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Micolithe

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Agender Enby, Trans, Gay, AND the bearer of the gamer's curse. Not a man, not a woman, but instead I am puppy.
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frankie boyle's beanbag chair of death @micolithe3/29/2023, 11:39 PM

Idea: Tofu goulash.

Is this a thing? Pork goulash is basically:

Dust some boneless pork cubes in flour, salt, and pepper, sear on all sides
put a spoonful of crushed garlic in a frying pan
30 seconds later add 2 tablespoons paprika
60 seconds later add two cups of chicken broth
simmer for 45 minutes

Now, I feel like if I were to simmer Tofu for 45 minutes, it would probably dry out the tofu pretty bad. However, the main point of simmering for 45 fucking minutes is twofold, right? Make the pork nice and tender by obliterating it until it falls apart, and allow the paprika, chicken broth, and garlic to come together to form a rich sauce.

I can, theoretically, just make the sauce in a saucepot without the pork, and just fry up some tofu like I would for a stir fry and add it at the end to keep it from getting ruined. And if I'm cooking for a vegetarian/vegan I could just sub out vegetable broth without too much of a problem I think.

Pork goulash is a really good dish, it does actually relate to my heritage on my dad's side (vaguely hungarian since l'viv is in ukraine now) and I do have some friends who are vegetarian, vegan or keep kosher & it would be really cool to at least impart the comfort food feeling that pork goulash gives to me.

#comfort food #food #cooking

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in reply to @micolithe's post:

Sydney (fka @99CentSoftness)@a-heki-wolf3/29/2023, 11:48 PM

Funnily enough, tofu actually doesn't tend to dry out when you simmer it in liquid like that! Braised tofu dishes and the like are fairly common in Chinese cooking, and in those dishes tofu tends to just absorb flavor from the liquid and take on an increasingly-softer texture. It's a lot like a sponge in that way - if there's cooking liquid remaining, the tofu'll absorb it instead of losing any moisture of it's own. If there was one thing I'd look out for in this idea, it'd just be the tofu softening TOO much and taking on a texture you might not be looking for - re-adding it partway or cooking it for a shorter time might do the trick there though.

Yaodema @yaodema3/29/2023, 11:51 PM

best thoughts I have on this:

you're gonna need some butter because the pork normally provides some fat to this that tofu absolutely doesn't
simmering tofu in a sauce works fine, you likely want to fry it up separately first. that can be done in butter and garlic easily, along with some soy sauce if you want to add a bit more flavor to the tofu itself, but not too much or it'd overpower the mix
the simmer in broth helps add flavor to the meat, but you likely don't need 45 minutes of it for tofu. pork just needs serious cooking to make sure it's safe yeah?

basically I think that cooking it like pork would make the tofu fall apart (it wouldn't dry out, it's in the broth!) but that not simmering it at all in the broth wouldn't get the flavor you're looking for, as you're trying to get the broth and the protein to exchange some flavor.

hope experiments go well here!

frankie boyle's beanbag chair of death @micolithe3/29/2023, 11:53 PM

Under most circumstances if you cook pork for 45 minutes you have turned it into shoe leather, a boneless pork cube would probably take 7-10 minutes, tops, depending on thickness on its own to be cooked through.

Yaodema @yaodema3/29/2023, 11:57 PM

most, yes. it's sitting in 2 cups of broth though, shouldn't it soak in? the simmer phase just feels long to me for anything that isn't pork, is the only thing. probably 12 minutes or so would be sufficient for tofu.

tofu also absolutely doesn't dry out from simmering, quite the opposite, it tends to soak up fluids (especially if it was fried and lost some in the process). I've made kitsune udon a few times, and doing that, you end up with some sweet sauce soaked tofu pieces that then become wet and floppy from soaking in the soup broth.

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