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easing into tofu


helenas

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Here is a complete tofu novice in search for any information to get started.

The main problem for me: how to incorporate tofu into italian-style cooking. Most of the recipes with tofu call for curry, peanuts, soy sauce and such; the ingredients i'm not using much, if at all. Is my case hopeless?

Thank you.

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Please excuse me, but I think so.

Many of my dishes are "Italianesque". But I do quite a bit of shojin-ryori and kaiseki Japanese meals as well as regional Chinese dishes.

Tofu and olive oil let alone tomatoes do not play together. One can cram the stuff into the mouth, chew, and swallow. But there's nothing playful in it.

Tofu has nothing to do with most of the other product used in Italian cuisines. Some of the herbs can work, but...

ediot:

I find that tofu doesn't really work in Southeast Asian dishes because it has never really been used extensively.

I remember trying some coriander leaf in miso shiru once. Gah.

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Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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Helena,

You may want to read the recipes on the Tofu link in the Indian forum.

While they do have some foreign spices, they are all ingredients you would be able to find at any grocery store across the US. The bigger supermarkets that is.

Food and Wine had published these under their Quick Foods column. Maybe you will find them useful. Unless of course you are not using these curry like spices for a reason.

They are also easy to make and very fast to cook. And complete meals with few additions. Hope you enjoy them.

Tofu Thread... Indian Forum

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Unless of course you are not using these curry like spices for a reason.

Thanks Suvir, for your advice.

The reason for not using curry is actually ridiculous.

For example, i love kedgeree, especially with Vong curry powder, but it seems to me i cannot get rid of curry smell in the house for several days...

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When easing into tofu, I find it is important to bathe first. Also be sure to use the handrail as even firm tofu is rather slippery.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
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Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Unless of course you are not using these curry like spices for a reason.

Thanks Suvir, for your advice.

The reason for not using curry is actually ridiculous.

For example, i love kedgeree, especially with Vong curry powder, but it seems to me i cannot get rid of curry smell in the house for several days...

I can understand that. I find sometimes that curry powder and several such spices do leave a lingering aroma.

The recipes you will find in the tofu thread should not worry you in that case.

Cook them, you will love them and you would not have to worry about feeling cloaked with their aromas.

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I personally am not much of a Tofu fan, but have many friends that love it.

Hence I am being told I should write a book about cooking with Tofu. I use it a lot. I seldom eat much of what I cook with it.

But it is a great alternative to protein for vegetarians. And it can work very well in giving many different textures.

I have baked tofu and used it in many recipes with great success.

Like Jinmyo, I have trouble eating it in many South Asian dishes. I find it even more slippery than it feels when I am preparing it for cooking.

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I find the easiest way to enjoy tofu is to press out as much moisture as possible, cube it (I'm sure large, thick slices work find) and fry it. Get the oil very hot before putting in the tofu or it will stick and crumble. The tofu will take on a consistency more palatable to us in the West. You're still not going to get much flavor out of plain tofu though, so it depends on what you do with it. (I wouldn't expect it to be much good beyond Tofu Parmesan, etc.)

Another option is to crumble it and saute it -- use more oil than you would ordinarily use. It then takes on the qualities of ground beef (but not the color or flavor). Someone on the board suggested that you freeze the tofu before crumbling.

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Another option is to crumble it and saute it -- use more oil than you would ordinarily use.  It then takes on the qualities of ground beef (but not the color or flavor).  Someone on the board suggested that you freeze the tofu before crumbling.

I crumble it to make tofu scramble... Very tasty. I also grill it in the tandoor and people think they are eating paneer most of the time.

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Helena, why do you want to incorporate tofu into dishes from no-tofu cuisines?

Tofu, used traditionally, as Jinmyo outlined, is one of the world's great, great ingredients.

(A bugaboo for me, the shoehorning of tofu into places where it does not belong!)

Priscilla

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I also grill it in the tandoor and people think they are eating paneer most of the time.

Yes. Fried cubes of tofu are always a decent substitute for paneer (which I've tried to make a few times, but it always crumbles apart).

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I love tofu. I adore Asian preparations of tofu but rarely cook them at home. Most of the tofu I eat I put in sandwiches as a sort of substitute for animal protein, but I've learned to prepare it well enough that I find myself snacking on it if I have any around.

The secret to making tofu yummy is removing as much moisture as possible, which makes it more chewy and more able to absorb other flavors. Tofu firmness is indicated by its water content. You may find that "extra-firm" labeled tofu is still pretty squidgy and soft. Remove water content by freezing and thawing (my usual technique), by pressing out the moisture under weight with towels in the refrigerator, or by frying in fat.

