Tofu - Flavor's Enemy

[x2ski]

For the past few weeks I have been trying to eat better. Instead of one terribly-unhealthy, gigantic meal per day (right before bed), I've been eating 5-8 smaller meals to get my metabolism back on track.

The meals consist mainly of whey protein shakes, yogurt, Dannon Frusions, chicken tortilla wraps (w/ lettuce, onion, tomato etc.), tuna sandwiches on multi-grain breads, oatmeal, and the occasional Egg Beaters with Boca sausages (flavored soy protein). So far it's been working out well, and it's been very easy to implement

I've been very impressed with the convincing flavor of Boca sausages... To me, they taste almost excatly like regular sausages, which brings me to tonight's experiment.

The grocery store I go to carries pretty much everything. There are several international food aisles which make you believe you are in a foreign country, given all the exotic products (it's amazing what the Japanese consider "candy"... shrimp seem to be popular over there) . There are also many organic/whole foods aisles. Given my past success with Boca sausages, I decided to give tofu a try. The store has a section loaded with products to accomodate eating tofu: tofu burger mix, tofu taco mix, tofu hummus mix, tofu mashed potatoes, tofu scrambled eggs, tofu smoked salmon (j/k) etc. One of these products caught my eye... tofu gyros.

Damn, gyros are good. I like gyros a lot, but they aren't something you normally "whip up 'cause you have extra lamb in the freezer." And the picture on the box looked very appealing. So, I grabbed the box, a couple pounds of firm tofu as the box suggested, some pita bread and ingredients for the cuke sauce. I was pretty stoked, 'cause if people can make soy protein taste like breakfast sausage, it shouldn't be too hard to make tofu last like meat for gyros.

I get home and get cookin'... According to the box, "combine contents with tofu and water to desired firmness". First of all, wtf do I do with the tofu juice that's already in the container? I decided to discard it, was that wrong? Anyway, I mixed it all up and let stand for 10 minutes as the directions requested. The gyro mix consisted mainly of couscous... wtf?

After 10 minutes, I am instructed to form patties and fry in oil. Form patties? Are you freakin' kidding me? It's like trying to fry a pile of wild kittens... Kittens can move, trust me.

After my failure to fry "tofu patties", I noticed another recipe on the box regarding a "gyro loaf", so I threw the mixture into a bread pan and baked at 375 for 25 minutes as instructed. After 25 minutes, it appeared as though my loaf hadn't baked at all, so I left it in for an additional half-hour (in 10-minute intervals). I finally took it out after it being in the oven for almost an hour, and it still didn't seem cooked at all. I sliced a piece and through together a gyro, and the tofu part tasted like absolutely nothing.

Completely flavorless.


I decided to try the frying pan again, along with some Cavender's Greek Seasoning, garlic, and other spices in an attempt to salvage this train wreck.

I sliced pieces from the loaf and placed them - very delicately - into the frying pan. They fell apart anyway so I decided to just stir up everything and add my own personal seasonings. 45 minutes later, it seems like I'm finally cooking the stuff, but there are still completely uncooked white pieces among the dark brown "cooked" pieces. Do I have the wrong idea on how this stuff is supposed to look when cooked up?

Regardless, it seems as though tofu is the blackhole of flavor. Sure, flavor goes in... But it sure as hell doesn't come out. I threw in garlic, oregano, Cavender's, Frank's, chipotle marinade, garlic powder and red pepper flakes, and they all seem to have disappeared.

Is tofu Soylent Green? Is tofu people?



If anyone has any solid tofu recipes, feel free to let me know. At $1.39 a pound, it isn't that bad of a deal. But so far, I teh suk at the tofu.

[daveymck]

I attempted a tofu chinese meal once was nearly sick, hated the taste and texture of it is just horrible to me, although I may have cooked it wrong.

Some tofu with noodles and few other bits and pieces is easy and quick to make and relatively good for you.

[swede123]

I've tried Tofu a few times and my experiences have been quite similar to yours. Sounds like Tofu is not my bag, baby.

Swede

[stigmata]

Here's how to do nice tofu:

1) Get a decent make. The Oak-smoked cauldron is nice, you can get from Holland & Barret in the UK.

2) Drain the liquid. Dry tofu by squeezing it in kitchen roll firmly but gently.

