Massively needed in this household! I buy tofu at a Vietnamese shop, and I never know which ones to pick and use for what. Thanks so much! And I love your crazy hair, thank you for not putting on a whole masquerade for us. ❤️
You're killing me with your killer sense of humour. This was surprising comprehensive. It's not easy finding decent tofu in Canada...we have alot of space to cover. Thank you for doing most of the work. 😉💌✌🏽
This has been very informative. Smoked tofu is so good but yes, it's been pricier. Last I saw, it was $3.99 in my local store. I'll have to try the super pressed tofu next time. I didn't realize the texture was similar to the smoked tofu. Thanks!
I only really eat tofu because meat is expensive and I also like exposing my daughter various foods. It’s really just a cheap protein options. So I think even at 3.99 that’s worth it
I've been adventuring with tofu a lot lately and I just want to say thank you so much for making this video. I keep coming back to it and learning new things everytime.
That’s the first time that I have seen your face. Nice to meet you Mary. I’m Jacqui and started watching you ages ago but not recently!? But, glad to be here again. Really enjoyed the video. Not seen so much info about tofu in the same place before. I should use it more than I do. You have inspired me to try the different kinds. Thank you. 🥰
The absolute chaos of silken, soft, pressed, chinese, traditional, medium, medium firm, firm ;_; Thankfully they're all delicious! And thank you for sharing all your knowledge!
Wow! This information is fantastic Thank you!! I really appreciate all the teaching videos you have created for us. Also, I like your style and humor! ❤
Your channel is up there with the best cooking content that is ever put out! This is so informative and so much more information then I'll ever need! Thank you!
Hey Mary! 🌟 Your voice is so lovely and comforting, and your knowledge shines through in every video. Thank you for sharing your expertise with us, you're truly a gem in the RU-vid community! 💖✨
yessss here for more fermented tofu recipes please, I make buddhas delight from time to time so I always have a jar of red fermented bean curd in my fridge, but never make anything else with it, would be happy to try out some other recipes.
One of the few things I miss since moving to my motherland in Mexico from the US is tofu!! It’s much harder to find here and so expensive, especially because I’m in a small city. I’ve only found the very regular shelf stable silken tofu or medium firm tofu, for like $6 USD each 😭 came to your channel to learn how to make my own out of different ingredients based on what is cheapest here. I’m no longer vegan but I just love tofu, I can’t completely give it up. I’ll count my blessings that pretty much any other food here, especially produce, is much cheaper and so fresh and locally sourced!
I am once again inspired to try to find the right medium firm tofu for vegan chicken! My kiddo is super picky about texture, so I gotta find one that gets that wildly chicken-like texture. Thank you for this great go-to guide! 😊
nice to meat you! I never was a fan of tofu and cant handle soy well either so it was not a tragedy, even though I found the concept interesting but with your experiments you got me invested and I just bought a tofu press for my own experiments ^^
Here in Germany, our tofu selection is sorely limited. Most groceries only have very dry super firm vacuum sealed tofu, usually smoked and with questionable flavors added. I'm heading to the Vietnamese super center today to get a better selection. Thanks for your investigation into tofu types and some good info. Also, Chester is the best!
Love this tofu guide! Very informative! p.s. Have made your miso marinated tofu a couple of times now…so good! How about tofu shirataki noodles? I didn’t like the House Foods brand ones, but love the Kibun Foods brand “Healthy Noodle” one from Costco. Marketed as “keto friendly”, so you might be interested.
Yay! I'm glad you like it - this video AND the miso tofu :-D I don't know if I'd had tofu shirataki noodles...just shirataki noodles! Thanks for the suggestion. I will check it out :-)
Loved this and it is very helpful. I try to meal prep blocks to build dishes over the week. Some different marinades, sauces or other type things to mix up on prep day would be nice.
firm tofu as a replacement for indian paneer dishes is easy, lower in fat and higher in protein. the preparation of the tofu is pan fry it till it's slightly pale yellow/gold tinted, for the lack of a better phrase? it tastes brilliant in indian curries. do give it a try! ❤
Thanks so much for this guide! I’ve bought fermented tofu, but wasn’t sure how to use it in the past so this helps a lot. I really love your channel!! ❤️
You're most welcome! Recently, I made a pasta dish and used the fermented tofu as the main flavour of the sauce and it was really good! I am now thinking of it as an alternative to a bouillon cube!
