Knowledge Base > Char Nolan - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Char Nolan - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

This event was on Tuesday, January 23, 2024 at 1:00 pm Pacific, 2:00 pm Eastern

Join Chef Char Nolan in her virtual office as she welcomes all of your questions. This event was created for you and we encourage you to ask anything – from cooking techniques to cou… Read More.

Recorded

Question:

I made the sweet/sour tofu and the tofu turned out quite rubbery. Is that how it's supposed to be? I'm a newby with tofu!

— Jean Abreu

Answer:

I love this question so much because, uh, before I was a Rouxbe student almost 10 years ago, I never ate tofu. I never touched it. I never bought it. There was just something about it. And then that assignment came where you've had to slice it ever so beautifully. And then you had to create that lovely marinade with, uh, liquid smoke and, uh, low sodium tamari. And then you had to bake it and then flip it. And when it came out, it was absolutely perfect, and I absolutely loved it. Why does tofu get rubbery? Because it was probably overcooked, it was probably exposed to too much heat. I don't know if it was roasted baked air fried or sauteed, but when it becomes, uh, overcooked, it's gonna get very, very tough. So, uh, I would take a look at, um, uh, the heating element of whatever it was that you cooked on. And maybe, uh, the temperature needed to be a little bit lower. Sounds like a delicious dish. Sweet and sour tofu is, uh, one of my favorite dishes. I don't like to eat it out because they deep fry the tofu and they use white sugar and other things, but you can make a really delicious dish on your own without having, um, uh, shall we say, more commercial or conventional ingredients. So, sounds like a delicious recipe gene though, and I would've loved to have tried it.
Char Nolan

Char Nolan

Chef Instructor

@char_nolan