• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
✮ The Food Dictator ✮

The Hirshon Tofu Misozuke – 豆腐味噌漬け

December 7, 2015 by The Generalissimo Leave a Comment

169
SHARES
FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditWhatsappYummly
Light Dark Dark Light
()
The Hirshon Tofu Misozuke - 豆腐味噌漬け
Tofu Misozuke Image Used Under Creative Commons License From reciperenovator.com

Citizens, tofu misozuke is a traditional Japanese delicacy from the Fukuoka district, whose production requires an aging period in miso for up to two years (fear not, my version is only two months)! During that time, the tofu acquires the texture of soft creamy cheese and an intensely savory, umami flavor.

Thanks to the trailblazing pair behind rauom.com – God bless them for sharing this – a recipe that only existed in one Japanese recipe book from the 18th century that they had translated is now available to us all! 🙂

The story goes as follows:

Have you ever had a dish so good that the taste, texture, and smell lingers deep in your senses and settles in your mind? Have you had a dish so complex, so unique, that it teased, then nagged at your memory…for three years?

It just so happened that Oanh Nguyen and Dang Vu were on a trip in Tokyo in a nondescript sake bar, where they tasted Tofu Misozuke, an incredibly creamy and pungent tofu, accompanied with nothing else but sips of sake. The couple returned to the United States and attempted to search everywhere for the tofu, but found quickly that the dish was unheard of in the United States, and rare even in its native Japan.

Haunted by the tofu’s taste and elusiveness, Oanh and Dang set out to re-create the dish themselves. Armed with years of research skills (Oanh got her undergraduate degree in Biology at Harvard while Dang studied at MIT) they scoured recipe sources. Then, Oanh came across a single rare manuscript: 豆腐百珍 / Tofu Hyakuchin / 100 Tofu Delicacies by 何必醇 / Ka Hitsujun, 1782. The description of the dish was towards the end, alongside lesser-known tofu dishes, and the page was scarce with details. Not only was there not much to go off of, but the entire book was written in an ancient Japanese dialect!

100 Tofu Delicacies
Ancient 18th Century Japanese Cookbook – The Only Known Source Recipe For Tofu Misozuke!

Luckily, Oanh had a friend translate the recipe into modern Japanese, and then English. They learned that the tofu, originating from the Fukuoka Prefecture, was tofu aged in miso. Oanh and Dang now had a starting point to formulate a recipe.

Relying on memory, Oanh and Dang recounted the tofu’s taste and texture, and consulted scientific papers for the dish’s fermentation process.

This is truly vegetarian ambrosia, aged for two months in this recipe – more full of umami than pretty much any other dish I’ve ever tried, in fact! Sadly, the product from rauom.com is no longer available, but thanks to the gracious open-sourcing of their recipe, you can now try this simple and incredibly delicious recipe for yourselves, Citizens! I’ve added my own touch to the recipe with the optional addition of spicy and numbing Yuzukoshō (柚子胡椒) – a type of paste made from chili peppers, yuzu peel and salt, which is then allowed to ferment. You can purchase it from Amazon here.

You won’t hear me say this EVER again – I’d go vegetarian if it meant I could keep eating this!

Battle on – The Generalissimo

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon

The Hirshon Tofu Misozuke – 豆腐味噌漬け


★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

  • Total Time: 0 hours
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 16 ounces organic tofu, super-firm or extra-firm
  • 1 cup miso white or yellow (240 g)
  • 2 tbsp sake (TFD note – NOT mirin!)
  • 2 tbsp granulated organic sugar
  • 1 tbsp green Yuzukoshō (柚子胡椒) (optional)
  • 1 package cheesecloth

