How to cook tofu

• 2 blocksextra-firm tofu · 14 oz each, water-packed, and not silken or the shelf-stable aseptic type
• 3 tbspcornstarch · or potato starch, which crisps slightly harder, tossed on immediately before frying
• 3/4 tspkosher salt · tossed with the starch, because seasoning the surface is the only seasoning that reaches you
• 3 tbspneutral high-smoke-point oil · avocado, refined peanut or rice bran, and enough to film the pan properly
• 3 tbspsoy sauce · or tamari for a gluten-free version, in the finishing sauce and not in a marinade
• 1 tbsprice vinegar · unseasoned
• 2 tspmaple syrup · it balances the soy and helps the sauce cling and gloss
• 3 clovesgarlic · minced, added to the pan in the last thirty seconds
• 1 tbspfresh ginger · grated on a microplane
• 1 tsptoasted sesame oil · off the heat, at the end
• 2 tspcornstarch · slaked in 2 tbsp cold water, to thicken the sauce in about fifteen seconds
• 3 wholescallions · sliced on a bias, for the finish
• 1 tbsptoasted sesame seeds · optional
• 1 tbspchili crisp · optional, at the table

Method

1. 1

   Buy the right firmness, because it is not a preference

   Tofu firmness is a measure of how much water was pressed out during manufacture, and it determines what the block can physically do. Extra-firm and super-firm hold their shape, brown and can be tossed in a pan. Firm crumbles under a spatula. Soft and silken are custards that belong in soup, in a blender or eaten cold with soy and scallion, and no amount of technique makes silken tofu crisp. Buy the water-packed extra-firm block in the chiller.

2. 2

   Press it, and thirty minutes is the honest minimum

   Drain the block, wrap it in a clean tea towel or several layers of paper towel, set it on a plate and put a cast iron pan or a few tins on top. Thirty minutes minimum, an hour if you have it. You will pour off a noticeable amount of liquid. Water on and in the surface has to boil off before the pan can get the tofu above 212F, which is where browning starts, and a wet block simply steams itself for five minutes first.

3. 3

   The freezer trick, which changes the texture completely

   Freeze the drained block solid, then thaw it and press it. The water inside expands into ice crystals that rupture the protein matrix and leave a sponge behind, so the thawed tofu is chewier, more porous, and it presses out far more water. It is also the one state in which tofu genuinely absorbs marinade, because there are now channels for liquid to enter. Overnight in the freezer, a day in the fridge to thaw. It is a different ingredient.

4. 4

   Tear it instead of cubing it, at least once

   Break the pressed block into rough one-inch pieces with your hands rather than cutting neat cubes. Torn edges have far more surface area and irregular ridges, which means more contact with the pan and more crisp exterior per piece, and they hold sauce the way a rough pasta surface does. Cubes look tidier and brown on six flat faces. For a stir-fry or a bowl, tear it. For anything where presentation matters, cube it and accept less crust.

5. 5

   Cornstarch is not optional, and it goes on at the last second

   Toss the pieces with cornstarch and salt in a bowl until every surface is dusted, then get them into the pan within a minute or two. Starch gelatinises in the residual surface moisture and then dehydrates in hot oil into a thin brittle shell, which is the same mechanism behind Chinese velveting and Korean fried chicken. Left sitting, the coating turns into a wet paste that slides off. Potato starch is marginally crisper. Flour is a distant third.

6. 6

   Marinating before cooking does almost nothing, and here is why

   Tofu is a coagulated soy protein gel. It is dense and closed, and unlike meat it has no muscle fibre structure or fat for flavour compounds to travel along. Soy sauce penetrates a few millimetres in several hours, and everything else in the marinade stays on the surface, where the water in it then actively prevents browning. Sauce it after it is crisp instead. The one exception is frozen and thawed tofu, which is porous enough to actually absorb.

7. 7

   Get the pan properly hot and use more oil than feels necessary

   Cast iron or carbon steel, medium-high, heated until a drop of water skitters. Three tablespoons of oil for two blocks, which is enough to film the surface rather than to fry. Nonstick sounds sensible and produces pale tofu, because most coatings should not be taken to the temperature this needs. Lay the pieces in a single layer with space between them, and if they do not all fit, do it in two batches. A crowded pan steams.

8. 8

   Do not touch it for four minutes

   Tofu sticks hard at first and then releases itself once a crust has formed, which is the same behaviour as a searing steak or a fish fillet. If you try to move it at ninety seconds it tears and leaves the crust in the pan. Leave it four minutes, then check one piece with a thin spatula. If it lifts cleanly it is ready to turn. Two or three turns total, about twelve minutes, and you want deep gold rather than pale.

9. 9

   The oven and air fryer methods, and what each is good for

   Oven: 425F on a parchment-lined sheet, tossed in oil and starch, twenty-five to thirty minutes with one flip. Less crisp than the pan, entirely hands-off, and the right choice for a big batch. Air fryer: 400F for fifteen to eighteen minutes, shaking twice, and it gets closest to deep-fried with the least oil. Both need the same pressing and the same starch. Neither works if the tofu goes in wet, which is the mistake people blame on the appliance.

10. 10

    Sauce it in the last thirty seconds, off the direct heat

    Once the tofu is crisp, push it to one side, add the garlic and ginger to the bare pan for twenty seconds until fragrant, then pour in the soy, vinegar, maple syrup and the slaked cornstarch. It thickens almost immediately. Toss the tofu through it, kill the heat, add the sesame oil and scallions. Total contact time under a minute. Any longer and the sauce soaks in and softens the shell you spent twelve minutes building.

11. 11

    Thirty seconds of salted water, the counterintuitive step for silken

    For silken or soft tofu, which is too fragile to press or fry, simmer the block whole in salted water for two minutes and lift it out with a slotted spoon. The salt firms the exterior very slightly and seasons it, and the gentle heat drives off surface water so it does not dilute whatever you serve it with. Then dress it cold with soy, ginger, scallion and sesame oil, or slide it into miso soup at the very end.

12. 12

    Protein, and how tofu actually compares

    Extra-firm tofu carries roughly 10g of protein per 100g, so a half-block serving here lands around 20g, which is comparable to two large eggs and about half of a chicken breast of the same weight. It is a complete protein containing all nine essential amino acids, which is unusual among plant sources. It is also a meaningful source of calcium when set with calcium sulphate, so it is worth checking the coagulant on the label.

13. 13

    Storage: change the water, and know what off smells like

    An opened block keeps three to five days submerged in fresh cold water in a sealed container, with the water changed daily. Fresh tofu smells faintly of nothing or slightly sweet; sour, cheesy or sharply acidic means it is done, as does a slimy surface or water that has gone cloudy and thick. Cooked crisp tofu keeps four days and reheats acceptably in a hot dry pan or an air fryer, and badly in a microwave.

14. 14

    Where to put it, once you can cook it

    Crisp tofu goes into a grain bowl with pickled vegetables, into fried rice at the last minute, into a noodle soup added at the table so it stays crunchy, into tacos with lime and cabbage, or straight into a lunchbox with rice and a separate pot of sauce. Treat it as a component with texture rather than as a meat replacement, and the vegan and vegetarian dinners it lands in stop reading as substitutions.