Knowledge Base > Dan Marek - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)
Dan Marek - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)
This event was on
Tuesday, July 02, 2024 at 11:00 am Pacific, 2:00 pm Eastern
Join Chef Dan Marek in his virtual office as he welcomes all of your questions. This event was created for you and we encourage you to Ask Anything – from cooking techniques to cours… Read More.
Question:
Any tips on making tofu cubes crispy?
— Mitch Miglis
Answer:
Yes, uh, I actually do tofu cubes all the time. I have some in my fridge right now that my kids are snacking on all the time. Um, and basically what I kind of start with is putting them into cubes and I do a marinate on them. Um, and then I'll do a couple of different things is, um, I'll either do a, a coating on them, which is typically like an arrow root or a corn starch and then a little bit of flour on the outside of those. Um, and I'll put different seasonings in that mixture depending on what I'm using them for. Um, and then I'll bake them off in the oven at three 50 degrees for about 20 minutes. Um, if we're not using oil, they won't stick to the bottom of the pan. So what I use is I'll use a metal spatula, typically a metal one to be able to scrape the bottom of the pan to make sure that, um, whatever sticking to the pan is coming up with the tofu as I kind of come off of that pan as well. If you're using an oil, uh, just a spray oil, a very light touch on the bottom is great and you can actually do it on the top to be able to make it so you don't have to flip it again. Um, but if you're not using oil, you just need to make sure to take it out after about 20 minutes or so, scrape them off, flip them off to the other side to be able to get the crispy texture on each side. If you are using oil, just a little tiny bit of spray oil is all you really need to be able to get the crispy texture on the outside of those. Now the flour corn syrup mixture is not needed, but it actually does, uh, dramatically increase the crispiness that you can get on the outside of those. But of course you can just do it without the corn starch and flour mixture on the outside too. Um, just watch the outside and you'll see the browning that's actually happening on them. But again, if you're not using oil, you will have to scrape the pan to make sure that you get the brown up with the tofu to be able to flip them and then cook them for just as long on the other side. Now if you keep cooking them, they're gonna get too crispy and they turn into what I call tofu jerky. Um, you know, so just keep an eye on them and keep an eye on the texture as you're going with those as well.