3) Cut the tofu into triangle shapes about 1cm thick, maybe 7x4 or something. It looks better this way.

4) Marinade it for a couple of hours. Something like Mirin, Soy Sauce, Garlic, lots of Ginger. Tofu is so bland, you need to do something serious to give it an interesting kick. Sounded like your marinade should of worked.... did you leave it long enough?

5) Take it out of the marinade and use the marinade for some extra flavouring in stir-fry.

6) *Griddle* the tofu on a griddle pan. Just put it on the pan for a few minutes either side on a medium heat. Make sure you get the darkened stripes across the tofu pieces (again, this looks cool) and it is a little crispy around the edges.

7) Do this at the same time as the stir fry, and then just bung the tofu in at the end, or layer it on top.

Bingo, perfect tofu. Badly cooked tofu (e.g. 99% of it) is minging. Well cooked tofu should be well marinaded (because it has no flavour) and be a little crispy on the outside with a softer but firm interior. In this way it should be able to act as a sort of "meat subsitute" as the flavour/texture should offest nicely against the veg.

Another good meat substitue is Quorn. The texture is quite chicken-like, but again it lacks in flavour. However, the quorn pieces work well in things like curries, were the flavour of the meat is completely drowned out anyhow.

[RunDownHouse]

Tofu is a [censored] sponge for flavor. If its flavorless, that's because you don't know how to prepare it.

[TiK]

This is my favorite way to eat tofu. It's called Hiyayakko, and it is fantastic. I also love the chinese dish Mapo tofu, compared to Japanese dishes, Chinese dishes are much more flavorful. It is my experience that the Japanese prefer subtle flavoring and shy away from the much more robust flavorings of other asian cuisines.

I would stay away from Tofu Gyros, Tofu Hummus, i.e. cuisines that are inexperienced with tofu use, as I'm sure it will end up tasting like [censored]. Honestly, Tofu Gyros? Disgusting... Anyway, my two cents.

[astroglide]

cavender's is great on burgers

[oddjob]

[ QUOTE ]
Here's how to do nice tofu:

1) Get a decent make. The Oak-smoked cauldron is nice, you can get from Holland & Barret in the UK.

2) Drain the liquid. Dry tofu by squeezing it in kitchen roll firmly but gently.

3) Cut the tofu into triangle shapes about 1cm thick, maybe 7x4 or something. It looks better this way.

4) Marinade it for a couple of hours. Something like Mirin, Soy Sauce, Garlic, lots of Ginger. Tofu is so bland, you need to do something serious to give it an interesting kick. Sounded like your marinade should of worked.... did you leave it long enough?

5) Take it out of the marinade and use the marinade for some extra flavouring in stir-fry.

6) *Griddle* the tofu on a griddle pan. Just put it on the pan for a few minutes either side on a medium heat. Make sure you get the darkened stripes across the tofu pieces (again, this looks cool) and it is a little crispy around the edges.

7) Do this at the same time as the stir fry, and then just bung the tofu in at the end, or layer it on top.

8) Throw tofu away, pick up phone, order pizza.



[/ QUOTE ]

FYP

[Cancer Merchant]

If you're into hot, there's a bunch of good-stasting szechuan-style hot tofu variants. One is:

2 tsp peanut oil
2 Tb grated fresh ginger
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 lb. fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced (about 2 cups)
1 Tb dark brown sugar
4 cups chicken broth (that's what was printed! I used veg. broth)
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tsp Chinese chile paste w/garlic, or to taste
1 lb. firm tofu cut into 1 inch squares
4 cups thinly sliced bok choy greens
1/2 lb. fresh Chinese-style (lo mein) noodles
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. In wok or pot, heat oil. Add ginger, garlic, cook for about a minute.

2. Add mushrooms, cook til soft, about 2-3 minutes.

3. Stir in sugar, broth, soy sauce, chile paste. Cover and bring to a boil.

4. Add tofu and bok choy. Cover and simmer til greens wilt, about 2 minutes.

5. Raise heat to high. Add noodles, cook covered for about 2-3 minutes til noodles are tender.

6. Remove from heat. Stir in cilanto.


Another easy way is to juts dice it up and stir-fry with ginger, gren onion, and hot pepper oil.

[Paluka]

You can microwave tofu to get all the water out of it and then it doesn't fall apart.