How to Press The Water Out Of Tofu

Tofu is packaged in liquid to prevent it from drying out and keep it fresh. Most recipes that call for tofu ask that it be drained and pressed. This allows it absorb marinade better and fry safer. Let's take a look at how to do this the easy way.

This article is for extra-firm tofu. See Additional Tips at the bottom of the page for info on medium, soft, and silken tofu.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Two cutting boards
• Something heavy (cookbooks)
• Paper Towels
• Extra-firm tofu

1. Get all of your things together (mise-en-place). You need two cutting boards, or at least two hard, flat, non-porous things. A panini press also works well. Get your heavy things i.e.; cookbooks, fishtank, a couple of toasters, whatever as long as it fits on top of your cutting boards and weighs about 10 pounds. Also grab your tofu and bunch of paper towels.

2. Start by cutting a slit on the bottom of the tofu pack and draining the bulk of the package's water out through that. Push on the block if needed to squeeze out as much as you can.

3. Fold two sets of two sheets of paper towels and place one on the bottom cutting board. Put the tofu on top of this with the other set of paper towels on the tofu. Put the other cutting board and your ten pound hamster cage (probably not food safe) on top of that. Let sit for 10 minutes.

4. After ten minutes, swap out the paper towels for fresh ones and repeat the process for another ten minutes. When done the paper towels will have soaked the water out of the tofu block and it's ready to be cubed, sliced, or whatever it is you're doing with it.

Tips & Warnings

• Lighten the load on top for medium density tofu. Only follow step two for soft and silken tofu.