freezing tofu

[Dejah]

This was a new one for me:

I love tofu: in its fresh form, deep-fried pockets, dried foojook, tofu skin, etc, but I've never purposely frozen fresh tofu to use in soup or anything with sauce.

Several of my Chinese students came to our house for their first Halloween experience. They all miss "hometown food", and were drooling over my Chinese cookbooks. While we treated all the goblins who came to the door, we decided to make something they really miss - hot'n'sour soup!

They told me in class conversations about freezing tofu - how wonderful it is. So, we sliced some firm tofu, threw it into the freezer while the soup simmered. I don't think it was in there long enough, but the idea is that freezing produces "little holes" once the frozen water content melts. These are perfect for absorning the sauces and flavours.

Anyone follow this step?

I will have to try this again. I sent the leftover soup back to residence with them, but I might do that when I next make tofu - oyster sauce.

[Beebs]

Frozen tofu is fantastic! It's great with soups and we use it for hot pot. As kids, we liked how it resembled sponges - "Look I'm eating a sponge!"

[hzrt8w]

Freezing tofu will change the texture. I don't like the resulting texture - sort of rubbery, chewy and it doesn't resemble the smooth texture tofu once has.

Tofu sheets should be okay. Pressed tofu might be okay. But the softer the tofu, freezing will completely alter the texture

[annachan]

It really is a textual thing. You either like it or you don't. Dad likes it so we sometimes freeze the tofu. One advantage is that frozen tofu does soak up soup/sauces well.

I think the tofu does need to spend some time in the freeze. Putting it in the freezer while you're prepping isn't long enough. We leave the tofu in the freeze for a few days. I would say you want to freeze the tofu at least the day before you plan to use it.

[Dejah]

Freezing tofu will change the texture.  I don't like the resulting texture - sort of rubbery, chewy and it doesn't resemble the smooth texture tofu once has.

Tofu sheets should be okay.  Pressed tofu might be okay.  But the softer the tofu, freezing will completely alter the texture

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I suppose it all depends on the dish. I do love the silky texture of fresh tofu in soup, but I can see where it would be useful to have that spongy texture in, for example, braised dishes.

[jo-mel]

The texture changes and so does the color. But when sliced, it holds up better in stir/fries. It isn't as fragile as fresh bean curd.

(I still prefer nuking the cake, wrapped in paper towels, for 4 minutes.)

[Ce'nedra]

Ahh I've had frozen tofu in hotpot with my friends and thought it was rather interesting in texture. Doesn't taste any more spectacular though.

Friend told me it was common in Beijing, where she's from.

[liuzhou]

It's common in Inner Mongolian hotpot, too.

A northern thing, I suppose, although I've had it here in the south, too.

[Ben Hong]

Frozen tofu? I'd rank that up there with brown rice! eeEEeewwwwWWw.

[Fengyi]

I find frozen tofu in mala huoguo really difficult....it seems to soak up twice the amount of spice and the result just blows my head off!!

It's pretty standard here in Beijing as a hotpot ingredient. Must be another Northern thing...

[NancyH]

All of my cookbooks say to freeze tofu for no less than 72 hours to get the full textural effect.

Jo-Mel - that microwave trick is a new one for me - I'll have to try it!