20
votes
How to get tofu to absorb flavour?
Speaking from personal experience:
The only kind of tofu which is genuinely a "flavor sponge" is deep-fried tofu, which is sponge-like in several ways. Frozen and thawed tofu has a similar ...
- 61.4k
14
votes
Meat Substitutes
Here's my tricks and tips based on 25 years of being a vegetarian and cooking for a spouse who is not:
Avoid meat substitutes entirely for most meals. They just don't satisfy, and simply act to ...
- 61.4k
11
votes
Accepted
Are all the processing steps of tofu harmless?
Making tofu for mass production and consumption and making tofu at home generally follow the same procedures. Soybeans are soaked, ground, and cooked. The resulting "milk" is separated from the ...
- 73.8k
11
votes
How to get tofu to absorb flavour?
Option 1: Press the tofu
The idea here is basically to squeeze out as much of the water that it's packaged with as you can before cooking. You place the tofu between two towels, and put something ...
- 211
8
votes
Accepted
Why is tofu so popular compared to tempeh?
One possible reason is that Tempeh is uniquely from Indonesia, which is much less of a culinary influence on the US than China, Japan, and Korea - all of which use tofu in traditional dishes. There ...
- 256
7
votes
Accepted
What is tofu that's crispy outside and fluffy inside called?
Traditionally, it's first dropped into boiling water & allowed to sit as the water cools for 15 minutes before drying off & deep frying.
There's a 'cheat' method, though.
Press to dry, ...
- 29.9k
7
votes
Are all the processing steps of tofu harmless?
Just wanted to state in addendum to all the comments and answers already given, magnesium chloride, calcium chloride, and calcium sulfate are all classified as GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) per ...
- 524
6
votes
Accepted
Tofu cooking method
The tofu was deep fried before being added to the soup.
If you don't have the equipment to deep-fry such large pieces of tofu at home, but you live in an area with a substantial Vietnamese population, ...
- 402
5
votes
How can I make homemade tofu more flavorful?
1- Is this a valid approach and I should just add a lot more of my
flavoring agents?
Yes, you can make additions to your curd prior to pressing/knitting just like with cheese. Adding bits of dried ...
- 51
5
votes
Accepted
How to make Chinese-style cornstarch coating stick
The key in a stir-fry is that the ingedients can at all times move about freely. A spatula shouldn't really be needed, the way it is in sautéing, rather you use a spoon/ladle to just, well, stir the ...
- 1,922
5
votes
Meat Substitutes
Meat substitutes - a word of warning for someone attempting to replace meat in one fell swoop...
I'll leave everyone else to come up with viable meat alternatives, if that's what you actually require,...
- 29.9k
5
votes
Meat Substitutes
This is a non-vegetarian POV:
Eating healthier is often just as "easy" as eating less.
A good meat substitute would be to replace your meat with: Nothing.
Now I don't mean replace all your meat in a ...
- 1,014
5
votes
Accepted
Did I press tofu enough? Or is there another problem? Created tofu spread
I would try again with gypsum (calcium sulfate) or nigari as your coagulant. The result will be more consistent and of higher quality. Lemon and other acids are less common coagulants.
- 73.8k
4
votes
Accepted
Meat Substitutes
In addition to the advice above about not explicitly trying to replace meat, the best advice I can give is to think about two things when cooking vegetarian:
Umami. This is the Number One problem ...
- 156
3
votes
How to cook tofu without burning?
If it is firm tofu: Don't use not much oil to cook it. If you want to get by with using very little oil, bake it - but cover it in either SOME oil or marinade.
For frying, shallow or deep frying (...
- 15.3k
3
votes
How to make Chinese-style cornstarch coating stick
I finally figured it out!
Heat the high-heat oil (grapeseed, etc) in the pan, on medium high
Right before putting the tofu in the pan, give it one more quick toss in the cornstarch so the cornstarch ...
- 31
3
votes
How to make Chinese-style cornstarch coating stick
Use extra firm tofu for frying or stews. Pat it well before marinated but do not pat after as tofu do not pick up flavor to well. After marinated pick up the tofu cubes with a fork or drain them ...
- 66
3
votes
What is Okinawan "yushi tofu" made from?
Yushi isn't 油脂. It is the Okinawan language equivalent of Japanese " yose 寄せ", which means "gathered" or "brought together", referring to the way it is made.
It is basically made the same way as ...
- 31
3
votes
Can I use agar as a coagulant to make homemade tofu?
This will give you a soymilk jelly, which might or might not make a good component for desserts, but that is a distinct preparation from tofu, which works by coagulating the proteins in the soymilk ...
- 15.3k
3
votes
Can I use agar as a coagulant to make homemade tofu?
Agar is a gelling agent and will not work as a coagulant. Give epsom salts a try. I have not experienced the graininess that you suggest.
- 73.8k
3
votes
What causes odd off-flavor/smell in tofu?
Going bad.
It's not necessarily unsafe to eat yet, but tofu can pick up a slightly spoiled flavor even before it goes bad.
Especially since tofu has so little flavor of its own, it's easy to taste ...
- 493
3
votes
3
votes
Meat Substitutes
Me and my husband cook almost exclusively vegetarian at home, because he simply doesn't like meat very much in general. For the meat we do buy occasionally we value quality over quantity, which tends ...
- 1,096
3
votes
Tofu substitute in no bake chocolate cake
This almost sounds like someone converted a classic mousse recipe to use tofu instead of dairy. My suggestion is to simply use any dairy with a consistency similar to your soft tofu, in the same ratio ...
- 137k
3
votes
Searing Tofu in Stainless Skillet
Toast tofu slices under the broiler.
I agree with Tesujin re stainless and frying. Tofu turns out ok in my nonstick pan but I know some people don't like Teflon.
I have had great results from the ...
- 6,626
3
votes
How long to steam tofu (extra firm) without predrying or what is cooked temperature?
Is your aim to just "cook" the tofu or are you trying achieve a particular texture or flavor?
If the concern is safety or "rawness" of some sort, tofu is cooked and perfectly ...
- 206
3
votes
Why are soaked dried soy beans cooked before fermenting?
No. Both tofu and miso require cooking the soybeans to work.
For miso, the soybeans must be mashed into a paste, which doesn't really work with raw soybeans. Further, the koji culture grows on the ...
- 61.4k
2
votes
Accepted
How does boiling impact the texture of tofu?
Boiling tofu causes the bean curd to exude moisture, so you are correct there is a structural difference between boiled and unboiled tofu. The heat tightens up the protein structure, hence affecting ...
- 36
2
votes
What to do with tofu?
I steam my tofu with broccoli and then stir it into fettuccine alfredo. Steaming it gets rid of a lot of the tofu water taste and is good if you're new to the taste of tofu.The texture with the sauce ...
2
votes
Can I leave the okara in when making tofu?
I just mixed my latest batch of okara with an equal amount of diced chicken, some finely minced onion, peppers, and a bunch of spices. It made some very nice "burgers", the leftover ones ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible