On beyond tofu: the wonderful (and stinky!) world of fermented bean curd

One of the many charming stories my mother once told me about my baby days involved a trip to the supermarket. Mom had me in the shopping cart along with a package of those individually-wrapped American cheese "food" slices, and gave me one slice to keep me occupied. And then she got into her shopping, and only when she was done and rolling me and her haul to the cash register did she realize there was now nothing left of that entire package of cheese-food except a mound of plastic wrappers and a very happy baby.

My taste in cheese improved considerably since those early days, but my capacity for inhaling mass quantities of it in no way diminished ... until the start of my health regimen back in January. Then I got serious about lowering both my fat and protein intake, and alas the cheese went on restriction right along with the meat--much smaller quantities, and much lower fat levels in those quantities. But in some ways the cheese restriction has been more trying than that on meat, because while it is possible to find lean cuts of meat that taste good, I have found exceedingly few low-fat cheeses that don't taste like ass (with Laughing Cow Light being one of the very few exceptions).

But that was before I happened on yet another little wonder food from Chinese traditional cookery known variously as fermented bean curd, fermented bean cake, preserved bean curd, wet bean curd, bean cheese, or fu yu. All these names designate the same general product: little cubes of tofu that have been allowed to ferment with various seasonings. The fermenting process transforms the tofu from its original bland sponginess to something much more intense--creamy-textured and mashable like cream cheese, strong-smelling and sharp-tasting like a really heavy-duty bleu cheese. And yet, underneath all that, it's still tofu--significantly lower in calories than dairy cheese, and also lower in fat if you get the variety not packed in oil.

There are several different varieties of fermented bean curd, that you'll usually find all together in little jars in an Asian supermarket. Common varieties include the basic white fermented bean curd with no extra seasonings; the white stuff with a tinge of heat--and orangey color--from chiles; and, not to be confused with the chile-laced stuff, there is also a deep-red fermented bean curd, which gets its color, and a different flavor, from a special fermented red rice. You may also find other variations, depending on the market--I suspect that in earlier times there were probably as many different varieties as there were home cooks making this stuff, each no doubt a family recipe lovingly passed down through the generations.

Traditionally, the Chinese use fermented bean curd--sparingly--as a condiment or ingredient in various rice, vegetable, and meat dishes. It shows up frequently, for instance, as a condiment added to the wonderfully soothing rice porridge known variously as jook or congee (and many alternate transliterations of different Chinese dialects into the English alphabet). When just two or three little cubes of the fermented bean curd are added to such dishes, the pungency of the fermented bean curd mellows out and blends in, leaving behind a subtle boost of savoryness that just perks up the entire dish.

But recently, I've gotten bold and actually used the stuff like cream cheese as a spread--and boy, does it ever wake you up! A little of this stuff does go a long way, but as far as I'm concerned, that's a feature--you only need a little to get a big flavor hit. It really works well for me when spread thinly on a nice dark dense whole-grain bread. I also found that a cube or two, mashed, in a whole-wheat pita, along with a couple leaves of lettuce or other greenery, makes a really nice quick snack. And I'm still experimenting with other uses for this stuff.

Admittedly, the strong taste and smell of fermented bean curd will hardly be everybody's cup of tea, not unlike the strong-flavored dairy cheeses it so resembles. But for those who adore a nice stinky milk-cheese, a nice stinky bean-cheese might be right up your alley.

A very long, and extremely detailed, article on fermented bean curd can be found here.

Comments

[John]

nice description of my favorite Chinese "condiment" but glad you warned the uninitiated that a little of this stinky stuff goes a long way. I grew up with Quong Hop label bean cakes that my immigrant mom would get from San Francisco and I loved slobbering a few cakes onto quick fried spinach and like you, sometimes made a fu-yu sandwich. Thanks for adding the link to what must be the definitive treatise on fermented bean cakes.

[mizducky]

You're welcome! :-)