this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2023
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chapotraphouse
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imo most people wouldn't even notice if you switched the meat in their daily slop with plant material. It's just an attitude thing towards meat.
I'm slowly navigating life after becoming vegan and this hasn't been true all the time for me but when it is, it fucking hits hard.
My chili recipe was converted to vegan early on after I came over and you can't fucking tell it's vegan. I've said before on reddit but I will put it up against anyone's "prize winning chili recipe".
I made sloppy joe's last week with TVP and day one was ok but when it came time for the leftovers, you woundn't have know it was vegan. To me, it was exactly like the slop I grew up with.
I'm still trying to master tofu. I can't get it at all like my favorite Thai place does it.
I've been working a bit with the soy curls and "beef slices" you can find from Asian stores and it's been hit and miss with trying to get it right but a few weeks ago I made a mushroom, spinach linguine using the slices and it fucking slapped. I hydrated the slices with veggie broth and some spices and then sauteed them in a pan with my shrooms and spinach and tossed the pasta in at the end and sort of winged it but it was really fucking good.
Another thing that I think needs to be mentioned is that most meat subs are like half the cost of the animal counterpart. Beyond and manufactured seitan obviously isn't but any of the soy products I've tried are. You also get the same or more protein with the substitutes.
If you’re gonna bread your tofu you can’t parboil. The usual wisdom is to use corn starch but I get good results with normal dredge (about half flour, half bread crumbs, heavily spiced) on one cm cubes fried in a pan, flipped once by hand.
Tofu like this is crispy and delicious fresh and fair to middlin as leftovers.
I can try this! With the bread crumbs I bet it would work great with sauces and such. Dang now I wanna do sweet and sour tofu lol.
my process is to take and drain some regular grocery store tofu and slice it into two. then i slice each half of the block into cubes but leave em blocked up and wrap em each in a paper towel like a christmas present to dry out. i start the oil going in the pan, you don't need as much as you think, and mix up dredge in a bowl, you need more than you think, while everythings drying/getting hot. once the paper towel is soaked through i'll take it off a block and toss em in the dredge. i like to let em sit for a little bit and also make sure none of em are stuck together.
i add em to the pan one by one and once thyere all in, put the other block in the dredge and toss and make sure theyre not stuck together. once that's done its time to flip all the tofu in the pan over in the rough order they were added and if you got a lopsided stove like mine, spin the pan around.
a little later, take out the tofu and set em in a strainer over a bowl to drip dry and do the next block.
e: rough amounts for oil and dredge: enough that youre gonna start a "used cooking oil" jug when youre done, maybe a quarter to a half cup, maybe more. enough dredge that youre gonna start a "dredge for frying things" tupperware that lives over the stove, about two or three cups, maybe more. remember to heavily spice the dredge! it if tastes like youre licking it*lian bread then you did it right.
I'll have to look into a used oil and a dredge Tupperware solution. I never really thought I'd be a tofu person in the first place but it's just so cheap.
I keep a jug for it under the sink and figure out what to do with it when it gets full. You’re not supposed to dump it outside or down the drain because it fucks shit up. I live in the middle of nowhere and have an actual factual old timey oil lamp that can burn it when the power goes out or when we wanna look spooky. Someone with livestock will usually take it as a feed additive. Usually there’s someone making biodiesel around that’ll take it and a lot of mechanics shops have waste oil heaters that can burn it. If worse comes to worse, the dump usually has a collection day where you can bring it by for free and from there someone making biodiesel or animal feed commercially uses it.
Keeping a bunch of stuff on the back of the stove for cooking rules, right now I got salt, pepper, garlic, dried chilies and a little container of dredge. When it’s getting towards stale, combine with some egg and milk to make little fry critters.
This might not be your Thai place but a lot of restaurant stir fries actually deep-fry the tofu before stir frying it with the other ingredients. You get a better crisp that way even if you're not coating it
I've tried air frying and it gets a bit of the texture on the outside but it's still softer than my liking in the inside. I don't have access to a deep fryer so I can't try to that way.
Ah frying won't really change the inside, try slicing it thinner if you want more crunch overall or buying firmer tofu (which is also easier to cook). I deep fry in a big pot of oil on the stovetop.
Try coating your tofu in corn starch after pressing and marinating it, immediately before you cook it
Will do. When I've done corn starch in the past, the recipes all said to toss it ina bag with the tofu and spices and let it set. I can try marinade and toss right before for sure.
Marinating doesn't work really on tofu at or below room temp
Tofu only absorbs flavor if it's heated, sous vide should work for this but I haven't tried yet
I parboil the cut tofu in salted water for a few minutes and then let it rest before frying. Gives a better texture and adds a little flavor.
Gonna def try this. Thanks!
This recipe is really good, but I just use a flour/cornstarch/baking powder mix instead of dredging it in egg but it definitely helped my tofu skills.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_men1BU9RQ
I'm gonna watch this when I get a chance. Probably won't have time today. But thanks. I really wanna get my tofu game down. It's always mush when I'm done with it lol.
I will sometimes cook it alone and let it get crispy then toss it into the rest of whatever I'm making in the last few minutes of cooking so it doesn't loose it's crunch.
I've been able to seamlessly recreate the thai place by me's tofu by freezing, thawing, then pressing it. After that I dredge in a spice mix and pan fry, then I'll add it to the dish and use more sauce than normal so the tofu doesn't absorb everything.
This is a similar technique https://youtu.be/czf4uNUrwQg
I'll check it out. I've tried freeze and thaw and it came close but not quite. I think I'm asking Santa for a tofu press for Xmas tho because right now I'm using a few plates and cans of veggies or my bullet mixer for a weight and it's not quite working lol.