Kaufu

[ulterior epicure]

There is this Chinese dish that I'd like to find a recipe for. I don't know exactly what it is... the best phoenetic translation I can make out is kow fu. As far as I can tell, it's like a glutenous sponge - not unlike tofu, but spongy. It's usually cooked with Chinese black mushrooms and wood-ear mushrooms in a soy-based, but slightly sweet sauce. I've also had versions that included peanuts and lily stalks.

I'm sure someone has posted about this before - but I have no idea how to even go about search for this.

u.e.

[Ben Hong]

"Kau fu' is wheat gluten lumps. You can make it yourself if you have the inclination, but it is a l o n g process. It is avilable ready made.

[ulterior epicure]

Ben.

Thanks... sorry, I guess I should have been more specific. I didn't want to actually make the kau fu - rather I was looking for the recipe for cooking it with the elements I described above.

u.e.

[Kent Wang]

It is a very popular dish in Shanghai, often eaten for breakfast. I don't have a recipe for you, but basically just add in all the ingredients you want, soy sauce, some sugar and a bit of sesame oil. It's very simple.

[Pan]

Hi, all! I've changed the title of this thread for greater ease in searching. I really enjoy eating Kaufu in Shanghainese restaurants but have never made it.

Carry on!

[Ben Hong]

Kau fu is just another ingredient like dou fu puffs, bean sticks, etc. that you add to a dish to make it more substantial if it is a vegetarian dish . Just add to a base stirfried dish with a combo of three or four of snow peas, mushrooms, celery, sliced carrots, onions, asparagus, green beans, capsicums, woodear, etc. etc etc. Some call it a meat substitute. So just take a dish like scallops and veg., omit the scallops and use kaufu instead.

[ulterior epicure]

Thanks everyone. Yes, I know how kau fu is used and its (common) role as a meat substitute, however, I was just wondering what the basic recipe would be - I've had it many times in many different places and prepared by many Chinese people, and the vast majority of the time, there's always woodear and sometimes shiitakes, lily stalks and peanuts...

...so sugar is what is used to sweeten the dish?

u.e.

Edited June 5, 2006 by ulterior epicure (log)

[Ben Hong]

I have always associated kau fu with veg. cooking and I have NEVER had it sweet. But if a sweet-ish taste is desired, knock yourself out and pour on the sugar. Simple, No?

[Kent Wang]

Thanks everyone.  Yes, I know how kau fu is used and its (common) role as a meat substitute, however, I was just wondering what the basic recipe would be - I've had it many times in many different places and prepared by many Chinese people, and the vast majority of the time, there's always woodear and sometimes shiitakes, lily stalks and peanuts...

...so sugar is what is used to sweeten the dish?

u.e.

←

Actually, it's spelled kao fu in hanyu pinyin. Kaufu doesn't turn up anything on Google so I assume it's a misspelling and not an alternate pronunciation in another dialect.

Sugar is always used in combination with soy sauce in Shanghai cooking, and it effuses foods and sauces with a taste that is not so much sweet but rather savory. So if you want to make the "genuine" version use about a teaspoon of sugar. The version my mom always makes contains sliced reconstituted dried shiitakes, bamboo strips, woodear, lily stalks and edamame. Peanuts seem to me a southern variation.

[ulterior epicure]

Actually, it's spelled kao fu in hanyu pinyin. Kaufu doesn't turn up anything on Google so I assume it's a misspelling and not an alternate pronunciation in another dialect.

Sugar is always used in combination with soy sauce in Shanghai cooking, and it effuses foods and sauces with a taste that is not so much sweet but rather savory. So if you want to make the "genuine" version use about a teaspoon of sugar. The version my mom always makes contains sliced reconstituted dried shiitakes, bamboo strips, woodear, lily stalks and edamame. Peanuts seem to me a southern variation.

←

Thanks Kent... for someone who's never learned pinyin, I "spell by ear," if you will.

... and check on the bamboo strips and edamame... have had those variations as well - but overall, it's usually a rather uncolorful dish...

I will try sugar and soy... perhaps a touch of sesame oil.

u.e.

[PCL]

Just to chime in again on the use of sugar:

I don't think it's exclusive to Shanghainese cooking, but rather, is common to most Chinese cooking when soy sauce is used, which is like, 99% of the time. The sugar provides a harmonising element to the salt in the soy sauce, and we're not talking about noticeable quantities. Just a pinch of sugar to every say, 2 TBSP of soy.... um actually, I just do it by eye and have a taste now and then...

