How to Make a Yuba Reuben
Bean curd skin is the key to the delicious, tender, and juicy plant-based sandwich of your dreams
There are a lot of vegan meat substitutes out there. Among the most old school are the classics: tofu, tempeh, and seitan. Over the years, I’ve also seen recipes that creatively fashion vegan “meat” out of mushrooms, walnuts, eggplant, jackfruit, cauliflower, rice, beans, and lentils.
In many ways, these recreations aren’t trying to be meat at all; they’re just trying to be delicious. But despite the endless innovation that defines vegan cooking, there is one ingredient that I believe has been historically underutilized by restaurant chefs and home cooks alike: yuba.
I first encountered yuba at New York City’s beloved, 6-seat restaurant Superiority Burger. There, Chef Brooks Headley serves a sandwich called the new creation that features griddled yuba, a creamy sauce, and thinly sliced pickles on a humble sesame seed bun. I’ve ordered countless new creations over the years (as well as the excellent off-menu alternative, the yuba verde), and even cooked it at home with the help of the Superiority Burger cookbook. Each time I bite into what I can confidently say is truly one of the best sandwiches you can find in New York, I wonder why more people aren’t experimenting with yuba.
