all about Bean curd

[hzrt8w]

Take a look at my old post for some more soya bean product derivative discussions:

Seen Jook, Foo Jook, soya bean derivatives, Membranes of soya bean congee

[jokhm]

ahhh that's it. Nice!

Ooh yeah.. the reaaally soft stuff.. yes I'll have to mark that one down

The stuff in the liangpi is soy-based, but the bulk of the liangpi is potato flour noodles, i think.. possibly sweet potato flour.. and Ｉ'm pretty sure it isn't rice flour. Of course that's in beijing...! In Xi'an, the source of liangpi, the noodles come in dozens of varieties, and I've never seen the soy-product used in the dish! Great fun

[jokhm]

Oh.. just asked about the weird stuff in the liangpi that I like so much. Its called Doujin 豆筋

But not too sure what an english translation would be for it

--- this last thread is dead on.. oops.. perhaps I should have searched first

[jokhm]

OK after looking up some photos of the DouJin i've come to something slightly different.. or very different. It isn't what I was thinking of... but its another to add to the list.. Kind of thick and rolled up. These are fantastic as well! I had them once fried with chilis, garlic and ginger and there was a slight cheesiness to the taste, which i was told was due to it being fermented a tiny bit. Amazing

[OnigiriFB]

Last year in LA a friend of mine took me to a Chinese vegetarian place that was very good. We had "beef", "shrimp" and "chicken". I didn't miss meat at all. I have no idea how the did it but I swear everything tasted like it was supposed to be. I think my friend told me it was made from gluten except the "chicken". I still drool thinking about the "chicken' dish. It was batter fried mushrooms in a sweet sauce. Yum!

Asian vegetarian dishes don't seem to be that popular over here. In LA I was probably the only non chinese person and there were no "whites" in the restaurant. No one I know here understand how complex vegetarian food in Asia can be. There were so many place in Thailand and so many dishes we could get when we didn't want to eat meat. There are days now that I get tired of eating meat and could go for some nice tofu and veggie dishes. Alas, to have my street stalls back.

Are there good Asian markets in Montreal? I thought there were? Or am I thinking Toronto? I would think most of those tofu products would be found in a good Asian market. I think I can get everything but the tofu skins but then I've never looked for them.

[AzianBrewer]

I went to a restaurant in a Buddhist monastery in China that served the most delicious imitation dishes. I was quite young, but the few dishes I remember are imitation duck where the skin was pressed and crispy and even had the characteristic bumps from the plucked feathers. The duck meat was of another kind of soy product that very closely imitated the texture and appearance of roasted duck.

There was also imitation pork intestine that was very tender and less chewy than real pork intestine. I like pork intestine a great deal, but I think the facsimile was even better!

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Deep inside these monks would like to roast up a Long Island or Peking. But it would be a fowl play if they do.

[Ben Hong]

But a lot of their criticism of eating veg in China stems from the fact that they believe Chinese-style soy products are no good, too simple... and most of the time just soft white bean curd. My answer is usually

--the soft-wide beancurd is the best...!!

--tofu is not a meat subsitute (that puts some into shock)

-- and you haven't seen 1/10th of what is commonly done in Chinese food with soy products...

and when they say 'what is commonly done?'

I go blank..

I can only describe the textures and look of this and that... practically no names. There isn't a chance they will be able to go to the chinese grocery shops and find anything based on what I told them.

I am too old for this kind of crap response sa voiced by your friends, I have no time nor patience anymore to proselytize. Except for the very, very feww who are open minded and free from preconceived notions, I normall just lety them stew in their own ignorance. Why detract from my own enjoyment of some of my favoutite things.

Some time ago, one of my dinner guest who has a reputation as a fine cook and cooking instructor in night school classes was shocked that I did not freeze my tofu before cooking it. Her contention is that freezing and then squeezing the water ou makes the tof more porous, the better to absorb the gravy

[jokhm]

Hah.

Great stuff!

That's right though.. the object of soy products are to absorb and become the meat which we abhor so much and therefore choose to replace with something not meat-related but which we want to taste, look and feel just like the meat we abho&*(@%(...

yeah. This is one of the issues that keeps me eating a huge hunk of the light and fluffy bricks covered in garlic, green onions and sesame oil... mmm.

Its true.. proselytizing is a fruitless effort. But I've been asked with open eyes by some foodies, despite their mediocre experiences up to this point.

Plus, I want to learn more myself... and hopefully figure out if don't need to take some dried fuzhu with me on the plane home!

[Dejah]

Plus, I want to learn more myself... and hopefully figure out if don't need to take some dried fuzhu with me on the plane home!

