Tofu misozuke – the vegan cheese
Tofu misozuke. Image courtesy of Rau Om
Every Saturday in Sunnyvale and every Sunday in Palo Alto, Oanh sets up the tables. She hangs a white banner with a simplified lavender elephant and the word “Rau Om” in calligraphic green, and a poster featuring a little mouse prancing with a block of tofu on his back, with the word “Mice eat Rau Om’s Tofu Misozuke” below. Then she arranges dozens of little bamboo and plastic wrap packets on the table, each containing a block of tofu in beige paper, about as big as a match box. Then she’s ready for the Farmers Market. And the tofu is ready to be sold out, every last one of them.
Over two years of experimenting, Oanh says, including lots of PubMed searching, an 18th century manuscript in old Japanese, and who knows how many pounds of firm tofu. It all started with an accidental find in Tokyo’s night food scene in 2009, and here they are, at a Californian Farmers Market, offering a Japanese elder a taste that brings her decades back home. It’s like the tofu has achieved its American dream.
When I first had my tongue on Rau Om’s tofu misozuke at one of Oanh’s dinners, I thought wow, this stuff feels like La Vache qui Rit. It’s exactly that texture, that kind of tender springiness of a creamy cheese that bounces when you touch and has no resistance when you cut, the kind of softness on the verge of melting, like that of a 64°C slow-poached egg yolk. When the taste starts to register, like a tenth of a second later, it’s a whole different affair. There’s some brininess, some tingling sensation, but there’s no fat. It’s a creamy cheese that isn’t at all fatty, naturally, because it’s a vegan cheese. The brininess comes from the miso, and the tingling sensation comes from the sake. A few seconds deeper is the soothing sweetness of soy and sugar.
I fell for it. I know I’m going to sound like a tofu freak now, one that might as well protest for the civil right of the tofu and occupy the supermarket because soy is the 99%, but this meat lover is gonna say it: tofu is a really freaking awesome invention in food history. If people say it tastes plain with a frown, I say they don’t know how to appreciate the “plain” taste. That’s the taste of water and steamed rice, the flat tone in music, and the white space in photography. It’s better than good, it’s a necessity. When I’m tired, I crave exactly that taste. Then there are a hundred ways to make tofu depart from plaindom. And the Rau Om couple succeeded splendidly in one of them: make tofu into tofu cheese (tofeese? :D).
Oanh and Dang also let me try a wedge of kombu-wrapped tofu. The kombu attenuates the miso saltiness and promotes the aged sweetness. The kombu tofu misozuke is one level deeper than the tofu misozuke. I was hoping to buy it last time, but:
FlavorBoulevard: Did you wrap this new batch of tofu misozuke in kombu?
Oanh: No. We’ll roll out the kombu-wrapped tofu misozuke in a few months, and it’ll be clearly labeled as such.
FB: What kind of tofu do you use? In your blog, you wrote “firm tofu”, but would you like to elaborate?
Oanh: We are buying regular tofu from the supermarkets. A to do item for us is to look for a local source for tofu.
FB: What about the miso?
Oanh: One of the first recipes we found specified white or yellow miso. We did some experiments with other types of miso and found the results less than satisfactory, with all the caveats that come with a negative result.
FB: How long does each batch take?
Oanh: The miso flavor permeates the tofu almost immediately, but to get to the right creamy texture, it takes at least 2 months.
FB: How long can the tofu stay good (refrigerated) after packaging?
Oanh: About a month.
FB: Currently the tofu misozuke is marked at $7/packet (2.5-3.0 oz). Based on what standard did you set the price? Are you worried that it might be a bit high for the general market?
Oanh: The price is as affordable as we can make it given the production costs and is at a comparable level to other artisanal hand-made cheeses. Like fine cheeses, the process of making tofu misozuke is labor intensive, both during the initial production and regularly during the aging process which lasts at least 2 months. That’s not even counting our research cost, which we figured was just part of our food budget, the price of our food obsession.
