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Skriven 2013-08-02 12:52:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av NANCY BACKUS
Ärende: wisdumb 957
===================
 NB> Plus, statistically, even if you had been that poor at the subject,
 NB> you would have gotten at least a few answers right, just by chance...

It was said that it's as difficult to get all the answers wrong
as all the answers right. I'm not sure about that - in most of
those standardized tests, every question offers at least one
incredibly stupid and obviously wrong answer.

 NB> Always someone that knows the piece intimately... and will spot the
 NB> least deviation... ;)   Of course, she could always say she was
 NB> getting into the spirit of the times, and doing it as Mozart might have
 NB> done it... (G)

That's apparently what she did, sort of grinning about it; and
as she repeated the error note by note on the repeat, people
tended to believe her.

 ML> vehicle department saying that his driver's license will be
 ML> suspended for suspected mental illness unless he can get a
 ML> witness with a Maryland licence to vouch for his sanity, whatever
 NB> I'd ask to read it.  See what it really says.

I did. Got a vague response. The upshot is that he has been
asked to do the whole new driver process, except he's in the
position of someone who already has a learner's permit. I
suggested that he enter a short-term relationship with a
driving school or a certified instructor.

Tau Huay - soya bean curd
cat: dim sum, Chinese
yield: 1 batch

500 g soybeans
2.5 L water
3.5 g lactone (glucono delta lactone)
- (1/4 ts is approx 1 g lactone)
150 mL water

It is interesting to note that the Si Chuan Dou Hua
recipe uses double the amount of beans compared to all
the recipes on the internet.

Ieat's Tau Huay Recipe: as above but use 2 ts gypsum
instead of lactone.

Make soymilk out of the soybeans and water. Cool to 85C.

Dissolve coagulant in 150 mL water. Add warm soymilk.
Cover and let set 45-60 min in an insulated place.

1. The quality of beans will affect the taste of the
bean curd. So since you are going to put all that effort
into making your own Tau Huay, go and buy some nice
organic beans!

2. By removing the skin, you get rid of that waxy taste.
This step is optional, but since you want to make your
Tau Huay, you might as well spend another 5 min doing this.

3. Some recipes tell you to cook the slurry first then
filter. But traditionally, soybean milk is filtered then
cooked. There is a good reason for this. Heat deactivates
some of enzymes in outer layers of the bean. These enzymes
are actually needed to produce that beany flavour. The
westerners don't like this but we Asians do. So, if you
buy Soymilk produced in the US, you always find it doesn't
taste like the soymilk we are used to. That is because,
when they process their soymilk, they will blanch the
beans first to deactivate the enzyme that gives the beany
taste. I have cooked it both ways and I find that you
should just stick to filter than cook as it is easier
and gives a better fragrance.

4. It is vitally important that the soymilk is stirred
and brought to the boil slowly to avoid burning the milk.
Burnt Tau Huay is yuckly! (You can tell I am talking
from experience right?)

5. It is important to simmer the milk for 10 min after
you bring it to a boil in order to bring out the full
flavour and fragrance of the soy milk.

6. The best temperature to coagulate the soymilk is 85C.
Don't pour boiling soymilk directly into the coagulant.
There will be too many bubbles and it will affect the
texture of the Bean Curd. If you do not have a thermometer,
let it rest for 5 min before pouring it in. When you pour,
you are trying to produce turbulence so that the coagulant
mixes with the milk properly. Don't stir the milk once it
is poured as coagulation starts almost immediately.

7. You can tell almost immediately if your Tau Huay is
going to work. If the surface looks nice and smooth,
either you are ok or there is too little coagulant. If
it breaks i.e. precipitates to solids and water, then
you have put too much coagulant. If you have too little
coagulant, your Tua Huay will be like a thick milkshake.

8. Using a cloth to cover the bowl will prevent
condensation droplets falling onto the surface of
your Tau Huay.

9. The behavior of lactone is different from gypsum. It
is more forgiving when it comes to texture, but not taste.
If you add too much lactone, it just gets firmer but the
taste is sour and quite unpalatable. I have found that
1 ts lactone is roughly equivalent to 2 ts gypsum.

11. Gypsum has a very narrow window of success. Too little
and the soybean milk just remains a thick liquid. Too much
and the milk curdles and you can forget about your Tau
Huay and proceed to drain the water and press it to make
Tau Kwa. The window in between where the Tau Huay sets
like silk is very narrow. So it is vitally important that
you measure your beans and coagulant precisely. Do use a
proper measuring teaspoon rather than a teaspoon that you
use to stir your coffee.

12. Tau Huay is made by coagulating soybean protein. So
the amount of bean protein to coagulant is critical. The
amount of water can be adjusted to the texture you want.
So if you find that your Tau Huay is too hard, add more
water, but keep the amount of bean and water constant. By
far the most important point in making Tau Huay is the
ratio of the bean to the coagulant.

13. A lot of the recipes on the net call for the addition
of Potato Starch or Cornflour. I haven't figured out
exactly why because the recipe that I use does not have
it and the texture is excellent. The only reason I can
think of is that it is used to thicken the milk in recipes
which uses a smaller bean to water ratio.

14. I have found that it is important to keep the
temperature at 85C during the coagulation period. This is
no problem if you are making 5 litres of Tau Huay, but if
you are doing 1 litre or even half a litre, then it is
vitally important that you buy one of those rice warmers
so that the temperature does not drop too fast. I find
that it is easier to make at least 2 litres at one go.
When you play with small amounts like 250 ml because you
don't want to waste the soymilk, your margin for error
when measuring the coagulant is very narrow.

15. If you wish to skip the laborious work of making
your own soymilk you can buy soymilk from stalls which
make their own milk. Then you have to work out the amount
of coagulant based on the observations I provided in
point 11. That is because different stalls might use
different amount of beans and the machines used in
extracting the soya milk might differ. If you use soymilk
like off the supermarket shelves, do note that they usually
add extra soybean oil and emulsifiers to give it that
creamy texture.

Source: Si Chuan Dou Hua, Singapore and ieatishootipost.sg

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