Tofu, 15cm× 15cm wet cotton cloth (preferably white), some straw and a carton.

Making:

1. Cut the bought tofu into small pieces of 6cm×6cm×2cm, put each piece obliquely in the middle and wrap it tightly with a wet cloth (no need to tie it).

2. Remove the leaves and ears from the rice straw, leaving only the rice straw, wash it, cut it into 20 cm long sections, wash it and dry it for later use.

3. Stack the cloth-wrapped tofu neatly on the board (you can put it on the chopping block), with at most three or four layers overlapping, with the bottom area as large as possible, and then press it on another board or slate. At this time, put the water in a big pot on the upper board or slate (it is also a good choice to replace it with a boulder). Anyway, a word, the pressure on it is "heavy"! ), so let it stand for 24 hours. This process is to squeeze out all the water in the tofu by gravity to make it more compact. Because there will be water oozing out during the whole process, it is best to put it in the pool to do this work. Of course, your swimming pool will not be used on this day. I made it in a square basin, so that the floor wouldn't get dirty because of water seeping out.

Check these tofu after one day, and you will find that they are packed tightly and neatly. Ok, now you can find out the carton, lay a layer of rice straw with a thickness of 1cm on the bottom, then put the tofu wrapped in cloth on it layer by layer, and then lay a thick layer of rice straw on it after you finish. Then put it in a damp and cool place and check it once a day. Generally, you can smell the attractive fragrance of stinky tofu in about 3 days. Check for long hair or brush surface. If there is, it is ready. Remember, the standard is the smell of stinky tofu and the long brush surface.

4 stinky tofu in Nanjing

Now there are stinky tofu in Nanjing, Shaoxing, Hubei, Anhui, Tianjin, Yunnan and other places, and the taste and practice vary with local eating habits. In addition to frying, there are steamed stinky tofu in Huangshan, duck oil stinky tofu in Yunnan, roasted stinky tofu and so on.

There are two kinds of stinky tofu in Nanjing, one is gray tender tofu, and the other is tile gray dried tofu. When the tender stinky tofu is fried to golden brown in the oil pan, it can be taken out of the pan. When eating, it is sprinkled with some Chili sauce, sesame sauce, garlic juice, coriander, shallots and Jiang Mo. It tastes crisp outside and tender inside, and it tastes delicious. Qianzi is a kind of gray stinky tofu, which needs to be fried in oil for a long time before it can be thoroughly fried. With the attractive fragrance spreading, small bubbles will appear on the surface of dried tofu, and when the color turns gray-black, it can be eaten. In qianzi, this stinky tofu is usually cut into small pieces and strung on bamboo sticks. After frying, it is directly brushed with the sauce prepared by the stall owner and eaten while it is hot. Crispy and delicious, quite chewy.

Nanjing Gaochun's stinky tofu is also somewhat different in practice. First, use good soybeans to make water tofu, and then press white water tofu into white dried tofu; Then add the dried bean curd to the salt water. The brine here is the most exquisite, and it needs to be made from the rotten kimchi juice left over from the second year. It is pure green and natural, does not contain any pigment, and emits a natural smell. Seal the jar when it is in full bloom, bury it in the ground and take it out in a few days. The white tofu has dried up. When you open the dried bean curd, you can see that it is blue and black from the inside out, and it smells strange, but after frying, the entrance is very fragrant.