The Semi-Vege Experiments - Tofu I

Earlier this summer, I decided to try to eat semi-vegetarian and transition to a more meatless meal plan over the summer. I haven't done much so far, but I got my tofu yesterday, so the experiments may now commence.

I started with the dry-fry and marinate method, which is what I'm pretty sure the vegetarian friend who inspired this food change used. I took two blocks of firm tofu (Huzzah for Costco, $2.30 for 38oz), sliced them in half heightwise, then in half before dry-frying them in seasoned cast-iron. Then I soaked it with a storebought Asian ginger marinade for about twenty minutes, then lightly pan-fried it for a minute and served it over rice with extra marinade.

The prep went pretty well, though something I found is that I need to let the tofu tell me when to flip it by when the edges looked golden and started to pull back from the pan, and NOT to touch it before then because it left stuck-on residue which then burnt. I had to scrape the pan before doing the second batch.

The final verdict - texture and taste. The outside was a bit tough, so I may have overcooked it in my zeal to get out water. It wasn't bad, though, just a bit dry and a smidge chewy. My test audience thought it was "good", but I think I can do better. I had to drown it in extra sauce, but I still liked the flavor. 

Oh, and since I bought from Costco and therefore in bulk, I saved the rest by freezing it. I'll post more about how that comes out as events permit.