Bulgogi-Style Tofu

By Sam Sifton

Updated November 7, 2023

  • Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
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This is a no-recipe recipe, a recipe without an ingredient list or steps. It invites you to improvise in the kitchen.

Here's the prompt: bulgogi-style tofu. It’s simple. Press some firm tofu to extract as much liquid as you can. Make a marinade of soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, minced garlic, grated ginger, a spoonful of gochujang, a splash of neutral oil, some sliced scallions and toasted sesame seeds. Slice the tofu into bite-size cubes, and slide them into the marinade. Let that sit — a half-hour works; a few hours works better. Then roast them in a hot oven on an oiled foil-lined pan until they’re crisp. Serve with bibb lettuce cups to wrap them in, with rice, kimchi and a dipping sauce of ssamjang and a little bit more gochujang thinned out with neutral oil and sherry vinegar. (If not, go with sesame oil and ground white pepper.) That’s a fine dinner.

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Comments

DG

Here’s the proportions that I used, which fits my preferred flavor palate- 1/4 cup soy sauce 2 tbsp gochujang 2 tbsp brown sugar 1 tbsp canola oil 1/2 tsp sesame oil 1 clove of garlic 1 inch ginger Sesame seeds sprinkled in

AH

To get the tofu extra crispy, after marinading, toss in 2-3tbsp cornstarch and either roast or airfry at 400 for 15-17 min.

Laura S.

For those wanting recipe amounts, in the third sentence of the introduction the word bulgogi is underlined. This is a link to a marinade recipe. Here Sam uses tofu instead of the beef and leaves out the Asian pear and onion. This recipe is what I used for amounts. Enjoy!

The Real Full Name

Serious Eats had article about best starches for tofu. Cornstarch and potato starch have the best qualities for crispy.

MrsMorty

For those (like me) that access NYT Cooking via the app, search for the Bulgogi recipe from Maangchi, and adapted by Julia Moskin for the marinade.

Alan

So clearly tofu is an ingredient. Maybe define bulgogi to give us a hint as how to proceed. Or we just have to work from the picture.

Sara

@Alan and @al it’s odd, it’s gone on the app but visible from a browser. Here’s the text: This is a no-recipe recipe, a recipe without an ingredient list or steps. It invites you to improvise in the kitchen. Here's the prompt: bulgogi-style tofu. It’s simple. Press some firm tofu to extract as much liquid as you can. Make a marinade of soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, minced garlic, grated ginger, a spoonful of gochujang, a splash of neutral oil, some sliced scallions and toasted sesame seeds. Slice the tofu into bite-size cubes, and slide them into the marinade. Let that sit — a half-hour works; a few hours works better. Then roast them in a hot oven on an oiled foil-lined pan until they’re crisp. Serve with bibb lettuce cups to wrap them in, with rice, kimchi and a dipping sauce of ssamjang and a little bit more gochujang thinned out with neutral oil and sherry vinegar. (If not, go with sesame oil and ground white pepper.) That’s a fine dinner. For more recipe recommendations from Sam Sifton, Melissa Clark and New York Times Cooking, sign up to receive the Cooking newsletter. You can find more no-recipe recipes here.

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