SWR: food discovery

[Christian Miller (CMM)]

...for pescatarians or those (like me) who don't eat meat often, or won't eat veal - good quality firm or medium tofu makes a nice base for a Tonnato sauce. Maybe this is just a revelation to me, but I enjoyed it greatly in hot weather with a glass of Godello.

 

[mark e]

originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):
SWR: food discovery...for pescatarians or those (like me) who don't eat meat often, or won't eat veal - good quality firm or medium tofu makes a nice base for a Tonnato sauce. Maybe this is just a revelation to me, but I enjoyed it greatly in hot weather with a glass of Godello.

That is a bit weird. If you eat fish, just sear some tuna or grill a branzino (or for those who have access: BBQ Copper River salmon). That is real food.

Having been a vegetarian, I get the limited options, and yeah, I admit to smoking seitan or tempeh on the grill, but if you eat fish . . .

 

[Christian Miller (CMM)]

originally posted by mark e:

originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):
SWR: food discovery...for pescatarians or those (like me) who don't eat meat often, or won't eat veal - good quality firm or medium tofu makes a nice base for a Tonnato sauce. Maybe this is just a revelation to me, but I enjoyed it greatly in hot weather with a glass of Godello.

That is a bit weird. If you eat fish, just sear some tuna or grill a branzino (or for those who have access: BBQ Copper River salmon). That is real food.

Having been a vegetarian, I get the limited options, and yeah, I admit to smoking seitan or tempeh on the grill, but if you eat fish . . .

Do you mean sear tuna or grill branzino and top them with tonnato? Maybe it would be tasty, although it seems kind of baroque. In any case, I was mainly thinking of a substitute for the texture and subdued flavor of veal when I tried tofu with tonnato. If you mean just make seared tuna or grilled branzino instead, sure I do it all the time, but that's kind of a non-sequitur.

 

[robert ames]

are you unaware that there are those that raise their veal humanely? i.e., not caged, free range, etc., and just as happy as their cows and pigs (however happy that may be). art of eating did an article in the now-distant past.

 

[maureen]

Tomato Tonnato! And so seasonal!

 

[Christian Miller (CMM)]

originally posted by robert ames:
are you unaware that there are those that raise their veal humanely? i.e., not caged, free range, etc., and just as happy as their cows and pigs (however happy that may be). art of eating did an article in the now-distant past.

Yes, I am not unaware of this. Probably 90% of the meat/poultry I do eat is raised in such a manner. Living in Berkeley, this is not too difficult.

The main reason I posted was the notion that tofu makes a nice, mellow or low key vehicle for pungent and vigorous tonnato sauce. It kind of captures the flavor spirit or principle of using veal. And it makes the dish accessible to a variety of people who wouldn't make or order Vitello Tonnato.

 

[Christian Miller (CMM)]

originally posted by maureen:
The answer isTomato Tonnato! And so seasonal!

An excellent idea. Though it takes the dish in a different direction, away from the reason I tried tofu in the first place.

 

[Tom Blach]

I love tofu, it's one of my favourite things to eat, though I prefer it in its original contexts, often prepared with meat. Here in the UK the versions found in supermarkets are awful, one has to go to Chinese outlets.
My attempts at making it at home have not yet met with great success.

 

[MarkS]

originally posted by Tom Blach:
My attempts at making it at home have not yet met with great success.

So easy to buy, I'll let the experts do it for me.

 

[Keith Levenberg]

originally posted by Tom Blach:
I love tofu, it's one of my favourite things to eat, though I prefer it in its original contexts, often prepared with meat.

That's more like it. I recommend ma po tofu myself, which has enough flavor to mask the tofu's lack of it and enough other ingredients that you can pick around the tofu and still have a nicely filling meal after the tofu is safely disposed of down the fatsink.

 

[Yule Kim]

originally posted by Keith Levenberg:

originally posted by Tom Blach:
I love tofu, it's one of my favourite things to eat, though I prefer it in its original contexts, often prepared with meat.

That's more like it. I recommend ma po tofu myself, which has enough flavor to mask the tofu's lack of it and enough other ingredients that you can pick around the tofu and still have a nicely filling meal after the tofu is safely disposed of down the fatsink.

I grew up eating tofu. It's a good vehicle for sauces, stews or soups (at least in the culture and cuisine I grew up in)

If you have a great, flavorful, pungent stew or sauce, tofu is a great way to add substance and textural variety to a dish, particularly soft or silken tofu in a kimchi or doenjang-based stew or firm tofu with soy sauce/sesame oil/vinegar based dressings. I would find most Korean stews (jjigae or jeongols) incomplete without tofu.

Tofu's blandness and ability to absorb flavors is its culinary appeal (at least in Korean food).

I don't know if tonnato sauce would be the best accompaniment just because it seems a little too thick to get absorbed into the tofu, but the general reasoning seems pretty sound.

