This Can't Be Tofu!
Read This Can't Be Tofu! Online
Authors: Deborah Madison
THIS CAN’T BE TOFU
! Copyright © 2000 by Deborah Madison. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information, address Broadway Books, a division of Random House, Inc., 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Madison, Deborah.
This can’t be tofu! : 75 Recipes to Cook Something You Never Thought You Would— and Love Every Bite / Deborah Madison—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. Cookery (Tofu) I. Title.
TX814.5.T63 M34 2000
641.6’5655—dc21
99-040281
Book design by Pei Loi Koay
Illustrations by Patrick McFarlin
eISBN: 978-0-7704-3387-1
v3.1
My thanks and appreciation go to all those who encouraged, aided and abetted in
This Can’t Be Tofu!
, in particular, my favorite tofu eater, Patrick McFarlin, who kept saying, “This can’t be tofu!” and thus named the book; Anne Marie Bough who cheerfully added recipe testing to her already demanding job as a line cook; Mark Mattern of Disney World, whose enthusiasm got me to enjoy my first of many tofu smoothies; Cheryl Jamison, who shared her considerable knowledge of smoke and spice, resulting in barbecued tofu; Harriet Bell, editor par excellence, who asked if I knew anyone who might want to write a little book on tofu and thus piqued my interest; and to my indefatigable agent, Doe Coover, for once again moving an idea toward becoming a book.
This book did not appear out of nowhere, but out of the work, lives, and traditions of many people. I would especially like to acknowledge Bill Shurtleff and Aikiko Ayogi for leading the way of tofu in America with their masterful work,
The Book of Tofu
, which has long been a part of my life; to Kyung-Lim Lee for translating her Korean tofu recipes for me; to Ta Lin grocery in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for not only carrying the most delicious tofu, but for telling me how to use it; to the many Asian restaurants I’ve frequented in my life, starting with the Iris Cafe in Sacramento, where I first encountered tofu so many years ago as a teen foodie; and to the many cooks and authors who have inspired my own use and enjoyment of a very special food. All of you provide the shoulders on which I stand.
This anecdote appeared in the
Metropolitan Diary
in
The New York Times
while I was writing
This Can’t Be Tofu!
Jane Block, shopping in her local health store, placed a container of fresh tofu in her basket. A well-dressed man approached her and in a clipped British accent asked exactly what she did with the tofu. She replied that normally she put it in the refrigerator, looked at it for several weeks, and then threw it away. The man replied: “That’s exactly what my wife does with it. I was hoping you had a better recipe.”
Well, for all of you whose relationship to tofu is as earnest, but as unfilled as Jane’s, here are some better recipes.
I WAS EIGHT WHEN A FRIEND
of my father’s asked if he could use me in a film he was making about soybeans. My part was to paint a chair with a pink paint that was based on soybean oil. The film featured a lot of other friends doing things with soy-based products, but I don’t recall that the soybean was ever portrayed as food, except possibly as a meat extender. In the 1950s, there wouldn’t have been any mention of tofu, miso, or soy milk, for traditional soy foods were only to be found in the homes and restaurants of Japanese and Chinese Americans.
Today this is no longer the case, for we have greatly expanded our knowledge of soy foods and are now well aware of the healthful possibilities contained in the soybean, especially when made into tofu. In soy foods, especially tofu, we have a plant food that’s protein dense, has no cholesterol, abounds in phytochemicals that may protect against heart disease, isoflavonoids that can help soften the effects of menopause and protect against breast cancer, and reasonable calories for those who are counting them. In short, these are the very qualities that have probably fueled your interest in soy in the first place. What I want to do is alert you to its culinary possibilities, because it’s just not enough to know something’s good for you, then treat it like medicine. Without tofu being understood, isn’t it likely just to sit there in your refrigerator until you throw it out? There’s absolutely no reason to be eating tofu with the enthusiasm usually reserved for flossing our teeth. This sad approach completely eclipses its considerable culinary possibilities, as you will discover. In addition, you’ll be thrilled to discover that tofu is one of the quickest and easiest foods you can cook.
Knowing what tofu is and what its different designations mean—which type is for what and how to handle it—is important for producing good results in your kitchen. If you’re unfamiliar with tofu, do spend a little time with the introductory material so that you can start off in the right direction and enjoy the results of your efforts.
IF YOU’VE NEVER ENCOUNTERED TOFU,
you may feel perplexed about how to approach it. This is entirely understandable. At first glance, it’s simply not like any of the other foods we eat although, with experience, you may find this isn’t so. One of the best ways to become acquainted with tofu is to go to a restaurant and order a dish that has tofu, or bean curd, as it’s also called. Have a plate of mapo tofu in a Chinese restaurant, or order sukiyaki in a Japanese one, where you’ll also find tofu in your miso soup. In a Korean restaurant, you may have a stir-fry of beef and tofu. Many people enjoy tofu in the context of those cuisines where tofu is enough in and of itself and doesn’t pretend to be something else. In fact, since working on this book, it seems that everyone I meet is eager to tell me about a wonderful little tofu dish they had in a Thai, Japanese, Korean, or Chinese restaurant.
Similarly, I’ve found that one of the easiest approaches to cooking tofu at home is to cook it within the traditional flavors you’ve already encountered in restaurants. The reason why so many of the dishes in this book use ginger, coconut, cilantro, soy sauce, and other Asian ingredients is that they go so well with the delicate, nutty flavor of tofu. It turns out that tofu is also well enhanced by curry spices and Indian cooking techniques. It rather resembles the Indian cheese called
paneer
, and, in fact, it does stand in well for paneer.
When it comes to translating tofu for a Western palate, there are two main directions you can go in. One is to be quite obvious about it. You know you’re eating tofu when you bite into that
Bachelor Tofu Sandwich
; the surprise is that it’s so good. The second is to use tofu so that it disappears. Blend it in a smoothie, whip it into mayonnaise, or add it to a cheese filling for manicotti. I’ve even had it in a chocolate cake. The surprise is that it’s there at all; you would never know.
Another way tofu has been used, an approach that I’m not at all fond of, is when it masquerades as feta cheese in a salad, a slab of mozzarella in a lasagna, or is crumbled up to imitate
hamburger. What a rude surprise when you find out that those white cubes weren’t feta cheese after all! These recipes won’t lead you to expect one thing, then get another. They’re here simply because they taste good.