofu" chef Jorge does with vegan milk and chickpeas that seems delicious to make like fried fish if you add seaweed on the milk.

I love the honesty in this! Especially when you’re sampling all these versions, really loving all this content thanks for sharing! I’m always in the kitchen trying to mimic non vegan foods and it’s a lot of fun and always a fun challenge! I forget what methocellulose (spelling) does?

MORE TEST KITCHEN FUN!! this is a fantastic idea. I thought maybe you'd use the fishleaf for the flavour. Ty for the vid.

I did actually make a decent "salmon" using tvp and vital wheat gotten to bind it together, with things like tartar sauce, chopped seaweeds, dill and lemon juice, then wrapped it in cling film and fridged it for a while, took it out and slapped some Seaweed around it like you did. Granted I've not eaten salmon in like..15 years but the tvp definitely gave it the flakiness element, and soaked up the flavours well.

Love the rating ending. Definitely a nice way to incorporate your wife’s opinion which I love. At the end of every video.

Perhaps a seaweed stock mixed with the beet juice would help bring more oceanic flavor to the party. Maybe use a toothpick to poke a few holes in the tofu before your brine it, and when you do brine it, go for 30+min to allow absorption? that's my hot take! I'm gonna try it for sure, then season like y'all did

I’ve tried a recipe but with just regular tofu and you mash it up with a fork, mix in some cut up tofu skin, corn starch, season and place some on nori sheets then pan fry! It’s so delicious! ☺️

For better color, you can add carrots to the beet juice (or, if you prefer, some yellow food coloring). Also, to get a piece to hold well and get that extra coloring inside, you can place the tofu piece between two chopsticks, so the knife doesnt fully cut it. Finally, if you have some leftover nori, you can simply crush it and add it to the marinade, for that extra fish flavor :)

Try Yudofu. It’s a Japanese dried-out tofu that is usually resoaked in a hot, sweet and savory broth, or sometimes put into a hotpot. It is often very firm, but has a very unique texture to most tofus, a little rougher. It’s been decades since I’ve had fish, so I don’t remember much of the texture. The yudofu might be interesting for it, but might be great for other things as well.

I'm guessing if you do the freeze/press method to get the tofu shred-able and marinate in a rub of blended capers, dill, nori, algae powder, a touch of liquid smoke, soy sauce, lemon juice, melted vegan butter, beet juice and turmeric, then put the shreds back together with the binder method you tried and cook it in a nori wrap, you'd probably still not be able to fool anyone. But! It'd be pretty impressive and tasty.

Try squeezing as much water out of the tofu and marinating it in a similar broth that you did for the carrot lox! I recently tried the carrot lox with your marinate and me and my parents are obsessed with it. The best one yet stayed 3 nights in the fridge. Also i think beetroot powder will be more potent (for color) in the broth than direct beet juice. I feel like what the tofu salmon recipe missed was something maybe like kelp seasoning. Right now we use caper brine but isn't there a way to dehydrate capers and make like the essence of it in a potent flavor powder xDD Also! You cut the tofu in slices, you could try cutting one in a cross pattern. Salmon has a very complicated pattern but maybe you can find a way to make micro cuts and then slice like you did in the video. Best of luck!! I know you can do it 🥺 and I'm excited to try it

I just had a recipe saved on my phone for this thats crazy!

Lovely 👌🏻 Have a wonderful day 🌻

"Tonnes-a-potential" - love it!

Some Asian grocery stores sell frozen vegan fish. They also use seaweed for texture and flavouring. You should check them out if you can! You could try more kelp/seaweed powder in the mixture for the fishy flavour? Or even the Asian vegan fish/mushroom sauces could give that umami you're looking for. Definitely agree with some other comments that freezing it multiple times would give you that "flakey" texture.

Super cool! 🌱🐠

My mom always makes stuffed salmon and I miss it so much, I think I’ll try this and add a creamy spinach topping! 🤤

Still waiting for my shout out brother lol 😆, only kidding brother. Massive congrats on your success Mark and don't forget to give Monica my Love 😉

I love how you 2 keep at it till you get it right.

Please keep working on this one! My girlfriend is vegetarian, mostly vegan and the only meat she craves is salmon. Would love to make this for her some time! Keep up the good videos :)

Salmon is one of those foods I don't eat all that often but nonetheless holds a certain place in my heart. Mark, if you can make the perfect salmon fillet, I can't tell you how appreciative I would be. In terms of flavour, I know others have mentioned freezing the tofu beforehand (which is totally something I think would work, love that method for making fried tofu "chicken") but I also wonder if adding a little bit of soy sauce to the marinade as well as some carrot tops alongside the capers and dill might help. Total shot in the dark but I think the soy sauce would help the salt penetrate a little more, give a little more umami one expects from a meat and the carrot tops could compliment the dill and add some of that aroma characteristic of a salmon. Really looking forward to your further experiments with this and I look forward to seeing your next foray into the world of kitchen alchemy :)

I would like to see some Sauce Stash branded food in the freezer section. I'd pay 6 bucks for 2 fillets.

OK, now. You convinced me!!!!! I am a vegan and only eat accordingly. However, since your are doing wonders for the vegan lifestyle I am joining your channel. Looking forward to your creative vegan selections. Cheers!

What you could do is deeply scar a block of tofu, fill the gaps with some seaweed flakes, then marinate it in a beet, dill, caper and lemon, and more seaweed mixture, then put a nori sheet on the unscarred side that's holding them together, and I think you'd have a better result. Oh, and maybe coat it with old bay seasoning before cooking it.

Title: "and it's actually GOOD!" Actual reaction: grimaces, hesitancy to finish, frowns

I don't know if I'll ever yell "salt!" as aggressively as I just did. Great work

Modify the beet juice to have more of an ocean-y flavor, like a vegan dashi powder with a kombu broth, maybe some mushroom powder as well for extra umami, and you should be able to get more flavor sea flavors into it, as well as keeping the beet, or any deep red colored veg/fruit, juice for color and additional flavor. Expanding on the methylcellulose variant, thinner slices should work better, for both flavor and texture, using something like a mandoline should work; as you'll want a more flaky texture, and the additional surface area should allow for even more flavor to soak in. With the chopped variant, maybe turn it into a salad, mix the additional ingredients (capers, dill, lemon juice, etc.) into the the vegan salmon along with a vegan mayo; the texture is there for a 'meat' salad, you just need the salad dressing to hold all the bits together. Though, as an experiment, I almost want to see a vegan salmon pickle. Instead of soaking the tofu in the beet juice, then adding lemon, dill, and capers later, why not mix all the additional ingredients and pickle the tofu in that liquid. It might not turn out as salmon, but it could be an interesting experiment for long-term flavor infusion for tofu. If this produces interesting results, go a step further with the former ocean broth idea, see if an 'ocean pickled tofu' imparts extra fishy flavors. on the idea of thinner slices, maybe freeze the tofu and use a deli slicer, similar to how any super thin-cut meat is produced, cheesesteak meat for example does this. I'm not sure how well tofu firms up when frozen, but when it comes to very thin slices, it seems like freezing helps with everything else.

I really hope you perfect this one and do a video with the final version

I have some vegan fish sauce I bought for some reason. I think I’ll try it with tofu sliced super thin and the methylcellulose technique. I’ve also got a few different kinds of dried seaweed so it might be fun to experiment with those too.

This is just the beginning, in no time this will be the best vegan fish! If anyone is gonna make a perfect vegan salmon it’s you Mark! 🙌🏼💯💚

Maybe you can cut the open Bosh one almost to the algea sheet and then marinade it some more before you put it in the oven? Looking forward to your final version! 😊