[Kent Wang]

I don't think it's exclusive to Shanghainese cooking, but rather, is common to most Chinese cooking when soy sauce is used, which is like, 99% of the time. The sugar provides a harmonising element to the salt in the soy sauce, and we're not talking about noticeable quantities. Just a pinch of sugar to every say, 2 TBSP of soy.... um actually, I just do it by eye and have a taste now and then...

←

Yes, but Shanghai cooking involves a lot more than just a pinch. I'm thinking something like 3-5 parts soy sauce to 1 part sugar. I've actually gone to different parts of China and when I tell people I am from Shanghai the first thing they tell me is that we use to much sugar in our cooking!

How is kao fu usually served, cold, room temperature or warm? My mom usually makes a big batch, refrigerates it and serves it cold in the morning. I'm not sure what the common practice in China is.

[ulterior epicure]

How is kao fu usually served, cold, room temperature or warm? My mom usually makes a big batch, refrigerates it and serves it cold in the morning. I'm not sure what the common practice in China is.

←

From my experience (very authentic)... it's usually served room temperature, if not COLD. Somehow, it does just taste better cold - I think it's because the kao fu is just too flabby soft if it's hot. When cold, you get more texture.

I forgot to mention - I'm also 99% sure that cooking wine is added when you make kao fu. Just wasn't sure on the sugar.

... and, if you think the Shanghainese are all about sugar - what about those Cantonese folk?

[Dejah]

How is kao fu usually served, cold, room temperature or warm? My mom usually makes a big batch, refrigerates it and serves it cold in the morning. I'm not sure what the common practice in China is.

←

... and, if you think the Shanghainese are all about sugar - what about those Cantonese folk?

←

Cantonese use a lot of sugar in cooking? I've never noticed excessive sweetness unless you are talking about the bastardized Chinese food such as sweet 'n' sour pork, etc.

In Toisanese cooking, I do use a pinch of sugar to balance the salt and MSG. I don't use soy sauce much in my daily cooking, only if I were making soy sauce chicken, or master sauce braising.

[Gastro888]

Huh? Canontese cooking has alot of sugar? Only the Westernized #1 combination with pork fried rice and not the authentic Cantonese food. Cantonese cooking is known for being mild and light, not sweet.

[Ben Hong]

Ironic isn't it? We Toysanese (Cantonese) were first to immigrate to North America and introduce "Chinese" food to the gwei loh, food that is over battered and cloyingly syrupy. Now, regardless of some people's earnest quest for "authenticity", they still have ingrained in them the simplistic notion that Cantonese food is sweet and sour. It boggles!!

Except for cooking other Chinese regional dishes, this Toysanese almost NEVER use sugar in his dishes.

A greater irony is that while Guangzhou is one of the great sugar growing provinces in all of China, the Guangzhou people (Cantonese) generally do not have a sweet tooth when eating dinner.

[Tepee]

Recipe for using gluten puffs. Note: sugar 1/2 tsp only, or to taste.

Despite having a notorious sweet tooth, this half-cantonese/half-hakka doesn't use more than a pinch of sugar (if at all) in my cooking, except for lemon chicken, sweet and sour pork, and, etc...

[hzrt8w]

I have a hard time figuring out what "kau fu" is, both in Chinese and in English. I know you guys are referring to wheat gluten. But they come in different forms and shapes; some flavored, some not; some deep-fried, some "puffed", some are "solid". Some wheat gluten forms the shape of intestines, chicken meat, duck meat for different kinds of mock meat dishes.

Regardless of the forms and shapes, one thing in common is that the wheat gluten itself, like tofu, is very bland. It relies on the seasoning you add to it, be it soy sauce, oyster sauce, nam yu, whatever, for flavor. I suggest that if you use wheat gluten to cook with other vegetables, first fry the gluten slices with a little bit of oil, then add some soy sauce to coat it with some dark brown color/flavor, remove, then later add it to the vegetables you want mix the gluten with.

Cantonese use dark soy sauce in many of the braised dishes (e.g. chicken, beef stews, innards, etc.). We add sugar to it some times, depending on the recipes. Perhaps not as liberally in as the Shanghainese style.

[jo-mel]

I have a hard time figuring out what "kau fu" is, both in Chinese and in English.

I assume kao is 烤

I can find fu in one of my dictionaries, but I can't find it on line, so I can't link it here. But it is fu as in fu pi or fu zi - (wheat bran). And if you can follow this, it is:

生 without the left slant stroke , over 冬 without the two bottom strokes, put those together and to the left of 夫.

Make sense?

