My Cooking Got So Much Better After I Learned How To Use Tofu
Gone are the days when you had to go to a health food or specialty store to buy a block of extra-firm tofu. Now we can find a plethora of soy-ful options, no matter where we’re shopping. Firm, extra-firm, silken, marinated and baked: the varieties are endless... and can be a little confusing if you’re just looking for a block to press and fry for dinner. How do you know what to grab?
I took a deep dive into the world of tofu: how it’s made, and what type is actually good for what. Here’s everything you need to know to grab the right package next time you’re at the store– because if you were hoping to fry up that rogue box of silken tofu, you’re going to be sooooo disappointed.
How Tofu Is Made
Tofu is made by coagulating soy milk, a process which (in the case of cottony or “block” tofu) curdles the soy milk, transforming it into curds and whey. The curds are then pressed to remove excess whey, creating the blocks of tofu we buy in the store. How much they’re pressed determines the firmness of the final block (and whether it’s classified as medium, firm, or extra-firm).
In the case of silken tofu, the soy milk is coagulated and heated gently to avoid curdling the soy milk and causing the curds and whey to separate. This produces a creamy dense tofu without the solid curds that block tofu has.
Now you’ve got a basic understanding of how these two different families of tofu and how they’re produced, let’s dive into the most common types and what’s good for what.
Silken Tofu
An outlier in the tofu family, silken tofu has a thick, creamy texture that’s almost like a set pudding. It’s scoopable, and while it holds its shape, it’s very tender and can easily fall apart if overhandled.
How to cook it: Silken tofu's dense, creamy texture makes it perfect for blending into soups, sauces, and smoothies– and it’s also great for making a vegan cheesecake or mousse.
Medium Block
This is one of the softest varieties of block tofu. Made from the soy curds which have been pressed to remove only some of the whey, it’s more tender than, say, extra-firm tofu.
How to cook it: For this reason, it’s great for cubing and serving in soups (such as miso soup) or tossing into sauces: places where you want something that will hold its shape but still meld and mingle with the other ingredients around it.
Extra-Firm Block
At the opposite end of the spectrum, extra-firm block tofu has been pressed to extract the maximum amount of whey possible. The result is tofu that holds its shape and stands up to high heat cooking and rougher handling.
How to cook it: Extra firm tofu is great for pressing, breading and frying, or stir-frying.
Marinated/Baked
Most varieties of tofu taste pretty neutral on their own and don’t exactly lend themselves to being snacked on. But this type, which has been marinated in flavorful seasoning and baked until it takes on a dense, chewy texture, is practically begging you to eat it straight from the package.
How to cook it: Baked tofu makes a great sandwich filling or salad topper. While it’s perfectly delicious eaten cold, I personally love cutting it into little cubes and searing it in a pan with a little oil until it gets crispy and caramelized.
Inari Age
Fried until it puffs into a cute little pocket and then boiled in a deeply seasoned liquid to infuse it with flavor, inari age is basically the pita pocket of the tofu world.
How to cook it: Inagi age is typically stuffed with sushi rice or soba noodles, and it’s often used in soups such as the classic Japanese soup Kitsune Udon. But if you want to get creative, you could technically stuff it with whatever you like!
Yuba
Yuba is the dried bean curd skin that forms on the surface of heated soy milk. Once removed and dried, it becomes a thin, flexible sheet of (essentially) soy protein that’s completely different from any other tofu product available.
How to cook it: Yuba can be used as a wrap, cut into “noodles” and used in salads, or dropped into soups. It’s also delicious when fried!
Do you have a favorite type of tofu or way to prepare it? Let us know in the comments below.
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