All about tofu

[hzrt8w]

From your pictures, these are definitely Nam Yu, or what we hereby usually referred to as "Red Fermented Beancurds". It is different from the regular fermented beancurds "fu yu" (which is milky yellow in color). The Chinese label does say it is "nam yu", though the English translation was made as "beancurds in brine".

These Nam Yu looks quite normal to me. Unlike Fu Yu, which could be consumed by itself or used in cooking, Nam Yu is rarely eaten as is. It is typically used for cooking and as a condiment.

I don't see anything wrong with the jar of Nam Yu you showed in the picture. They are just a different variety than the one you were expecting.

[Hest88]

Concur. The pictures look pretty normal to me.

[hzrt8w]

Here are some pictures of Nam Yu that I used in some of the pictorial recipes:

The ones I used are smaller in size than the Shanghai variety.

[phage]

Thanks, everyone, for your comments and observations. Now I've opened another jar of the red stuff - this is a glass jar. It doesnt' taste anything like the stuff I had before (it's much milder-flavoured) - and looks more like the tofu in the posting just above. Here's a photo of the new stuff:

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I'll try cooking with it. Cooked with peanuts sound real tasty. Guess I'll just get rid of the other stuff. I'm going in a few days to a city that has Asian stores and will restock on the sesame-chile fermented tofu, maybe try some new brands.

Anyone try cheonggukjang? - the Korean fermented soybean product - it's another well-ripened ingredient that's good for making soups....

==Phage==

(P.S., how do I center a photo without adding all those dots.....?)

Edited July 20, 2006 by phage (log)

[ulterior epicure]

Okay - this fermented dofu, if I'm not mistaken, is called "dofu ru" in Chinese. But there's another kind of "stinky dofu" that's called "tso dofu" - right? Does anyone know how to make "tso dofu?"

u.e.

[Dejah]

Okay - this fermented dofu, if I'm not mistaken, is called "dofu ru" in Chinese.  But there's another kind of "stinky dofu" that's called "tso dofu" - right?  Does anyone know how to make "tso dofu?"

u.e.

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Not sure you'd want to make it at home.

I googled and this seems to give some information about making cho dofu at home:

http://www.ellenskitchen.com/faqs/stinkytofu.html