HeeHee! It is easier to make wheat gluten than find it in a dictionary!

[ulterior epicure]

How is kao fu usually served, cold, room temperature or warm? My mom usually makes a big batch, refrigerates it and serves it cold in the morning. I'm not sure what the common practice in China is.

←

... and, if you think the Shanghainese are all about sugar - what about those Cantonese folk?

←

Cantonese use a lot of sugar in cooking? I've never noticed excessive sweetness unless you are talking about the bastardized Chinese food such as sweet 'n' sour pork, etc.

In Toisanese cooking, I do use a pinch of sugar to balance the salt and MSG. I don't use soy sauce much in my daily cooking, only if I were making soy sauce chicken, or master sauce braising.

←

To be sure, the Chinese aren't sweet-tooths generally. I'm not talking saccharin but I do think that many authentic Cantonese/Toisanese dishes tend to indulge on the sweeter side - Tsa shui pork (Chinese "BBQ" pork) and their use of Chinese sausages. Some of their sauces as well are often more sweet than many other regional Chinese cuisines. They also have a way with desserts - bean pastes, the use of coconut, and tropical fruits... that's what I meant. Perhaps not the use of sugar, per se, I guess I should amend my earlier statement to mean that I find that Cantonese cuisine tends to feature some sweeter tasting foods.

u.e.

[hzrt8w]

I assume kao is 烤

I can find fu in one of my dictionaries, but I can't find it on line, so I can't link it here. But it is fu as in fu pi or fu zi - (wheat bran). And if you can follow this, it is:

[...]

←

Hmmm.... I think that "kao fu" is 烤腐 then, with "fu" referring to "fu pi"?

But that still doesn't quite make sense. Fu in "Fu pi" is made from soy beans. Gluten is made from wheat? Why would it be called "fu pi"?

Kao meants BBQ or bake from your translation. Are those gluten really BBQ'ed or baked?

Did we misunderstand the Chinese name for this?

A picture of the package or the dish would really help. Most of the time I have trouble recognizing an English translation of the item, or the recollected phonetic memory of somethint called in Chinese, then identifying an item from a picture. I guess I am totally a visual person.

[ulterior epicure]

A picture of the package or the dish would really help.  Most of the time I have trouble recognizing an English translation of the item, or the recollected phonetic memory of somethint called in Chinese, then identifying an item from a picture.  I guess I am totally a visual person.

←

Alas, your suggestion could have been fulfilled had I not scarfed down the last of it just a couple of hours ago!

u.e.

[Kent Wang]

Hzrt8w, I'm surprised kaofu falls outside your expansive range of knowledge of Chinese cuisine. It must highly localized then, and not well-known outside of Shanghai. Kaofu uses a very specific kind of wheat gluten that has a lot of holes in it, much like a sponge, and therefore absorbs a great deal of sauce.

Google Image Search turns up a lot of hits but I think this one is the most representative of Shanghai kaofu.

[ulterior epicure]

Hzrt8w, I'm surprised kaofu falls outside your expansive range of knowledge of Chinese cuisine. It must highly localized then, and not well-known outside of Shanghai. Kaofu uses a very specific kind of wheat gluten that has a lot of holes in it, much like a sponge, and therefore absorbs a great deal of sauce.

Google Image Search turns up a lot of hits but I think this one is the most representative of Shanghai kaofu.

←

Although it's somewhat pixelated, that looks like the "real deal."

u.e.

[jo-mel]

I assume kao is 烤

I can find fu in one of my dictionaries, but I can't find it on line, so I can't link it here. But it is fu as in fu pi or fu zi - (wheat bran). And if you can follow this, it is:

[...]

←

Hmmm.... I think that "kao fu" is 烤腐 then, with "fu" referring to "fu pi"?

But that still doesn't quite make sense. Fu in "Fu pi" is made from soy beans. Gluten is made from wheat? Why would it be called "fu pi"?

Kao meants BBQ or bake from your translation. Are those gluten really BBQ'ed or baked?

Did we misunderstand the Chinese name for this?

A picture of the package or the dish would really help. Most of the time I have trouble recognizing an English translation of the item, or the recollected phonetic memory of somethint called in Chinese, then identifying an item from a picture. I guess I am totally a visual person.

←

Ah! I finally found it! It is not 'fu' as in 腐

It is 麸 / 麩 fu1 - bran

Does this help?

(Just a thought on the 'kao'. Could it be this 'kao' 拷 as in beat/torture? Since the wheat goes through such a wringing procedure to get to be gluten, it kinda makes sense.)