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Fuzhu - Do you mean the 12 inch or so long dried pieces of dofu skin? Your friends are right in thinking they look like some innards of an animal...all wrinkled etc...

I'd be surprised if you can't find that stuff in Montreal. We even have them here (a small prairie city of 44,000 with a very small Asian population ) at the local supermarket. Loads of the stuff on sale at the moment because of the upcoming Chinese New Year. The dried stuff will be hard to get home without being broken into tiny pieces.

[annachan]

So in about 2 weeks I'll be back in Montreal for a month and I've been told to cook dinner for some friends and co-workers, some of which are proud vegetarians. When they come to meet me in China/HK we mostly avoid Chinese food since so far they are unimpressed with what they find in comparison to their favorites faux-meat veg places in Montreal.

Maybe you should have taken them to some Buddhist monastery to eat. I remember from years ago from this one monastery we ate at. The faux-meat dishes were nothing less than amazing. One dish in particular really blew my mind. They made a vege-chicken in the shape of a whole chicken. If you didn't take a look at it carefully (and have not yet cut open the "chicken"), you would've swore that it's a chicken! The outside is made of tofu skin, in the same color as cooked chicken skin. On the inside, it's stuffed w/ an assortment of vegetables and tofu.

[hzrt8w]

Keep in mind that Chinese vegetarian restaurants typically use pressed tofu (seasoned with soy + 5 spice, etc.), tofu skin, or gluten as fake meat. I think gluten is made from wheat?

[miladyinsanity]

Gluten is a substance (i think it's some sort of protein) that's found in wheat--it's what makes bread chewy.

But some people are allergic to it.

[lexy]

I bought some dried bean curd sheets to use in Gourmet's Buddha's Delight recipe (February 2006 issue if you're curious). I like them in the soup, but I'm not really sure what to do with the remaining skins. Other than throwing them in more soups, the only thing I can think of is to wrap things in them … What are the normal uses for this ingredient? Thanks!

Edited March 24, 2006 by lexy (log)

[hzrt8w]

It is not clear from the picture or the recipe which kind of bean curd sheets you have. Is it the fresh, froze kind (I think not)? Or the flat sheet kind? Or the kind that curls up into a stick? They are all called "bean curd sheets", but it's the third kind that is usually used in making "Buddha's Delight". Is that what you have?

[miladyinsanity]

If you have the flat kind, you can use it to wrap dumplings or cook them in one of the sweet soups until they dissolve into tiny bits.

[His Nibs]

You can also use them as a wrapper for various stuffed items. Spiced meat rolls or 五香 are quite popular.

[jo-mel]

Soaked and cut into strips, you can use them in a vegetarian mu shu dish. One book has them cut into pieces and stir-fried with garlic, ginger, scallions and soy sauce.

They also last forever in a kitchen cabinet.

[lexy]

They also last forever in a kitchen cabinet.

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This is sort what I'm afraid of actually! I already have all kinds of ingredients that I bought because they looked interesting, or for one recipe, cluttering up my pantry

The kind I bought are the flat, slightly brittle sheets about the size of an (A4) piece of paper.

Thanks for the suggestions, I like the idea of wrapping things in them … I'll try some experiments with that I think.

Edited March 26, 2006 by lexy (log)

[hzrt8w]

You can also use them as a wrapper for various stuffed items. Spiced meat rolls or 五香 are quite popular.

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The bean curd sheets used as wrappers for stuffed items or dim sum are mostly fresh bean curd sheets sold in refrigerated sections, not the dried sheets. The fresh ones are called "seen jook" [Cantonese], wich are very soft and have a sheen on the surface. The dried sheets are call "foo jook" [Cantonese]. You need soak them in water before using. "Foo jook" are not suitable for wrapping because they break apart very easily and lack the elasticity.

[hzrt8w]

See this old post for the differences between 4 grades of bean curd sheets:

Seen Jook, Foo Jook, soya bean derivatives, Membranes of soya bean congee

[Tepee]

Here's one of the ways you can soften a dried foochook for wrapping. Edited March 27, 2006 by Tepee (log)

[Dejah]

Here's one of the ways you can soften a dried foochook for wrapping.

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Tepee! Why didn't you show me that page when I ask!?

I still haven't used the package of bean sheets I bought. These were on a shelf, not in the fridge, and they are soft.

In 2 weeks, I'll be on school break. Must remember to try my hand then.

[Tepee]

Oopsie....didn't quite click when you asked then. OK, I'll make it up by giving you a reminder in 2 weeks' time.

[His Nibs]

Yay! Tepee to the rescue! Can we also rehydrate them by placing them between moist towels? I think that was what my mom used to do when she hand made the ngoh hiang!

[Tepee]

Absolutely. That's a more fail-proof method.