Salt and Pepper Tofu. Tom McCorkle/photos; Gina Nistico/food styling, for The Washington Post

Sometimes I think we Westerners – or many of us, anyway — have it all wrong when it comes to tofu. We think we have to press it; we don’t. We think we can’t freeze it; we can. We think its only use is as a meat substitute; not true. We complain that it’s bland, forgetting that so many proteins need seasoning. We lean almost exclusively on firm or extra-firm tofu, wrongly assuming that the only use for soft or silken is to blend it into dressings and sauces and creamy desserts.

I and others have written previous columns, articles and recipes attempting to counter all of the above. Today I’m offering a recipe that aims to correct another tofu misunderstanding: the idea that the only tofu suitable for frying is the absolute firmest you can find. If you’ve never tasted fried soft tofu, with its unbeatable textural contrast between crispy and custardy, I can’t wait for you to try this recipe.

We have an excuse for all the misconceptions, by the way: Tofu is complex, with different varieties boasting different textures and calling for different handling, and with labels and packaging that can easily confuse us. With less of a cultural and historical connection to tofu, many Westerners simply haven’t been exposed to the bean curd’s vast array of possibilities.

The first time I had fried soft tofu, it was given the salt-and-pepper treatment, a classic Chinese preparation that depends on so much more than those two ingredients. The pepper is the floral white variety, and along with an occasional pinch of five-spice powder and a little MSG, it gets its punch from garlic, ginger and chiles. When I started mulling ways to approach a recipe for fried soft tofu, that combination was what immediately came to mind.

And then the doubts crept in. I couldn’t recall the restaurant or even the year or the city where I had tasted it (yay, aging!), so was I even on the right track? I looked around at recipes, finding several for the dish that use … firm tofu. Was it all a dream?

A text exchange with Kevin Pang, co-author with his father, Jeffrey, of “A Very Chinese Cookbook,” one of my favorite volumes of 2023, cleared things up.

“Definitely not out of the question to use soft/silken tofu,” he wrote. “The tough thing, of course, is handling the tofu so it doesn’t break apart.” He reminded me of one of my other favorite soft-tofu dishes: agedashi tofu, a Japanese treatment that places fried slabs in a light dashi broth, adding yet another element of texture.

The Pangs’ book includes a recipe for salt and pepper squid, and it was pretty seamless to use their seasoning proportions and technique with soft tofu instead. They dip the protein in a batter, but I went with a simpler potato starch mixture, and shallow-fried the tofu rather than heating up so much more oil for deep-frying. You take the tofu out, stir-fry the aromatics plus more seasonings, and toss the fried tofu back in the skillet to coat it in all those flavors before serving.

By the way, note that I’m calling for soft tofu, not silken. This can be a particularly confusing point, but I want you to look for tofu that’s refrigerated, not shelf-stable, and whose package says only “soft,” with no mention of “silken” anything. (The brand I seem to find most easily is House Foods.) The reason is that another company, Mori-Nu, sells shelf-stable silken tofu in aseptic packages that comes in several varieties, from soft to extra-firm – while still being labeled silken. And silken tofu (especially soft silken) is much too delicate for frying; it is hard to even cut without pieces breaking apart.

All of this had me needing some help clarifying just what the difference is between silken and soft tofu, so I called Andrea Nguyen, author of “Asian Tofu.” She thinks of soft tofu as silken tofu that’s been made sturdier, not through pressing (as with firmer tofu), but with a gelling agent called GDL (glucono-delta-lactone) added on top of the typical coagulants of nigari or calcium chloride. She’s generally not a fan of shelf-stable silken tofu, finding it less fresh-tasting than the refrigerated, but generally loves the super smooth texture of soft and silken varieties, describing it as akin to a photo of airbrushed, unblemished skin.

The upshot: “You can cut soft tofu into cubes and deep-fry it and it will retain its shape,” she said. “But tofu labeled as silken tofu is much more custardy and delicate. Tofu that is labeled silken is not what you want to deep-fry.”

