Sufu is great stuff, and strong stuff, and I'm curious how other folks uses it.
The sufu I am talking about is NOT the fish-brine fermented tofu of Taiwan that is also called "stinky" tofu.
Obviously, nomenclature is a problem here. The product I'm referring to is described and pictured here: (scroll down to midpage for Su-Fu and sufu.)
http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/koji...
One is my uses that I posted in http://www.chowhound.com/topics/391263 is clipped here (for adding aged taste to mac and cheese):
"Get some sufu, aka furu, aka fermented tofu. It comes in ca. 16 oz glass jars at the Asian stores. It's ripe-ripe-ripe. Cubes packed in brine (also varieties that are oil/chile packed, etc) It looks gross and scary to the first-time user. Consensus among sufu-eaters is that the older and grosser, the better. Usually around 1.5 - 2 bucks a jar. Smash it and incorporate it into your macNcheese sauce. It will raise the sauce from bland, and elevate it to one tasting like it was made from mature cheeses."
Okinawans, who do some unique melds between Chinese and Japanese cuisine, have a slightly different process. Trigeler, can you illuminate us on Tofu-yu? Does it come in brine jars like the Su-fu pictured above? Is it readily available on Honshu? It's cited by the "Okinawa Diet" authors as one of the components they believe to be responsible for Okinawan longevity.
As to the "Stinky tofu", which is fermented in fermented seafood solutions, there's a CH thread here:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/308908
Also, an old ch thread (2000) that veers into natto and miso and others but still refers to "fermented bean curd" is here:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/286502
I try to eat this stuff at least twice a week, but find myself extremely non-creative with it, being content to plop a cube on a saucer and nibble away at it with chopsticks. Surely other recipes exist.... any Hounds have some?
4th of July