Tofu prep ideas?

There's a cool trick you can do for ground-meat-like applications: freeze it. That will turn it into a much spongier product which is easier to crumble and with a totally different texture. Thaw, drain well, marinate, then stir fry.

[Jenise]

Also, select a firm tofu (you often have a choice of firmnesses). It's dryer.

Quick offhand suggestions that I've found good, Randy:

1. A cold, more like salad use. (Taught me 30-plus years ago by vegetarian co-workers from India.) Cube tofu and marinate it, cold, overnight or for a few hours in a marinade of diced shallots (can substitute freeze-dried), soy sauce (Tamari preferable), and vinegar to taste.

2. Research "ma-po tofu" (variously spelled, mabo doufu, etc.), the "quintessential Szechwanese dish" [source below]. This includes ground meat (beef or pork) and distinctive citrusy Szechwan "peppercorns" and can be phenomenally good and is well characterized below. Basic recipe is fairly simple, though restaurants often add ingredients that don't hurt a bit. Good recipes, and the story of the dish, are in a very popular, unusual, longtime US-published Szechwan cookbook and regardless of tofu cooking I urge anyone interested to get this book instantly. It's cheaply and easily available used. Below, something I posted to a newsgroup a few years ago:

One particular Chinese cookbook I have has some of the most rewarding spicy stews and similar dishes, some of which (like the simply named "red cooked beef with noodles") exquisitely use Szechuan peppercorns. (In that case, with lots of of scallions, ginger and whole garlic cloves.) This book has spoken for most of those peppercorns that I used in recent years. The book seems to be an oral account, transcribed/translated by English speaking writers.

Schrecker and Schrecker, Mrs. Chiang's Szechwan Cookbook, Harper and Row, 1976, reissued 1987. ISBN 006015828X for the reissue. Readily available on the used market and probably some libraries. amazon.com currently lists 44 copies available, starting at $4.07. A good value, in my opinion.


PS: The Chiang book includes a recipe and background info about the tofu dish (spelled mapo doufu). Also, comments from Eugene Wu of the Harvard-Yenching Library who claims to've had the dish served when he was young, in Chengtu, by the famous pock-marked old lady herself, that the dish is named for. Quoted as review and recommendation:

"You ordered by weight, so many grams of bean curd and so many grams of meat, and your serving would be weighed out and cooked as you watched. It arrived at the table fresh, fragrant, and so spicy hot, or la, that it actually caused sweat to break out. Dr. Wu says that Mrs. Chiang's version of the dish rivals that of the famous old lady. It is just as rich, fragrant, and hot. / If we had to choose the quintessential Szechwanese dish, this spicy preparation of bean curd and chopped meat would probably be it. Its multiplicity of tastes and textures first stuns, then stimulates, the senses. ..." (The writers go on about the relation of the dish to Szechuan cooking traditions.)

[Jenise]

Max, for a long time I liked tofu just okay--didn't hate it, but didn't see the magic. Ma po tofu was the dish that changed that. Randy, I second Max's reccomendation of that dish.

Slice firm tofu into 3/4" segments and lay flat on a towel. Fold the towel over the tofu and put a cutting board or baking sheet on top. Weight this with a few heavy cans from the pantry. In about 2-3 hours, the moisture will have wicked out of the tofu, forming drier, more solid blocks.

You can then brush the pressed tofu with your choice of oil-based marinade. Let sit 15 minutes or overnight in the fridge. You can grill, bake or stirfry the seasoned pressed tofu.

[Jenise]

I like Szechwan food a lot but don't wish to make it at home.

That's absurd. But okay, it's your kitchen.

[Jenise]

Ouch, that's a small kitchen. My kitchen feels like that some days, but it's medium or better--and I plan to double it!

... Randy, I second Max's reccomendation of [Ma Po tofu].

The tofu is really to avoid meat use.

Sorry, I should have made clear that how much, if any, meat's in that dish is discretionary. Of the two [of 12 Chinese] restaurants very near me that make that tofu dish best, one makes it meatless. (The other one is where I headed after previously posting, and thinking, about Ma Po Tofu. )

Also, the simple marinade I mentioned earlier is hazy from many similar sauce recipes in intervening years: I think it may have been soy sauce, shallots, and dry Sherry -- rather than vinegar. Certainly that works.

Randy

I use it for breakfast and treat it like a "scramble"....ie i usually cube it, cook it in a little olive oil and "whatever"...a little soy, some chili paste, some cilantro, fresh ground pepper

It;s blank canvas and a wonderful breakfast