Use strong-flavored marinades and sauces with tofu, since it has minimal flavor on its own. I wouldn't bother to marinate it unless I'd already dried it out using one of the methods outlined above. Some less-Asian-style things I've done with it:

1. Cook in a spicy vinaigrette and eat with kraut and cheese as a tofu reuben

2. Cook with BBQ sauce and eat with slaw on a bun as a bbq tofu sammich

3. Slather with mustard, bread, and pan-fry as a sort of vegetarian cutlet. This one is also good with tofu I haven't pre-dried, since the custardy texture of the tofu plays well against a crisp hot crust.

4. Bake it with a jerk type sauce and eat with plantains and greens

I do agree with Jinmyo that tofu and Italian flavors don't play well together. And Asian preparations really are best, since that's where tofu is meant to be used.

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Helena, why do you want to incorporate tofu into dishes from no-tofu cuisines?

Because i know to cook the dishes from these no-tofu cuisines? (have you seen my shiitake example?)

(A bugaboo for me, the shoehorning of tofu into places where it does not belong!)

Please, share the experience, i won't tell anybody! :wink:

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Deborah Madison does a good job with tofu: check out her cookbook. Also check out Louise Hagler. She's a 60's gal who has been using it for lo these many years.

There are Italian-baked tofus on the market. We sell one. It's flavored with Italian seasoning. It's pretty good.

I eat it at least once a week. I like the taste and texture , and the fact that I feel good on all levels ( physically and mentally!...) after eating it. You might try tempeh , too. Heheh....

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I wouldn't try too hard to fit one ingredient into a specific type of cuisine unless it makes sense to you . If you eat something and think 'ooh yum, this would be relly nice with...'

then go for it. If not, don't force the issue.

Having said that, lots of people have worked out ways of incorporating tofu into european food, like Malawry's suggestions.

You may like to try tempeh, it has a firm texture and a lovely nutty flavour that may work better with Italian food.

I have a small house and I've been making lots of indian food lately, and yes, the house smelt like an Indian restaurant for about a week, but it's not the worst thing that could happen. Just keep all your windows open. It's summer where you are isn't it?

How sad; a house full of condiments and no food.

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I have a small house and I've been making lots of indian food lately, and yes, the house smelt like an Indian restaurant for about a week, but it's not the worst thing that could happen. Just keep all your windows open. It's summer where you are isn't it?

The house can smell for many other reasons.. and yes Indian food alone is not the only cuisine making a home smell. There are many others. And what is to say that perhaps what smells to one is not pleasing to another and vice-versa.

BUt I do think that Helena was implying that to be the case with only Indian food.

I also think it depends on how you cook and what you cook. I cook Indian food several times a week and most people even on my floor cannot smell it. And the apartment certainly does not have any smell. There are many factors to take into account for why any cuisine can make a home smell.

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I cook a lot with tofu - even in italian style dishes. I think the key to making it fit into italian cooking is to get the extra-firm, press the water out, chop it into very small bits, and fry it in olive oil and garlic. Alternately, slice it very thin, marinate it, and bake until dry, and then do what you will with it. The big issue I always had with tofu is the texture - even the extra firm could best be described as "squishy".

Tempeh is actually better for this, and some of the Morningstar Farms products are the best of all. Their "crumbles" product (ground beef substitute) is phenomenal in meat sauces - I've served it to non-veggie friends with most of them not being able to tell whether its meat or not.

Wheee, soy,

Matt

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I have a small house and I've been making lots of indian food lately, and yes, the house smelt like an Indian restaurant for about a week, but it's not the worst thing that could happen.

I knew a real estate broker in the Boston area who said that houses are very difficult to rent if the prior renters cooked a lot of Indian food. He claimed that the oils from the food actually permeated the walls of the kitchen and surrounding rooms.

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I have a small house and I've been making lots of indian food lately, and yes, the house smelt like an Indian restaurant for about a week, but it's not the worst thing that could happen.

I knew a real estate broker in the Boston area who said that houses are very difficult to rent if the prior renters cooked a lot of Indian food. He claimed that the oils from the food actually permeated the walls of the kitchen and surrounding rooms.

And I know of realtors that have made such statements that would diminish other ethnicities and people.

But is it true to perpetuate such myths???

But yes, if one cooks foods that are spicy and flavorful and aromatic, it is easy to have their smells permeate rugs and textiles. But a smart cook would plan all of this. And be a smart cook. I have tons of textiles and rugs. And even when I come back home after several days in which friends have been cooking Indian food, there are never smells lingering. Windows, exhaust, correct tehnique and simply losing prejudice can help in many situations.

I have heard gross and very damaging stories shared by realtors about just about any ethnicity that is non-white. I have heard such horrible things that I would be foolish to even post them here. While there may be a very small iota of truth in them, they are for the most part nothing but a way to discriminate and remain ignorant.

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