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Best Tofu skin in Chicago
“A film of soy protein rises to the surface of hot milk, collected and dried into sheets—tofu's elegant cousin.”
What the real thing tastes like
Tofu skin, yuba, fupi, beancurd skin, beancurd sheet, or beancurd robes is a food item made from soybeans. During the boiling of soy milk, typically heated to 80–90 °C (176–194 °F), in an open shallow pan, a film or skin composed primarily of a soy protein-lipid complex forms on the liquid surface. The films are collected and dried into yellowish sheets known as tofu skin. Since tofu skin is not produced using a coagulant, it is not technically a proper tofu; however, it does have a similar texture and flavor to some tofu products. Tofu skin's use was first documented in written records in China in the sixteenth century. It is widely used, fresh, fermented, or dried, in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese cuisine.
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Tofu skin forms in the simplest way—as a delicate film that rises to the surface when soy milk steams in a shallow pan, a protein-lipid membrane that catches the heat. These gossamer sheets are collected and dried into papery yellows, giving you something textured and flavored like tofu, but technically its own thing entirely. Since the sixteenth century, across China, Korea, and Japan, cooks have known what to do with it: use it fresh, ferment it, dry it, layer it into dishes where that particular tender-yet-resilient quality belongs.
Order it here when it has
- similar texture to tofu
- similar flavor to tofu
- versatile (fresh, fermented, or dried)
- five-hundred-year documented history
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