I remember when I was a child, whenever it was winter, my grandmother was busy like a top, turning around non-stop, making mustard sauerkraut for a while, making tofu milk for a while, preparing for the harsh winter in the future, even when the snow closed the mountain, she could take out these dishes to deal with. In particular, the scene of my grandmother making tofu milk is still unforgettable to me, and at that time we all called tofu milk "cat fish". Grandma cut the tofu into small squares, put it in a washed and dried old wooden box, separated by thick straw layer by layer, then covered with straw, and then put it tightly with an old quilt and put it in a corner protected from light to let it ferment naturally.
After about half a month, the fermentation of tofu grows a layer of white fine fluff, like a thin layer of snowflakes, which is white mold, a beneficial filamentous mold, and also the sign that tofu has completed the tofu milk blank, which forms a tough skin membrane for tofu milk and accumulates protease. The fermented tofu milk blank is added to wine and salt, and then spices and peppers are added to marinate for a period of time, and what appears to us is appetizing tofu milk.
Tofu milk is not exclusive to a place, all over the country, but different places have different practices, I have eaten "Sichuan cat fish", Guilin tofu milk, Beijing Wang Zhi and stinky curd milk and other places of various special tofu milk, but the most memorable, the best taste is the grandmother to make tofu milk, grandma often said: do tofu milk, to remember to put "3 spices", more than 2 steps, so that the tofu milk is spicy and smooth, appetizing rice, put a year will not be bad. Let's take a look at Grandma's "3 more steps to add 3 spices" and the specific method of making tofu milk with Xiaoya.
The "increase in 3 spices" here refers to the addition of star anise, cinnamon and peppercorns in the process of making tofu milk, these 3 spices are aromatic spices with large daily consumption, with heavy aromatic odor, bitterness and odor. Adding them to tofu milk not only enriches the texture level of tofu milk, but also highlights the local characteristics of sichuan, Hunan and Qian, which love spicy and spicy food.
Star anise is a large anise, commonly known as large material, the rich aromatic smell is mainly derived from fennel brain, as well as a small amount of anisealdehyde, limonene and other material components; cinnamon aroma is particularly strong, sweet and spicy, its aroma is mainly derived from cinnamaldehyde, as well as eugenol, pinene and other material components; the biggest feature of pepper is that it has a dual taste of incense and hemp, especially the hemp taste is particularly prominent. The aroma of peppercorns is more complex, derived from linalool, juniperene, laurene, terpine alcohol, piperonol and other more than a dozen hydrocarbons and alcohols, and the hemp flavor is derived from chain unsaturated fatty acid amides represented by hemp esanos.
"2 more steps" is to increase the high temperature stir-frying and hot water soaking before the use of spices, so as to maximize the aroma of these 3 spices. Due to the thick flesh of star anise and cinnamon bark, the aroma is not obvious under the conventional conditions, and it needs to be pretreated by soaking in hot water at 50 ~ 70 ° C for 3 to 4 hours to make it swell, so as to maximize their aroma, and also eliminate the bitter odor in the star anise and cinnamon.
Because of its thin skin, peppercorns do not need to be soaked, but the volatile oil content of peppercorns is high, and it is more sensitive to temperature, and high-temperature stir-frying can achieve the ideal effect of fragrant and hemp.
【Ingredients】Tofu milk blank 1000 grams
【Ingredients】 Star anise, cinnamon, peppercorns, 20 grams of paprika, 100 ml of high liquor above 50 ° C, 50 grams of salt
Step 1: Process the spices. The star anise and cinnamon are soaked in hot water at 60°C for 3 hours, then the surface moisture is dried, and the star anise, cinnamon and peppercorns are sautéed over medium-low heat for a while to further stimulate their aroma and hemp flavor, and then beat into powder with a blender. It should be noted here that if these 3 spices are only used this time, they can be mixed together to beat the powder;
Step 2: Pour the high liquor into a clean bowl without oil and water, put the beaten star anise, cinnamon and pepper into a shallow dish, then add the paprika and salt, and stir well with chopsticks;
Step 3: Pick up a piece of tofu milk blank, put it in the liquor liquid to "take a wine bath", and then put it on the plate, so that it is covered with star anise, cinnamon, pepper powder, paprika, salt mixed powder on all sides;
Step 4: Put the blank dipped in mixed powder into the bottle, and then repeat the above actions in turn for each piece of tofu milk blank, and neatly stack it in the bottle;
Step 5: After the bottle is full, fold the plastic bag into 4 layers, put it on the bottle mouth, then close the lid and seal it, place a ventilated place protected from light, give everything to time, and let it undergo a second natural fermentation;
Step 6: About 1 month later, the tofu milk fermentation is fully mature, you can clip out to eat, spicy soft and smooth also bring spicy taste, refreshing and appetizing, so that the tofu milk, can be eaten from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, put a year will not be bad, and the more put more and more smooth, the entrance is melted, simply too delicious, with breakfast noodles and porridge, a word "cool".
If you make your own tofu milk blank, it is best to use straw as a barrier layer, and wash and dry the straw before use. The straw is rich in bacillus, which has a good auxiliary effect on the tofu "long mold", which can not only increase the number of "white mold", but also ensure the quality of "white mold", so that its "white mold" is more and white, while improving the fermentation speed, and finally achieving the best effect of tofu milk taste.
Someone asked why tofu milk can only be made in winter? That's because the long "white mold" of tofu pre-fermentation has requirements for the temperature environment, it must be grown in a low temperature environment, and the general optimal temperature is about 16 ° C.
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