Instructions

  1. Wrap a tofu block in 2-3 layers of paper towels & set a dish on top of the tofu block and let it dry out for 1-2 hours. Remove paper towels. Dry tofu with a towel and cut in half crosswise so you have two cubes.
  2. Wrap the pressed, dry tofu in two layers of the cheesecloth so it’s a neat package.
  3. Wrap tofu in cheesecloth and smear marinade on all sides. Use ½ the marinade on each block.
  4. Line a storage container with 2-3 layers of paper towels, place tofu block on top, cover and refrigerate.
  5. Change paper towels whenever they become very wet to avoid mold growth – the paper towels will become really wet, yet the tofu will not be any dryer because enzymes in the miso are breaking down the soy proteins and generating water. Chemistry!
  6. That’s it. It takes at least 2 months for a firm tofu block to be creamy on the outside. We usually start eating our way in at that point, leaving the middle to age a little bit more.
  7. After two months, unwrap your “cheese” completely. Store wrapped in waxed paper in the refrigerator in a clean lidded container. Change the waxed paper if it gets too wet. (Or, you can unwrap a corner of the cheese and keep it in the cheesecloth, just removing a portion at a time and re-wrapping it.)
  • Prep Time: 0 hours
  • Cook Time: 0 hours

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @thefooddictator on Pinterest, Instagram or Facebook and hashtag it #TFD

How useful was this post, Citizen?

Click to rate My Recipe, Citizen - 5 hearts are ALWAYS appreciated!

Average rating / 5. Vote count:

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

As you found this post useful...

Follow us on social media, Citizen!

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

Related posts:

The Hirshon Bavarian Braised Pig Knuckle in Beer Sauce - Schweinshaxe mit Biersoße
The Hirshon Colombian Hot Dogs - Perro Caliente Colombiano
The Hirshon Oklahoma Onion Burger
The Hirshon Chiapas-Style Sincronizadas
The Hirshon Bulgarian Herbal Spiced Salt - Шарена Cол
The Hirshon Hyderabadi Chicken Dum Biryani - హైదరాబాదీ చికెన్ బియానీని
The Hirshon Macedonian Rice Pudding - Сутлијаш
The Hirshon North Carolina Slaw Dog

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: Condiments, Tofu

About The Generalissimo

The myth of the Generalissimo is far more interesting than the reality.

Previous Post: « The Hirshon Russian Pickled Watermelon – марино́ванный арбу́з
Next Post: The Hirshon Lebanese Pickled Turnips – مخلل اللفت و الشمندر »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

Primary Sidebar

➤ Citizens – Please Support TFD Nation!

Donate to Help TFD!

⇔ Search, And Ye Shall Assuredly Find!

✮ Citizens ✮

TFD currently has a total of 1,365 posts and 1,162,462 words written since December of 2014! Add your voice to My 50,000+ dedicated readers, comment on My recipes and thus become an active member of TFD Nation! Looking for a particular recipe? Search for it in the box above or via the category tags below - there are THOUSANDS of the finest in world and historic recipes here!

❧ TREMBLE Before Our Categoric Zeal!

Appetizers (146)Beef (143)Beverages (24)Bread (112)Cheese (64)Chicken (132)Chinese (122)Chocolate (16)Condiments (262)Dessert (166)Drinks (23)Duck (20)Egg (47)Fish (56)French (56)Game (30)Georgian (34)Indian (60)Italian (58)Jewish (84)Lamb (73)Manifestos (1)Pasta (90)Pork (148)Salad (40)Sandwich (42)Seafood (84)Shrimp (53)Soup (110)Spices (12)Tofu (7)Turkey (15)Veal (18)Vegetables (108)

✺ Click to Follow Us Across Social Media!

Facebook   

    instagram

☥ TFD SPEAKS!!!

https://www.thefooddictator.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/TFD-Avatar-Cold-Open-FINAL.mp4

 Enjoy TFD’s Mellifluous Podcasts, Citizen!

Listen on Apple Podcasts

© 2023 · The Food Dictator is abjectly served by WORDPRESS

✮ The Food Dictator ✮
Manage Cookie Consent
Citizens!

Be advised that as an enlightened Dictatorship here at TFD, we are indeed on the side of right when it comes to protecting the privacy of TFD Nation!

We do use technologies such as cookies to store and/or access device information, solely to improve your browsing experience and to show personalized ads.

Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions - trust us, we really ARE on your side!

YOUR LOYALTY IS NOTED! 🎖️
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
169
SHARES
FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditMailYummly