Try freezing your tofu!

One of my best tofu tricks is to buy firm or extra firm tofu and then freeze it before thawing and cooking. It changes the texture and gives it a more "meaty" bite - if you've ever wondered how restaurants get their tofu to "feel" like meat, that's what they're doing!

Have you tried this?

I have never tried freezing my tofu however a quick blanching of tofu that has been cut into pieces firms up the texture so that it doesn't break up so easily when cooked

John Daniel wrote:Have you tried this?

I used to eat tofu frequently years ago, and this is how we had always prepared it. The regular texture of tofu never worked well with me, and I was grateful we learned this way of changing it up a bit.

Were I still eating tofu, I'd likely eat it after freezing all the time, except maybe for when it was in miso soup.

Hi John,

Welcome to Permies.

John Daniel wrote:One of my best tofu tricks is to buy firm or extra firm tofu and then freeze it before thawing and cooking. ......
Have you tried this?

Yes, this is pretty routine for us when making tofu for texture.  When making more creamy sauces/dips, we use un-frozen medium texture tofu.

For freezing, we buy extra-firm and freeze first before thawing and squeezing out the water.  Often, I will cut this block into slabs, place in a bowl, and microwave for an additional 6-8 minutes that firms it up even more.  If desiring a 'crumble', I will take these frozen/thawed/microwaved slabs and pulverize into crumbles with brief grinding in a blender.  The resulting crumbles can be used immediately or re-frozen for other dishes later.  The crumbles make a good texturizer in veggie burgers.

I always freeze my tofu, BUT I always cook it down first.
Very low effort, for some REALLY good results!

I buy extra firm, squeeze out what water I can easily, put it into a big enough pan that I can turn it, add oil and a slosh of soy sauce, then cook it on low for several hours. If I'm doing a big batch, or depending on how low the it is, it might be many hours. Turn it every hour or so, break it up. The idea here is to get it to remove enough water that it quits being mush, and it firms up and becomes a good texture. When it's done, I cool it, and freeze it. A chunk of it in soup or pasta sauce is SO MUCH better than uncooked down tofu. Lots of people who tell me they don't like tofu enjoy it this way.

Worth trying! I do it on a day that I am around enough to turn it every hour or so, other than that, it's a couple minutes to get it going, and a couple of minutes to package for freezing. When I'm low on frozen tofu, I buy 4-6 packages, and do them up, lasts me quite a while.

:D