Pang is a fan of the one-two punch of textures that results. “Now that I think of it, my favorite salt-and-pepper tofus are all on the softer side,” he wrote.

Nguyen agrees. “For something like salt-and-pepper tofu, that contrast is extremely exciting,” she said. “It’s sexy.”

Sexy tofu? I’ll bite.

Soft tofu is smooth but sturdy enough to cut into blocks that don’t fall apart. Tom McCorkle/photos; Gina Nistico/food styling, for The Washington Post

Salt and Pepper Tofu

Fried soft tofu — crispy on the outside and custardy inside — gets the Chinese salt-and-pepper treatment, a flavor combination that includes floral white pepper and a pinch of five-spice powder, plus garlic, ginger and chiles. The addition of MSG, which is optional, makes this dish extra savory. If you thought only firm or extra-firm tofu should or could be fried, this recipe proves otherwise.

Servings: 4

Active time: 40 minutes. Total time: 1 hour

Storage: Refrigerate for up to 4 days.

Where to buy: Soft tofu, five-spice powder and MSG (monosodium glutamate) can be found in Asian markets, well-stocked supermarkets and online.

Substitutions: Potato starch >> cornstarch or tapioca starch. Soft tofu >> medium tofu or firm tofu, although especially with the latter, you won’t get a custardy interior. Fresno chiles >> red finger chiles or jalapeños.

Notes: The preferred tofu for this dish is soft tofu, such as House Foods brand, which is Chinese-style and slightly firmer than Japanese-style silken tofu, which is too delicate to keep its shape when coating and frying. Based on our testing, we don’t recommend making this in the air fryer.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup potato starch

1 1/4 teaspoons fine salt, divided

3/4 teaspoon white pepper, divided

One (14-ounce) package soft tofu, drained (see Notes)

2 cups neutral oil, such as sunflower oil or peanut oil

1/2 teaspoon MSG (optional)

1/4 teaspoon store-bought or homemade Chinese five-spice powder (see related recipe)

5 garlic cloves, pressed or finely grated

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1 to 2 Fresno peppers (depending on your heat tolerance), stemmed and thinly sliced

2 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced

DIRECTIONS

In a large, shallow bowl or pie dish, whisk together the potato starch, 1 teaspoon of the salt and 1/2 teaspoon of the pepper.

Very gently pat the tofu dry with a clean dish towel. Carefully cut the tofu in half through its equator, as if you were cutting a cake layer into two. Leaving the two halves stacked, cut the tofu into a 4-by-4 grid, to yield 32 pieces (16 pieces per half).

Set a wire rack over a large sheet pan, and place it next to the stove.

In a large Dutch oven, wok or large, deep skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil until it reaches 375 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. Adjust the heat to maintain the temperature.

Carefully transfer about one-quarter of the tofu slices to the bowl, and use a spoon to turn and gently toss them to coat in the starch mixture without breaking the tofu apart. Use a slotted spoon or spider skimmer to transfer them to the oil. Fry until golden brown on one side, 3 to 4 minutes, then use tongs or long metal chopsticks, if you have them, to gently flip the tofu pieces and fry until golden brown on the other side, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the fried pieces to the wire rack to drain. Continue working in batches until all the tofu is fried.

In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, the MSG, if using, and the five-spice powder.

Pour out all but about 1 tablespoon of the oil from the Dutch oven; save the rest for another use. Return the Dutch oven to medium-high heat until the oil shimmers.

Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry until the garlic starts to brown and the ginger is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the chile(s) and stir-fry until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the fried tofu, scallions and salt mixture, and very gently (to avoid breaking the tofu) toss to coat. Serve hot.

Nutritional information per serving (8 pieces tofu): 272 calories, 17 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 22 g carbohydrates, 574 mg sodium, 0 mg cholesterol, 6 g protein, 2 g fiber, 0 g sugar.