Tofu

[liuzhou]

Soy sauce?

 

dcarch

 

What about soy sauce?

[dcarch]

What about soy sauce?

"-----but the fermentation resulted in a new desirable product."

 

Perhaps when they were fermenting soy beans, they discovered soy sauce?

 

dcarch

[liuzhou]

"-----but the fermentation resulted in a new desirable product."

 

Perhaps when they were fermenting soy beans, they discovered soy sauce?

 

dcarch

 

Unlikely.The history of soy sauce in well documented.

[liuzhou]

 

Remember the soft tofu? 

 

Here it is after being frozen, then defrosted.

 

 

It has developed a honeycombed look where the water in the tofu and crystallised. On thawing, much of the liquid drains away, leaving a firmer (relatively) tofu. The mouth feel is also different, being more bite resistant. Not easy to see in the pictures, but the colour has also changed to a less pure white.

 

Frozen tofu is usually served sliced with hotpots, often unthawed. The heat of the hotpot broth thaws and cooks it in seconds.

[liuzhou]

History of Tofu and Tofu Products (965 CE to 2013)

William Shurtleff, Akiko AoyagiISBN: 978-1-928914-55-6

Publication Date: 2013 May 20

 

For anyone who is interested, this book is available as a free download (PDF) from here.

[heidih]

I've always enjoyed tofu since introduced many years ago. Usually just medium firm in soups though I enjoy the very fresh at Viet markets and the comforting super soft warm with ginger or pandan syrup. I lived near artisinal makers - literally  10 minute walk and stupidly never explored. https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/the-migrant-kitchen/tofu-so-good-people-eat-it-plain-with-a-spoon-meiji-tofu-in-gardena  But today with my regular House Foods tofu my usual gentle squeeze produced mush I gave t a quik marinade n olive oil turmeric and garic powder and baked high heat. Taste is great but t looks like hard scrambled eggs. Very odd to me.

[liuzhou]

I kind of forgot about this topic. There are still many more tofu types. Here's another.

 

 

Dried smoked tofu from Sichuan.

 

Edited November 13, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

...and another.

 

 

This one's from Shaoyang, a city in Hunan. It is a firm type, again smoked but over firewood and given a much heavier smoke than the Sichuan type above. It heavy smoke is typical of Hunan, not only for tofu, but meats and sausages, too.

 

Edited November 15, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

Fancy a cup of tea with  your tofu. No problem.

 

This is medium firm tofu braised in tea, then left to marinade in the tea for a few hours, before being dried. This particular sample is from Sichuam, but it's also made elsewhere.

 

 

[liuzhou]

 

This one is a bit odd, at least to my mind. Here it is always sold as ‘Japanese Tofu’. I guarantee you it has never been anywhere near Japan. It is actually 蛋豆腐 (dàn dòu fu), ‘Egg Tofu’. Now I’m not denying that Japan also has ‘egg tofu’ but so do many any other places.

 

As the name suggests, it is a mix of egg and tofu. Usually sold here in these plastic prophylactics.

 

 

Squeezing your mouthful out of its condom, you are rewarded with this semi-erect sausage of eggy tofu. It is slightly firmer than silken tofu (which did originate in Japan) but marginally more handleable with care.

 

It is usually eaten in restaurants, particularly during celebratory banquets but using many different cooking techniques. It can be eaten raw, fried, roasted, toasted, boasted and ousted. The most common, in my experience is a very light fry on scallop shaped discs and served with soy sauce. I find it OK but wouldn’t go searching for it.

 

 

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

Next  up, hard dried tofu.

 

This is what it says - ultra-dried to the point it becomes dense and chewy. Often served as a snack item.

 

It comes in two varieties.

 

This one has also been smoked.

 

and

 

 

This one has been treated with 5 spice  powder.

 

Both from Sichuan.