A Delicious Talk About Tofu
Source:Shaoyang International CultureWriter:Peng Ru &Zeng ZhenghTime:2014-03-22Clicks：次
Tofu (Bean curd) is seen to be sold in every town and village in Longhui County. Tofu has some other names. In the book of Qingyilu it is named “little lamb”, literal master Su Shi called it “liqi”, and in the history book Bishi it got the name “tofu”.Whatever it is called, ancient people ment “bean curd”.According to the book Songshiyilu by Xie Zhao in the Five-Dynasty Period, Huainan King Liu An was the first to make tofu and thus Huaina is its original place.
Yankou Town is a far-off town, which is a mostly hilly land and abounds inwheat, sweet potato, broad bean and soybean, in addition to rice,. The town is far away from the county city. In the past, there are scarcely fresh vegetables on sale in autumn and winter; therefore soybean became a four-season dish.Tender bean is cooked with meat, old bean with chicken.Most often soybean is made into tofu, which can again be made into different kinds of food.Not only was Yankou tofu a delicious food for local people, but also it went out of the small town to the provincial city and held a place in Dongting Lake & Xiang River land.
In 1840, 46-year-old Wei Yuan returned to his native town to sweep his ancestors’ graves. One morning he arrived at Yankou Town which was on the road from Baoqing to his former residence. Wei Yuan had heard of the tasty Yankou tofu. He went into an inn and ordered a bowl of curd first. Then he asked his attendant to place an order for many a dish of tofu, like red-cooked tofu, tofu cooked with loach, fried tofu with meat. After he tasted each dish carefully, he said excitedly, “I have been to every corner of China, but I have never eaten such crystal-white tasty tofu.Yankou tofu is the best under the heaven.”
As an ordinary but delicious food,it used to be a luxury.Only when one had a guest come, did he or she buy some tofu specially to treat the guest. Generally, ,ordinary people began to make tofu around December 25, that is, several days before the Spring Festival. There are many ways to prepare tofu.It can be cut into small pieces and fried in oil or dried in the sun. Or it can be mixed with pig blood and meat,made into round dumplings and dried by being smoked.It can be eaten on any occasions, whether on happy days or on sad days. For example, it can be eaten on the first day of the Chinese new year.And it must be a necessary dish on mourning days when a funeral is being held.The whiteness of tofu indicates “white happy event”.For this reason, mourning the diseased is said to be “eating tofu”.
It is said that there are three tiring jobs to do. They are poling a boat, striking iron and grinding bean to make tofu. Making tofu is not an easy job. It takes time and needs strength, and the procedures are complex.
One evening of a later summer, we arrived admiringly at Ma Liangming’s home of “the Tofu Family” in Majia Bridge Village three kilometers away from Yankou Town. After exchanging greetings, we explained our purpose. Old Ma said, “Old Peng, don’t hurry. It’s dark now. You will just stay here for the night. I ensure you that I will show you how to make tofu. After dinner, Old Ma arranged for us to rest. When I woke up, it was midnight. I found Old Ma was already up grinding bean.He used an electric grinding machine. I remembered that years before when I came to his house he used a millstone that his father Ma Meicheng had passed on to him. A millstone consists of two round grinding stone whit one on the other. The upper one has a wooden handle by which the stone is pushed to move around the axis. It also has a small round hole through into which bean is fed to be ground.The lower one is fixed onto a stand made of thick wooden bars so that the millstone is stable when working. When dong the grinding job, one must harmonize feeding and pushing.Under the millstone is a tub to contain the thick bean liquid. Since he had a grinding machine, Ma Liangming let his millstone “retired”. Only when something went rong with the machine, did he use his millstone.
When the grinding work was almost finished, Old Ma made a fire in the stove to boil water. When the water was fully boiling, he put the water into the thick bean liquid.to dilute it. The he poured the diluted liquid into a pressing machine to separate bean juice from bean dregs. When he did not have the machine, old Ma used the old way to filter juice. It was a large sheet of gauze, the four corners of which were tired to four tips of a cross so that the sheet was suspended to form an open bag. The cross was hung in order that it could sway. The thick bean liquid was poured in the bag with the juice flowing down and the dregs remaining. Then the dregs were wrapped with the same sheet and pressed with great strength so that no juice was left in the dregs. Dregs are not waste but fine food to feed pigs, even a nice dish when well prepared.