 

[Christian Miller (CMM)]

originally posted by Yule Kim:

originally posted by Keith Levenberg:

originally posted by Tom Blach:
I love tofu, it's one of my favourite things to eat, though I prefer it in its original contexts, often prepared with meat.

That's more like it. I recommend ma po tofu myself, which has enough flavor to mask the tofu's lack of it and enough other ingredients that you can pick around the tofu and still have a nicely filling meal after the tofu is safely disposed of down the fatsink.

I grew up eating tofu. It's a good vehicle for sauces, stews or soups (at least in the culture and cuisine I grew up in)

If you have a great, flavorful, pungent stew or sauce, tofu is a great way to add substance and textural variety to a dish, particularly soft or silken tofu in a kimchi or doenjang-based stew or firm tofu with soy sauce/sesame oil/vinegar based dressings. I would find most Korean stews (jjigae or jeongols) incomplete without tofu.

Tofu's blandness and ability to absorb flavors is its culinary appeal (at least in Korean food).

I don't know if tonnato sauce would be the best accompaniment just because it seems a little too thick to get absorbed into the tofu, but the general reasoning seems pretty sound.

Thanks for this, all great points. While my experience is far more limited than yours, we don't lack for Korean restaurants in the East Bay and some of the tofu-laced stews are among my favorite winter dishes (especially doenjang-based).

Indeed, when just ladled onto the tofu, and made in the traditional proportions, the tonnato didn't really penetrate it. Next time I do it, I'm going to increase the ratio of olive oil and let it sit on the tofu a while and see what happens.

In my experience and taste, if tofu is going to be in the starring role, it has to be exceptional quality, custardy soft in texture, and topped with a few ingredients of impeccable quality, e.g. very young and fresh grated ginger and very good soy sauce and sesame oil.

 

[Jonathan Loesberg]

Yes, they are surprisingly like chicken breasts in that their purpose is texture, not flavor. Well, chicken breasts weren't always that way, but they have been for longer than most of you have been alive.

 

[Jim Hanlon]

Christian, you're probably already aware of this small new tofu producer in Oakland: https://www.joodooboo.co/

 

[mark e]

originally posted by Jim Hanlon:
Christian, you're probably already aware of this small new tofu producer in Oakland: https://www.joodooboo.co/

I take it that they have surpassed Hodo (maybe they got too big), but they used to have great fresh tofu skin.

 

[Yule Kim]

originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):

originally posted by Yule Kim:

originally posted by Keith Levenberg:

originally posted by Tom Blach:
I love tofu, it's one of my favourite things to eat, though I prefer it in its original contexts, often prepared with meat.

That's more like it. I recommend ma po tofu myself, which has enough flavor to mask the tofu's lack of it and enough other ingredients that you can pick around the tofu and still have a nicely filling meal after the tofu is safely disposed of down the fatsink.

I grew up eating tofu. It's a good vehicle for sauces, stews or soups (at least in the culture and cuisine I grew up in)

If you have a great, flavorful, pungent stew or sauce, tofu is a great way to add substance and textural variety to a dish, particularly soft or silken tofu in a kimchi or doenjang-based stew or firm tofu with soy sauce/sesame oil/vinegar based dressings. I would find most Korean stews (jjigae or jeongols) incomplete without tofu.

Tofu's blandness and ability to absorb flavors is its culinary appeal (at least in Korean food).

I don't know if tonnato sauce would be the best accompaniment just because it seems a little too thick to get absorbed into the tofu, but the general reasoning seems pretty sound.

Thanks for this, all great points. While my experience is far more limited than yours, we don't lack for Korean restaurants in the East Bay and some of the tofu-laced stews are among my favorite winter dishes (especially doenjang-based).

Indeed, when just ladled onto the tofu, and made in the traditional proportions, the tonnato didn't really penetrate it. Next time I do it, I'm going to increase the ratio of olive oil and let it sit on the tofu a while and see what happens.

In my experience and taste, if tofu is going to be in the starring role, it has to be exceptional quality, custardy soft in texture, and topped with a few ingredients of impeccable quality, e.g. very young and fresh grated ginger and very good soy sauce and sesame oil.

I'm a soft/silken tofu guy myself. The custardy texture in a soondoobu jjigae with a raw egg cooking in the broth really just completes the dish.

I had a Vietnamese friend who brought me to a soft tofu shop in the Virginia suburbs, and there was a line to get in. There, they would add sweet syrups and toppings like you would at an ice cream shop. Makes sense if you are treating the soft tofu like a custard that absorbs all the syrup.

And yes, I am a big fan of soft tofu dressed with ginger, soy, and sesame oil. I think you are referring to the Japanese izakaya dish, and I believe there might be some dashi in there as well to soften the saltiness of the soy. I say that because the Korean analogue uses firm tofu and a mix of soy sauce/vinegar with chopped scallions and garlic, which was always a little too pungent and harsh for me. I prefer the Japanese rendition (but please don't tell my mother that).