Ingredient

Tofu

Tofu is bland by design, and treating that as a flaw is why so much of it is disappointing. It is a texture and a carrier — the job is to get water out and flavour in, and the order matters.

What it is, and why the type matters so much

Tofu is made by curdling soya milk and pressing the curds, in almost exactly the way fresh cheese is made from dairy milk. How hard the curds are pressed decides how much water is left, and that single variable produces ingredients that behave nothing like each other.

Buying the wrong one is the commonest tofu mistake by a distance. Silken tofu will not fry — it disintegrates. Extra-firm tofu will not blend into a smooth sauce — it stays grainy. A recipe that does not specify is assuming you know which it means from context.

The types

Silken

Barely pressed, custard-like. Blends into sauces, dressings and desserts; goes into miso soup; eaten cold with soy and ginger. Cannot be fried or handled much.

Soft or medium

Holds a shape but breaks easily. Braises, mapo tofu, soups.

Firm

The everyday one. Fries, bakes, grills, holds up in a stir-fry. Press it first.

Extra-firm

Dense and chewy. Best for crisping, skewers and anything that gets handled a lot.

Smoked or pre-marinated

Already flavoured and very firm. Good sliced into salads and sandwiches with no further work.

Fried puffs

Hollow and spongy. They soak up braising liquid better than anything else in this list.

Crisp tofu

1. Use firm or extra-firm. Drain it and press: wrap in a clean cloth, put a plate on top with something heavy, and leave for twenty to thirty minutes.
2. Cut into pieces no smaller than a large dice — smaller pieces are all crust and no interior.
3. Toss with a little cornflour and salt. This is the step that produces a genuinely crisp shell rather than a slightly firm one.
4. Fry in a good amount of hot oil in a single layer, or roast at around 200°C on a lined tray.
5. Leave it alone until it releases from the pan. Tofu sticks while a crust is forming and lets go when it is done.
6. Sauce it after crisping, not before, and at the last possible moment — sauce goes soft immediately.

Getting flavour in

Tofu absorbs much less marinade than people hope, because it is already full of water. The workarounds are all about making room or putting the flavour on the outside.

• Press it first. Water out means marinade in, up to a point.
• Freeze and thaw it. Ice crystals rupture the structure and leave a spongier, chewier tofu that genuinely does absorb liquid. The texture change is dramatic and not to everyone's taste.
• Salt it like any other ingredient. Unsalted tofu tastes of nothing however good the sauce is.
• Rely on the coating and the sauce. A crisp, seasoned exterior with a strong sauce is how tofu is actually eaten in the cuisines it comes from.
• Braise it. Long, gentle cooking in a flavoured liquid gets further in than marinating ever will.

Getting texture into it

• Press firm tofu. Wrap it in a cloth, put a weight on it for twenty to thirty minutes, and pour off the water. Unpressed tofu will not brown and will not take up marinade.
• Freeze and thaw it for a completely different, much chewier and more absorbent texture. Ice crystals open up the structure. An excellent and little-known trick.
• Coat it in cornflour before frying. It gives a crisp shell that plain tofu cannot develop on its own.
• Get the pan properly hot and leave it alone. Tofu sticks and tears when moved too early, exactly like fish.
• Marinate after cooking as well as before. Browned tofu absorbs far more than raw tofu does.
• Silken tofu is a different ingredient — do not press it, do not fry it. Blend it into sauces, desserts and dressings, where it is superb.

Common questions