Afterwards, it is the step to boil bean juice. The work is not tiring but requires skills. Proper temperature is the most important. Improper temperature will spoil everything. Too low temperature will not make it while too high temperature will overburn the bean juice. Either will cause a great waste, which even indicates “misfortune” when one make tofu for the coming new year.
Yankou Town is a far-off town, which is a mostly hilly land and abounds inwheat, sweet potato, broad bean and soybean, in addition to rice,. The town is far away from the county city. In the past, there are scarcely fresh vegetables on sale in autumn and winter; therefore soybean became a four-season dish.Tender bean is cooked with meat, old bean with chicken.Most often soybean is made into tofu, which can again be made into different kinds of food.Not only was Yankou tofu a delicious food for local people, but also it went out of the small town to the provincial city and held a place in Dongting Lake & Xiang River land.
In 1840, 46-year-old Wei Yuan returned to his native town to sweep his ancestors’ graves. One morning he arrived at Yankou Town which was on the road from Baoqing to his former residence. Wei Yuan had heard of the tasty Yankou tofu. He went into an inn and ordered a bowl of curd first. Then he asked his attendant to place an order for many a dish of tofu, like red-cooked tofu, tofu cooked with loach, fried tofu with meat. After he tasted each dish carefully, he said excitedly, “I have been to every corner of China, but I have never eaten such crystal-white tasty tofu.Yankou tofu is the best under the heaven.”
As an ordinary but delicious food,it used to be a luxury.Only when one had a guest come, did he or she buy some tofu specially to treat the guest. Generally, ,ordinary people began to make tofu around December 25, that is, several days before the Spring Festival. There are many ways to prepare tofu.It can be cut into small pieces and fried in oil or dried in the sun. Or it can be mixed with pig blood and meat,made into round dumplings and dried by being smoked.It can be eaten on any occasions, whether on happy days or on sad days. For example, it can be eaten on the first day of the Chinese new year.And it must be a necessary dish on mourning days when a funeral is being held.The whiteness of tofu indicates “white happy event”.For this reason, mourning the diseased is said to be “eating tofu”.
It is said that there are three tiring jobs to do. They are poling a boat, striking iron and grinding bean to make tofu. Making tofu is not an easy job. It takes time and needs strength, and the procedures are complex.
One evening of a later summer, we arrived admiringly at Ma Liangming’s home of “the Tofu Family” in Majia Bridge Village three kilometers away from Yankou Town. After exchanging greetings, we explained our purpose. Old Ma said, “Old Peng, don’t hurry. It’s dark now. You will just stay here for the night. I ensure you that I will show you how to make tofu. After dinner, Old Ma arranged for us to rest. When I woke up, it was midnight. I found Old Ma was already up grinding bean.He used an electric grinding machine. I remembered that years before when I came to his house he used a millstone that his father Ma Meicheng had passed on to him. A millstone consists of two round grinding stone whit one on the other. The upper one has a wooden handle by which the stone is pushed to move around the axis. It also has a small round hole through into which bean is fed to be ground.The lower one is fixed onto a stand made of thick wooden bars so that the millstone is stable when working. When dong the grinding job, one must harmonize feeding and pushing.Under the millstone is a tub to contain the thick bean liquid. Since he had a grinding machine, Ma Liangming let his millstone “retired”. Only when something went rong with the machine, did he use his millstone.
When the grinding work was almost finished, Old Ma made a fire in the stove to boil water. When the water was fully boiling, he put the water into the thick bean liquid.to dilute it. The he poured the diluted liquid into a pressing machine to separate bean juice from bean dregs. When he did not have the machine, old Ma used the old way to filter juice. It was a large sheet of gauze, the four corners of which were tired to four tips of a cross so that the sheet was suspended to form an open bag. The cross was hung in order that it could sway. The thick bean liquid was poured in the bag with the juice flowing down and the dregs remaining. Then the dregs were wrapped with the same sheet and pressed with great strength so that no juice was left in the dregs. Dregs are not waste but fine food to feed pigs, even a nice dish when well prepared.
Afterwards, it is the step to boil bean juice. The work is not tiring but requires skills. Proper temperature is the most important. Improper temperature will spoil everything. Too low temperature will not make it while too high temperature will overburn the bean juice. Either will cause a great waste, which even indicates “misfortune” when one make tofu for the coming new year.