How do I prepare tofu so comes out like at Noodles & co

Question

I really enjoy the texture of the tofu in the pad thai with tofu dish at Noodles and Company. In particular, it comes out much firmer than it does when I make tofu at home by cubing it and cooking it in a pan with vegetable oil. How do I prepare the tofu so it comes out in a similar way?

Answer

My girlfriend and I cook a lot of tofu - we have also found that "firm" and "extra-firm" tofu is highly variable and that the quality makes a big difference in the actual firmness, density and cooking results.

Here in SF though we did have good luck with the random brand of tofu available at our local produce market (in the Outer Sunset) we have now switched to almost exclusively cooking with tofu from http://www.tofuyu.com/ who are a local tofu maker and whose plain tofu cooks up amazingly well - gets great color, stays firm and in short is far better than anything else we've tried.

While not every part of the country is as lucky as the Bay Area to have multiple artisanal tofu makers competing to make fantastic tofu you should experiment with the various brands of tofu you can find - look for the one that gets the best results for your in your preparations.

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