I use tofu noodles to make bacon, and it's incredible. I just marinate them briefly in soy sauce and liquid smoke, then fry them until crispy in lots of oil - then glaze them with some more soy sauce, liquid smoke and maple syrup. It's so crunchy and salty and umami-y. Highly recommend it!
I'm just now diving into tofu for a few reasons. My husband's heart health isn't good, the cost of meat is ridiculous, and my kids actually don't seem to like eating most meats. I'm trying to find protein alternatives for my whole family at this point. So this is a great video for first time tofu eaters to learn from ❤
We buy the brand you showed pics of because you couldn’t find. I get it by the case from Amazon. We use soft and firm from this brand. It’s a lovely brand. My daughter is autistic so doesn’t do change well. This one she declared “not beany tasing.” We use it in braised dishes and we use the soft for eating with flavorings/cold, or for miso soups.
Just tried fermented tofu for the first time today. Would love to see recipes with it. It reminded me very much of Roquefort (a blue cheese I used to like a lot before going vegan). That's so great. I missed that taste a lot. The only difference I can remember is, that the tofu is sweeter and some aftertaste is missing. But it's a really good replacement (not one to one but it fills the gap).
this is so helpful! it also helps me understand why my extra firm tofu doesn't look the same as others. where I am (southern us) I've only ever seen the extra firm that comes in liquid, and it seems that's less common in other countries.
i really appreciated this, Mary, though half the tofus (tofi?) I cannot get here, even in Asian stores, for some reason. I can't remember the last time I saw smoked tofu, for example, but it's been years. A new H Mart opened recently in the burbs here, so I'll pop in the next time I'm out that way and have a perusal of their tofu section. Thanks for posting!
Very informative and well explained Mary 😁 I was hoping that you would also talk about dry tofu sticks and sheets and how to use them in cooking? Sending you love from Melbourne Australia 🖤
@@marystestkitchen thank you for your response...would be awesome if you could do a video on how to use dry tofu sticks and sheets....I have had them at Asian restaurants and they are oh so YUMMY 😁🖤💕
Thanks for the video very helpful! I had no idea there are so many tofu options . I think I have an Asian market close to me I’m gonna have to stop in sometime to check out the tofu options ! If using soft/silken tofu for smoothies or desserts do you need to press it first or do you use it as is?
Fantastic video and I didn't realize there were that many types of tofu!!!! I plan to start adding silken or soft tofu to my post-workout smoothie to increase the protein. Would you recommend firm tofu in something like vegan fried rice? Thanks again for the Tofu 101 because I now better understand why type to use for the different dishes. Bravo!!!!
In addition to differences in firmness, there is also flavour differences in my experience. I made my own tofu for a short time from locally grown soy beans until I tried Fontaine Santé Tofu. This brand of tofu IMO is the very best Tofu available in the Canadian market. Better still, Costco stocks it in a 4 pack :-).
@@marystestkitchen Yes there is! I commented before I finished watching but I love that smoked tofu - I remember when there was a sriracha version and a black pepper one which was so good! I live 2.5 hours away from an Asian grocery store so my options are super limited
I am desperate to find “puffed” tofu! LoL. I checked local and no luck. On;one, didn’t look puffed anymore, it looked soggy/wet🤢. Such a great video, so helpful. Thanks 💜👍🏻
Hmmm some puffed tofu looks not crispy because of how it's packaged but it becomes crispy after you pan fry or bake it. So maybe you found it like that. But also, maybe you found the stewing tofu version which isn't puffy but on the outside, it looks like it might be puffed tofu... I know there is a tutorial on youtube on how to make them but ...seems dangerous to me haha
Thank you for pointing out the "sorely disappointed expectations" aspect of vegan food. Vegan food is great, but as soon as you call it chicken or crab or eggs, people who actually remember what that tastes like will HATE it. The human brain is designed to identify things that taste wrong and reject them as spoiled. So your crunchy orange tofu is delicious no matter who eats it, but as soon as you present it as vegan orange chicken, the meat eaters will immediately have a negative reaction to it. And they will carry that reaction with them because we remember emotions far better than we remember tastes. We just need to name things better. Make up original names for your dishes and let peoples' expectations conform to your dishes instead of trying to make dishes conform to expectations.
