The words used to describe tofu tend to be monosyllabic and less than complimentary. Bland. Gross. Meh. There just isn’t much to love about that white block of soybean curd, the haters say.
And therein lies the great tofu paradox: Its blank-slate state of being is precisely what makes it so interesting.
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“Tofu is very pure,” says Andrea Nguyen, author of Asian Tofu: Discover the Best, Make Your Own, and Cook It at Home. “There’s not much in there.”
What is in there? Protein and potential.
“It can be a purely vegetarian food, or you can have it with a little animal protein. It can be savory or sweet. It’s very amenable,” Nguyen says.
I spoke to Nguyen and another tofu expert, Jenny Yang, owner of Chicago’s Phoenix Bean Tofu, to better understand the much-mocked food and get some good buying advice.
Making tofu is very much like making cheese. The difference, Nguyen points out, is “what you’re squeezing is not a cow’s udder but soymilk.”
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Ground up soybeans are cooked in water and the solids are separated out. Combining that liquid—soymilk—with a natural firming agent called a coagulant (usually an acid or salt) causes curds to form. Those curds are pressed, and boom—that’s tofu.
The two common coagulants used to make tofu are calcium sulfate or gypsum (the food-grade variety, “not what’s in drywall,” Nguyen notes) and magnesium chloride, or nigari in Japanese. Some tofu makers use a combination of the two.
Another coagulant, glucono delta-lactone or gluconolactone, is a carbohydrate often used to make silken tofu.
The difference between silken tofu and regular tofu is sort of like cream versus low-fat milk, Nguyen says.
Silken tofu is not pressed. Instead, soybeans are combined with less water, resulting in a thicker soymilk that’s cooked over low heat and coagulates right in the package. The result is a decadent tofu that’s super-smooth and practically spoonable.
Regular tofu ranges in texture from “soft” all the way to “super firm.” The difference is in the water content.
But firmness levels are like dress sizes. “There’s no standard,” Nguyen says. “You have to keep trying until you find a brand you like.” (To make things even more confusing, silken tofu also can vary in firmness, from soft to firm.)
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Which one you buy depends on what you’re cooking. The firmer the tofu, the less porous it is, and the less flavor it will absorb.
Yang and Nguyen offer these ideas for each tofu type:
Silken: Good for making smoothies, sauces and salad dressings, and as an egg substitute in baking.
Soft: Good for soups and for battering and frying.
Medium or medium firm: Good for ma po tofu.
Firm or extra firm: Good for stir-frying or grilling.
Super firm: Good for pan- or deep-frying.
A word on all that water: Most recipes tell you to weigh down your tofu under a pan or plate between paper towels, to squeeze all that excess water out. But both Nguyen and Yang say that’s nonsense.
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