FB: Can it be used in cooking, like in soup or pizza? Or salad? Would the flavor diminish in the process?
Oanh: Yes, it’s definitely can be used in cooking. The flavor is intense enough to stand up to the cooking process. We once used it in a squash blossom & beef dish. We definitely can see it work in salad. We had a post a while back about some of the uses of tofu misozuke. We’ve also used it in place of chao (Vietnamese fermented tofu) to make duck hot pot, and we recently found out that it worked very well with prosciutto.
Tofu misozuke package. Image courtesy of Rau Om
In the States, you can’t find this kind of vegan cheese anywhere but the Rau Om online store and their Farmers Market tents. Or you can spend 2 months making it at home, following Rau Om’s recipe, assuming that you succeed on the first try. I wouldn’t. Rau Om’s tofu misozuke, in its offwhite color and handmade packaging, is very Hollywood-girl-next-door from appearance to content: her hairdo doesn’t sparkle, but once you know her, you fall helplessly in love, especially if you are any of the followings: tofu aficionado, cheese aficionado, vegan, and foodie.
Basically, tofu misozuke can be used anywhere cheese and soybean paste can be used, but as my friend Masaaki Yamato says, that would be like using caviar to make soup. A wise man would enjoy tofu misozuke alone with an ochoko of sake, and let his senses fly.
(UPDATE: I enjoy it with genmaicha, or a sweet oolong ;-))
DISCLAIMER: I received no free product or monetary gift in exchange for this review.
This internet site is my inspiration , really wonderful style and perfect subject matter.
1Glad to be one of the visitors on this awing site : D.
2You are a very capable individual!
3I really treasure your work, Great post.
4I got what you mean ,saved to bookmarks, very nice internet site.
5I have been browsing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me. Personally, if all website owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the web will be a lot more useful than ever before.
6whoah this weblog is magnificent i really like studying your posts. Keep up the great paintings! You understand, a lot of people are hunting round for this info, you can aid them greatly.
7Howdy just wanted to give you a brief heads up and let you know a few of the images aren’t loading properly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different browsers and both show the same results.
8I’ve read some just right stuff here. Definitely price bookmarking for revisiting. I wonder how a lot attempt you set to create such a magnificent informative site.
9Hello.This post was extremely motivating, particularly because I was browsing for thoughts on this subject last Friday.
10I love the efforts you have put in this, regards for all the great posts.
11Helpful information. Fortunate me I discovered your website by chance, and I’m surprised why this coincidence did not took place earlier! I bookmarked it.
12Definitely believe that which you stated. Your favorite reason appeared to be on the internet the easiest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I definitely get irked while people think about worries that they just don’t know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top as well as defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people could take a signal. Will probably be back to get more. Thanks
13What i do not understood is in reality how you are no longer really much more well-appreciated than you might be right now. You are so intelligent. You know thus significantly in terms of this subject, made me for my part imagine it from numerous various angles. Its like women and men are not interested until it is one thing to do with Girl gaga! Your own stuffs outstanding. Always handle it up!
14Regards for all your efforts that you have put in this. very interesting information.
15Hi! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any issues with hackers? My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing a few months of hard work due to no data backup. Do you have any methods to prevent hackers?
16I have fun with, result in I discovered just what I was looking for. You’ve ended my four day lengthy hunt! God Bless you man. Have a great day. Bye
17I am extremely inspired together with your writing skills as neatly as with the structure on your blog. Is that this a paid theme or did you modify it your self? Either way keep up the nice high quality writing, it is rare to see a nice weblog like this one nowadays..
18I have recently started a website, the info you offer on this site has helped me greatly. Thanks for all of your time & work.
19Hello, Neat post. There is a problem with your site in internet explorer, could check this… IE nonetheless is the market chief and a big component to other folks will leave out your fantastic writing due to this problem.
20The core of your writing whilst sounding agreeable originally, did not work well with me personally after some time. Someplace throughout the sentences you managed to make me a believer but just for a short while. I still have got a problem with your jumps in assumptions and you might do nicely to help fill in those gaps. In the event you can accomplish that, I will surely end up being fascinated.
