I was recently at the grocery store with a tween in my life. We were wandering down the produce aisles and ended up by the water-packed tofu.
“How do you use that?” she asked.
“You drain it from the package…”
“Oh, okay,” she said, thinking that was the end of the story.
“Then, you cut the tofu into slices and lay them onto a plate covered in a kitchen towel.”
“Ah.” Now her face had this expression that seemed to say, “That’s weird.”
“Then you cover the tofu slices in another kitchen towel and top that with a hard-covered book.”
At this point it was getting ridiculous. I was starting to feel like that old SNL sketch with the taco wrapped in a pizza and covered in vegetarian chili…
“Finally, you top the book with a hand weight or kettlebell.”
“Oh, my gosh,” she said, exasperated. “I would never do that!”
At this point we’re both laughing as I eek out, “Then you let it sit like that for an hour until it’s pressed and you put it into a marinade.”
Until voicing the process to her tiny ears, I’d never realized how involved the whole thing sounds. But really, it only takes a minute to do. (Just watch my three minute video and see for yourself. 
) And the difference it makes in terms of the way the tofu picks up flavor and the dense, chewy texture it provides make it worth the effort. (If you’ve ever had soft, mushy tofu, you probably know what I mean…)
I don’t know if that tween will be picking up a package of tofu for herself anytime soon, but if she ever asks again, maybe I’ll just point her in the direction of preparing a tofu scramble instead.
“Just drain it from the package, crumble it in a pan with vegetables, add some spices, and you’re good to go.”
Nah, I’ll just hand her a Tofutti Cutie ice cream sandwich. Everyone understands that!
Tags: demonstration, how to, pressing, recipe, tofu, vegan, vegetarian, video
Thanks for the handy video. I think I was pressing my tofu all wrong before. I didn’t cut it up first. But most of the time I don’t press it, because I am lazy. Yes, not surprising coming from the same Cadry’s Kitchen enthusiast who doesn’t cook beans from scratch. Ha ha.
I’ve seen plastic tofu presses for sale. What do you think of those?
You’re not alone. I think most people don’t cut their tofu before pressing it. I prefer doing it that way, because I think it presses it a lot better, making a much firmer tofu. I recently won a tofu press on a blog called Ordinary Vegetarian. http://www.ordinaryvegetarian.com/2011/02/instant-cheezy-sauce.html I’m planning on writing a post comparing the Tofu Xpress to pressing the old fashioned way soon.
Fun video! Lol about the SNL reference.
I’m one of those who doesn’t cut the tofu before pressing either. I will definitely give this a try!
Thanks, Rose! I hope you like it!