I thought I hated Tofu...

[madgreek]

...unless it was prepared in a restaurant.

That is, until I tried smoked tofu. Geez, what a difference! I can't believe I can enjoy cold tofu right out of the package. It's so dense and satisfying. I put it in a spicy noodle dish I made last night along with some shitakes and bean sprouts.

[wayne keyser]

I hated it too - bland, dull, nothing ... until I finally had a REAL authentic Sechuan dish, white fish fillets and tofu in a broth ... well, a broth straight out of hell by way of a volcano. Eat some broth and rice, smile, sweat, consider eating some more, but take some fish or tofu instead and ... ahhh! Such relief! Now, back to that broth!

[pengcast]

I used to think tofu was just there. But since I dscoverd Kara Age tofu at my favourite Japanese place, I am hooked. Haven't qutie mastered tthe cloud-like texture they do, but I do have some in my fridge for the first time.

[steamykitchen]

Try making tofu croutons - cut into cubes, toss with olive oil. Bake 375F until crunchy (40 min on convection) and then season with salt, pepper and sesame seeds. I also like to season with curry powder too.

From Mark Bittman's vegetarian cookbook.

[madgreek]

I just baked some tofu with a brown sugar dry spice rub that's intended for pork. It turned out great. It seems that I hadn't done enough preparation in the past to make this ingredient something special. I let it bake at low temperature (300 deg.) until it shrunk by half, and it developed the most delicious bark, much like barbeque. It was great in a bowl of brown rice with carmelized onions, a spash of white rice vinegar and sriracha.

[soxchik]

Smoked tofu is great. You might want to try baked tofu as well - it has a completely different consistency from regular tofu, much more dense than even super firm tofu. I use it all the time in stir fry. You can make your own, or I love the ones they have at Trader Joes.

[almccasland]

Yes, there is such a difference between smoked tofu and tofu (although I really like both)!. My favorite way to have smoked tofu is heated on a skillet or grill, and in a sandwich made of homemade whole-wheat sourdough, smoked tofu, roasted red peppers, sliced green onions, bleu cheese dressing and dijon. It's a great contrast of sharp flavors and temperatures (bread and tofu warm, everything else chilled).