Chapter 140: The Anxious Tofu
Xiang Chuan looked speechlessly at the three who were facing death, picked up the beverage pot nearby and poured three cups of sweet soy milk for them, then focused on her own stirring work.
Gradually, the white soy milk began to float with some pulp, and later the pulp almost completely separated from the liquid. Xiang Chuan asked Xiao Chu to fetch gauze that had been sterilized for eating and a flat cylindrical container. Since it was a temporary decision to make tofu, it was quite troublesome to find a container with holes on the sides and bottom for draining water. After all, modern people don’t steam things to eat, and such containers with holes are useless to them. Xiang Chuan almost had Xiao Chu turn over all the containers in the warehouse before finding one that was barely suitable.
She placed the gauze in the container, then evenly spread the white tender pulp from the pot on top, covered it with gauze, then found a container of roughly the same diameter, filled it with some water to add weight, and pressed it on top of the cloth.
After completing this series of tasks and confirming that the weight of the round pot used to press the tofu was appropriate, Xiang Chuan also poured herself a cup of sweet soy milk, then went to the living room together with the three silently drinking soy milk by the kitchen and Xiao Ye standing outside the kitchen to chat about tofu eating methods.
“Ingredients?”
The three and Xiao Ye eating melon on the side all felt incredulous when Xiang Chuan opened her mouth with “This thing I’m making is actually a kind of ingredient.”
“Aren’t ingredients things like vegetables and meat? Can sour soy milk also be an ingredient?”
Ainuo wondered, imagining in his mind the scene of using pasty sour soy milk for frying, boiling soup, or cooking noodles… Even he, a top student with extensive knowledge, felt his brain freeze a bit.
“I already said it’s not sour soy milk, it’s tofu, that thing isn’t sour… probably.” Xiang Chuan started off confidently, but then thought that this was her first time making tofu, and added the last two words a bit unconfidently. She wasn’t sure if she would really end up making sour soy milk or sour tofu. Sour tofu… in her brief 21st century gourmet experiences, she really hadn’t tried these things. Not to mention the three club members with blank faces, even she, the maker, couldn’t imagine the taste of sour tofu.
Seeing Xiang Chuan’s expression change repeatedly, Ouyang Yating and the other two could easily guess that their club president was digressively thinking about some strange things again, but right now they had something even more concerning.
“Tell us in detail how this bean… tofu? you made is used as an ingredient. Wouldn’t it be fine to just use beans directly? Why process it?”
“Because the texture is different.” Xiang Chuan said seriously. When it came to eating, she wasn’t vague. “The texture of tofu is softer than beans, it absorbs seasonings and soup much better than beans, and has a mild texture, easy to digest. After further processing into dried tofu, it has even better absorption.”
At the end, she uncontrollably swallowed her saliva, because she thought of the tofu strips sold at the elementary school gate. On the way to the subway station for work before, there was an elementary school, and occasionally when getting up early to catch the first train, she could see vendors squatting at the school gate selling tofu strip spicy hot pot, but those times when she needed to catch the first train were often periods of very busy work, so even if she faintly smelled the aroma, she remained unmoved and continued hurrying to the subway in high heels.
But after returning to her student days as a girl, Xiang Chuan felt her sense of taste had also gone back to her childhood. Now thinking of tofu strips made her a bit unable to resist wanting a serving of beef brisket spicy hot pot with sesame spicy oil, minced garlic, tofu strips, and radish version.
Unlike Xiang Chuan who was somewhat immersed in memories, the other three + one still couldn’t understand the existence of tofu. After all, ingredients after reprocessing were still a bit too challenging for their imagination.
“Actually in ancient times, directly eating beans wasn’t common either.” Xiang Chuan wiped the nonexistent saliva from the corner of her mouth and continued, “More often, they used ingredients made by processing beans in different ways for cooking. Ancient bean consumption was basically concentrated in this aspect, followed by some soy product snacks. I saw these in the information, but the methods were a bit complex, so I didn’t record them.”
The last sentence wasn’t exactly a lie; she had indeed seen traces of beans in the introductions or packaging materials of some vegetarian snacks. That’s how she learned that she had eaten so many soy product snacks as a child. Out of curiosity, she clicked into the webpage and looked at the comparison table, seeing various additives and seasonings that weren’t even used in daily life. Xiang Chuan silently closed the page.
Better to honestly make tofu. After solving the mass production issue for beans, she could send these to Father. After all, it’s a food processing group. She didn’t understand, but the research department over at Yue Xiang surely couldn’t fail to understand, right?
At this point, Ouyang Yating and the other two were even more confused: Made into snacks? How? Using soy pulp to fry into french fries like that?
Unknowingly, an hour passed, and the tofu should be almost pressed. When the alarm rang, Xiang Chuan rushed to the kitchen first, but when Xiao Chu lifted the container and she looked at the thing covered by the cloth below, the tension that had finally subsided rose again.
What if it turned out bad?
What if it doesn’t taste good?
What if it leaves them with a bad impression of soy products like the pork before? Would this failure become the biggest obstacle on the path to the birth of tofu and even soy products?
The initial unease spread in her mind like a virus. When Ouyang Yating and Ainuo’s calls brought her back to her senses, Xiang Chuan realized her palms were actually sweating coldly.
“What’s wrong? You’ve been off since earlier.” Ainuo didn’t hold back and asked directly. Ouyang Yating helplessly glanced at her own childhood friend: This guy’s mouth really lacks a filter sometimes.
But it did save the roundabout detours.
“Um…” Xiang Chuan looked hesitant at the tofu covered by the cloth in the container, finally made up her mind, took a deep breath, and spilled it all: “To be honest, I have no confidence in making this tofu this time. I don’t even know if the thing inside turned out right, so…”
“Just this?” Ouyang Yating and the other two looked at each other, then simultaneously looked at the hesitant and uneasy Xiang Chuan.
Pfft!
Ainuo was the first to burst out laughing, Ouyang Yating and Liang Gong also couldn’t help but chuckle, finally turning into the three of them laughing heartily.
“No need to laugh, I mean it seriously.” Xiang Chuan had veins popping on her forehead, because she saw Xiao Ye standing outside the kitchen also couldn’t help curving the corners of his mouth.
“Then relax. We’re not treating you like some perfect chef.” Ainuo looked at her amusedly. “We’ve been messing with these beans alongside you for several days, we know how troublesome it is to process them. These are technologies from tens of thousands of years ago. We were even thinking before that we might hit a bottleneck someday, but we didn’t expect your reaction to be so… pfft!”
As he spoke, he couldn’t help laughing again. Xiang Chuan’s face darkened more, and Ouyang Yating quickly pulled her childhood friend to the kitchen corner to prevent their club president from settling old scores in a fit and giving this zipperless-mouth guy a path to destruction.
Xiang Chuan glared at him grumpily, but her mood was much lighter. She went to the sink to clean her hands, then carefully lifted the cloth in the pot. The familiar white solid came into view. She gently pressed it, and the soft texture of the tofu fed back to her fingertips. The hanging heart finally settled by seventy to eighty percent.
Leaving aside the taste for now, it seems this white vinegar coagulation method can indeed make the tofu coagulate and take shape. Even if the taste isn’t right, they can improve the recipe later.
A good start is half the success.
