Silken tofu.

Lewisburg.



Today, for the first time, I made tofu. It's quite good. Good enough that not only am I planning on doing so again, but I've got my eyes on the 25 lb. bulk soybeans from our buying club distributor.

I already purchase King Arthur flour in 50 lb. bags, so this isn't all that much of a leap.

Pictured above is silken tofu, with an avocado-lemon puree, a ginger-soy-hoisin-chilli sauce, and scallions. (Dinner had other stuff, too. Just not so photogenic.) As soon as I get around to building a tofu press - easier than it sounds - I'll be making blocks of tofu, too.

The process is not all that far from making cheese. Soak soybeans overnight, then run through the blender with water. Heat, then strain through a cheesecloth.¹ Cook the resulting milk, then cool thoroughly. Add coagulant - in this case, gypsum² - and steam in molds until set. Cool before unmolding and slicing.³

As tofu goes, it's delicious stuff. I realize that may be damning with faint praise, but as someone who loves the stuff - ahem, a thorough omnivore who loves tofu - that's something. I'm already wondering what else I can do to modify the process for newer, different flavors and textures, but that'll come down the road. Until then, I've got some experimenting to do.

* * * * *

¹I.e., a square of unbleached muslin. That lacy garbage for sale in the grocery store might be good for something, but not for this. Or for cheese, either.

²Readily available at the homebrew shop, which I'm finding useful for more than just brewing these days. But I am brewing more than I have been, and that's exciting.

³For more specific details, check Andrea Nguyen's Asian Tofu. She sure steered me right.

Peanut pretzel chocolate.

Lewisburg.



Good, old-fashioned flavors. Nothing particularly complicated, though since this is a first draft, I know that a lot could use some tweaking.

Peanut butter shortbread. Might be nice with chopped peanuts next time, and perhaps in a thinner layer. Need to consider how to increase the peanut flavor without making it too dry.

Sweetened condensed milk, with 1% salt and 2% citric acid. Stir it all together, and nothing happens. Fold it, and within seconds you have a firm, spreadable, creamy icing. Orange juice would be a fine addition, though I didn't have any.

Ground toffee. Sugar, butter, corn syrup, water: cook to hard crack. Cool and grind in food processor. Would be stellar on ice cream.

Chocolate ganache. Didn't have cream, so 2 parts dark chocolate chips, 1 part butter.

Pretzel crunch. From Momofuku Milk Bar by Christina Tosi. Mini pretzels, brown sugar, sugar, malt powder, milk powder, butter. Rich, sweet, salty, and almost impossible not to snack on while you're making everything else.

Lime, blueberry, and malt.

Lewisburg.



Key lime curd, with 1% gelatin added. Makes it sliceable. I strongly recommend a garlic press for juicing the key limes.

Cooked blueberries. Essentially a blueberry cobbler filling, with extra lime zest.

Oat and brown sugar crisp.

Burnt malt foam. Saccharified pale 2-row barley malt at 65°C for 90 minutes. Whipped into a foam with 1.5% Versawhip 600K and 0.15% xanthan gum. Caramelized surface sugars with torch. Interesting, but not compelling, on its own. With a bit in every bite, though, it lets the burnt malt flavor through.

If I hadn't foamed it, I'm not certain how I'd achieve that caramelized flavor. Sure would have been a lot more work.