The Secret of Mapo Tofu Sauce

 One of China's best known and most sought after dishes is mapo tofu sauce . This fiery blend , usually reserved for Szechuan restaurants can be made at home. It's a relatively easy mix that can have a lot of uses with other dishes. Once made it's sure to be a kitchen staple.

Andrea Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American food writer and chef wrote about it in yesterday's New York Times Food section. It's definitely on my must make list because of the promised flavor and how it can be used with other dishes like nachos (!) and even spaghetti. (!!) Chef Nguyen fi rst came upon it in a Chinese restaurant in Southern California where she grew up. She fell in love with the melding of meat and tofu , the sweet and savory along with the silky texture.  The fascination stayed with her. As an adult she visited Chengdu, the capital of Szechuan Province and the dish's birthplace.It's a relatively new recipe, compared to other Chinese ones, starting in the late 1800's. The originator, Mrs Chen, created the sauce in her family's restaurant and the dish is named for her.It's an unflattering nod to her pockmarked skin. Ma refers to pockmarks while po signifies old woman. According to the story, porters lugging oil to the market would frequent her eatery. One day they wanted an affordable dish made up of tofu and meat cooked up with some of the oil they brought in. Mrs. Chen obliged , also throwing in such Szechuan staples as Szechuan peppercorns and fermented bean paste.

Chef Nguyen has tried the dish at the original restaurant as well as trying ones here in the States. She has eaten it out and in Chengdu homes where she saw different variations. Mapo sauce has a lot of potential and can be used in so many dishes like lasagna and Mexican.Any home chef can make it. It's blending silken tofu until it's liquified and then heating Szechuan peppers in oil, preferably canola or vegetable until fragrant. Let the peppers cool and then grind them up. It's then preparing the rest of the ingredients which range from the all important doubanjang or fermented red bean paste  and douci  fermented black beans, along with fresh ginger, sugar, soy sauce and red pepper flakes. Remember to add pork or beef (it's up to you to decide.  I would go  with tofu crumbles for a truly vegan dish). It's then adding the spices and meat , frying the mixture until it's a rich reddish brown. The next step is  reducing the heat to medium low and adding the sugar and soy sauce. Scrape in the blended tofu, cooking well for about three minutes. Orange oil will rise to the top. Don't fret. This is normal. This is also the time to taste and adjust the flavor. Add sugar to tame the heat or salt to add more flavor. You can even add the bean paste. Chef Nguyen adds scallions and a cornstarch  and water slurry to thicken the sauce. The Szechuan peppercorns are added for more fire. Again, this works for all sorts of dishes. I would used it as a sauce for ants climbing a tree, a tasty and classic Szechuan dish.

Mapo tofu sauce is a versatile dish that can easily be made at home. Use it on a variety of different dishes.It'll make any recipe sing.

The Burn Method

Burning is the nightmare of  any chef, whether at home or at a restaurant. Yet,  overcooking and charring actually can help a dish, giving it a new layer of flavor and texture. It's a method not for the fainthearted but for the more daring cook.

The famed blogger, Tejal, Rao, wrote about the method in today's New York Times Food section. Burning food is long a tradition in Mexican and Caribbean cuisines,along with Southeast Asian. Caramelized sugar helps chefs with a limited arsenal of ingredients. According to cookbook author and cooking teacher, Andrea Nguyen, the Vietnamese use the mix of sugar and water overcooked to a golden russet on a regular basis. Nuoc mau. , as they call it, is made in clay pots over simple stoves.Once made,it's used in marinades and pots of simmering meat. The result is a kind of replacement for the Maillard reaction, the chemical swirl of amino acids and sugars which results in distinct savory notes in browned foods.It's big in West Indian cooking too. Chef Rawlston Williams employs it in many of his, learning it as a child in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.It's a major ingredient in his marinades and braised lamb shanks at his Brooklyn restaurant , Food Sermon. It also plays an important part in black cake, a molasses colored fruitcake.

Mexican cuisine also chars and toasts.. New York's famed Mexican restaurant ,Lalo features it , thanks to its' chef and owner, Geraldo Gonzalez . He uses it in his moles ,starting with toasting almonds,cashews, peanuts and pumpkin seeds to a deep , deep brown. He chars tomatillos too along with citrus because it produces an intense , almost meatlike depth of flavor. He  does avoid charring meats because doing such does pose a health risk. According to Britian's Food Standard's Agency starchy foods such as potatoes and breads should not be cooked at high temperatures. This produces acrylamide which has been found to cause cancer in animals. Our own Food and Drug Administration does not know at what level can this occur. It is safe for anyone to eat burnt, crusts in small amounts which makes it okay to try the accompanying recipe from chef and cookbook author, Jennifer McLagan. It's a burned toast soup, based on a French country dish. It involves over toasting
 sourdough bread, then soaking it in chicken stock.It' blended with steamed milk, vinegar and mustard. for a different take on cream soups.


Any chef, especially home ones should walk on the edge and try charring or burning. Start small and then work up to creating sauces with it.It'll give a different layer of taste and texture to any dish , savory or sweet.