21Howdy just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The words in your content seem to be running off the screen in Ie. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with web browser compatibility but I figured I’d post to let you know. The design and style look great though! Hope you get the problem fixed soon. Cheers
22I like your writing style genuinely loving this website .
23I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the structure of your blog? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or 2 images. Maybe you could space it out better?
24Along with every little thing that seems to be developing inside this subject matter, many of your perspectives tend to be somewhat radical. Even so, I beg your pardon, because I do not give credence to your entire idea, all be it radical none the less. It seems to everyone that your opinions are actually not entirely rationalized and in fact you are generally yourself not even wholly convinced of your assertion. In any event I did appreciate reading it.
25You could certainly see your skills in the work you write. The sector hopes for more passionate writers such as you who are not afraid to say how they believe. Always follow your heart. “Faith in the ability of a leader is of slight service unless it be united with faith in his justice.” by George Goethals.
26I believe you have remarked some very interesting details, thankyou for the post.
27I genuinely enjoy examining on this internet site, it has fantastic posts.
28magnificent points altogether, you simply gained a brand new reader. What would you suggest about your post that you made a few days ago? Any positive?
29I am no longer certain the place you’re getting your info, but great topic. I needs to spend some time learning much more or understanding more. Thanks for great info I was searching for this information for my mission.
30Im no longer certain the place you are getting your info, but good topic. I must spend some time finding out much more or understanding more. Thank you for wonderful information I was looking for this info for my mission.
31You are a very smart individual!
32Would love to forever get updated great website! .
33I always was concerned in this subject and still am, thankyou for putting up.
34Great post, I conceive blog owners should larn a lot from this web site its rattling user pleasant.
35I’ve recently started a blog, the info you provide on this site has helped me greatly. Thanks for all of your time & work.
36I simply needed to thank you very much once more. I am not sure the things I might have handled without those aspects documented by you concerning such a theme. It had been the troublesome crisis in my opinion, but finding out the very professional mode you processed the issue forced me to cry with joy. I’m just grateful for your service and in addition hope that you find out what an amazing job you’re carrying out teaching the others using a blog. I am certain you haven’t come across all of us.
37This is the proper blog for anyone who needs to search out out about this topic. You realize a lot its almost arduous to argue with you (not that I really would want…HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a topic thats been written about for years. Nice stuff, just great!
38Hello my family member! I want to say that this post is awesome, nice written and come with almost all important infos. I’d like to look more posts like this.
39Lovely just what I was looking for.Thanks to the author for taking his clock time on this one.
40Greetings! Very helpful advice on this article! It is the little changes that make the biggest changes. Thanks a lot for sharing!
41I simply wished to say thanks all over again. I am not sure the things that I might have implemented without the entire concepts shown by you concerning my concern. It was actually a frightening circumstance for me, however , encountering the very well-written avenue you dealt with that forced me to leap for joy. Extremely happier for this support and even sincerely hope you find out what an amazing job you are providing instructing people today thru a site. I’m certain you’ve never got to know all of us.
42I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you make this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz answer back as I’m looking to design my own blog and would like to find out where u got this from. thanks
43Real clear site, thanks for this post.
44I have recently started a site, the information you offer on this site has helped me greatly. Thanks for all of your time & work. “The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.” by Vince Lombardi.
45Hi there, I found your website by way of Google while searching for a similar matter, your site got here up, it seems to be good. I’ve bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
46Very interesting topic, regards for putting up.
47I am glad to be a visitant of this consummate web site! , thankyou for this rare info ! .
48感谢分享，这篇内容写得很清楚，学到了很多实用方法。. Bookmarked for later reading.
49I found your weblog site on google and examine a number of of your early posts. Proceed to keep up the excellent operate. I just extra up your RSS feed to my MSN News Reader. Seeking forward to reading extra from you in a while!…
50