1.Freeze until solid - might be 3 to 4 hours..it depends on your freezer 2. defrost in fridge - takes about 24 hours 3. Re-freeze 4. defrost in fridge OR under water (about 1 hr) OR in microwave (depends on your microwave)
For someone the at dislikes the spongy texture of tofu, this video made a bit more sense about the differences. It seems like a lot of trial and error and spending! Loool😂. I am trying to find staple uses for it in my diet. So far, silken/soft is used for oilfree mayo recipe and smoothies. I have not come up with how to make it taste meaty yet, but the freezing method is my next try out using extra firm. I'm based in the UK so anyone with any tips on brands to use for a meat like texture and not that spongy texture, please share your tips. Would be most grateful.
could you make tofu deserts or sweet breakfeast tofu items in one of your episodes? I have a sweet tooth but think this could be a good way to at least have more protein in them.
I want to try the fish tofu. I love tuna salad but don’t buy tuna. Thanks so much for all the information. I would love to see you make “tofu” tuna salad. It’s got celery, pickles, red peppers, vegan mayo and pretty much any veggies you want. I put jalapeños in mine. 😃❤️
Because I live in a small village i hours drive from a supermarket or Asian store in Australia, I intend to make my own tofu, one thing I am going to try is adding flavours to the tofu during the milk to curd process process before pressing, Can you offer some advice on this? Ken Australia
I choose organic when possible because I am convinced by the flavour that they are using better quality beans. All tofu I have EVER found at the stores are non-gmo btw. No need to search high and low :-)
Quick question. How do I make super firm tofu? The most I can get from making it is a firm, maybe border line extra firm. Do I need to crush it with more weight?
Mam I am Indian guy and I want to buy super pressed tofu can you give me any online shopping link to buy from overseas because in India we didn't see it.
I haven't made a soy-free silken tofu yet. I would imagine fava beans would do best since they are the closest to soy beans in characteristics. I would make the fava bean milk, then use the silken tofu process (I have a tutorial for the soy version on my channel).
I'm hesitant to use any soy product, like tofu, that isn't organic because I'm under the impression that all non-organic soy is GMO and I don't want all the pesticides that go along with that. Do you know if this is true? Thank you.
GMO soy is usually fed to livestock and used in highly processed foods. It's actually difficult to find gmo produce and fresh foods. You may occasionally find specialty varieties of certain fruits such as pink pineapple or black spot resistant papaya, golden rice, theres a rare variety of apple. But yeah, it's a lot less easy to stumble on than people are fear mongered to believe, and they aren't usually something to fear in the first place. Organic has to do with how it was grown. It means they use organic fertilizers and pesticides instead of synthetic ones.
@@jelatinosa Thank you. I sure wish the food companies would have the guts and integrity to label GMOs, so we could make our own informed choices. My biggest concern with GMOs is the pesticides they are engineered to withstand (and sometimes require). I will stick with organics as much as I can. Safer for me, the environment and the farm workers.
Also, some GMOs are designed to not require as much pesticides, in regard to insecticides. I'd be more worried about certain regular non gmo crops that do require a ton of pesticides, if your fear is simply based on consuming them directly. Or if you want to fear gmos because it's the trendy thing to do, I would specifically worry about the ones that are designed to tolerate herbicides, such as "roundup ready" crops(gmo soy, corn, canola, sugar beets, all which are mostly found in animal feed and processed foods) and which promote a heavier use of these environmentally harmful products. But again, the problem isn't the gmos themselves, it's the harmful and unethical agricultural practices that should be fought against. Some of the crops with the highest traces of glyphosate are non-gmo crops. Many gmos can actually be more beneficial to health and environment than traditional crops, requiring less pesticide use, less water use, have a higher content of vitamins and antioxidants, easier to transport and can create less waste as they don't blemish as easily which makes them more likely to be sold and eaten rather than discarded, can potentially address nutritional deficiencies in certain populations, or have other desirable traits. Genetic modification of crops can be used for good or evil, not all are equal. Hating on all gmos just because you don't understand them is more harmful than good, and distracts from the actual problems surrounding the production of our food.
I love medium firm the best. Just cube it and put it in your airfryer. Sprinkle salt over top and air fry 400°F for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, get a big mixing bowl and add lots of black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and any other spices you love. When the tofu is done, add it to this bowl and toss it. You might sprinkle over some soy sauce too if you like. Air fry again for a few more minutes and you'll have the easiest delicious tofu to put over rice and veggies.
