Making tofu skin 台東大池豆皮店

24th June 2019 2 By livinguktaiwan

Dachi Tofu shop is famous for its tofu skin. The shop was recommended to me by two different people when I went to Taitung a few months ago. When two local people who doesn’t know one another recommend the same place, you know its gotta be good.

之前到台東旅遊，分別有兩位互不認識的當地人都向我推薦大池豆皮店。其中一位是民宿老闆娘，她叮囑我一定要吃香煎豆皮，而且不要加任何醬料。

THE WORKSHOP

We followed our GPS to Dachi, and drove down a few small roads further and further away from town. Suddenly we noticed the sign and by then we had actually drove past it. Luckily the road wasn’t busy and we just parked on the side of the road and walked across. Dachi isn’t actually a shop, it’s more of a workshop with some tables outside.

大池豆皮店附有小小的工場，平日歡迎顧客到內參觀。工場裏面有一行一行正在烹煮的豆漿。豆漿的香味迎面撲向而來。我見到工人很用心把凝固在豆漿表面的豆皮輕輕掛在竹竿上。大池著名的香煎豆皮就是這樣生產的。

Tofu is one of the staple foods in Taiwan and they are cooked in all different ways. Dachi, does two types, a tofu dessert, and crispy fried tofu skins. My airbnb owner said I have to try the crispy fried tofu skins, preferably straight with no sauce.

I went to look around inside the workshop whilst I was waiting for my order. Luckily I came on a weekday as there was a sign by the door that said they don’t allow tours over the weekend because it gets too busy.

The first thing I saw inside the workshop were bags and bags of soybeans. Non GM from Canada. That’s a good sign to see that they use quality ingredients.

It was very steamy inside the workshop as there are many pans of soybean milk simmering away. I could smell the aroma of freshly cooked soybean milk throwing themselves towards me. As the soybean milk boils, it forms a skin at the top just like normal milk, only it is much thicker. The workers collects the skin and hang them on the rail above the pan. In my video, you can see the lady moving these skins around from one part of the workshop to another to dry them out. When they’re dry enough, she folds them into little parcels and bags them to be sold.

THE CRISPY TOFU SKIN

參觀完工場，我點的食物剛好送上。豆腐花非常香滑，但我期待的是香煎豆皮。我記得民宿老闆娘叮囑，先不要加醬料。我咬了一口，外層非常鬆脆，裏面香滑帶有濃郁的黃豆香味。借用台灣美食節目主持人常講的一句話『好好吃喔！』記得看影片喔！

This is the first time I have actually seen tofu skins been made so up close and personal and witness them from skin formation to being bagged. It’s a very simple process, but takes patience as you can’t rush the skin formation process. That means you’re constantly working in a heated and steamy environment. I’m not sure if I could handle that. I’d much rather enjoy the fruits of this process.

The tofu dessert is one of my all time favourite and a good one must be silky smooth and served with a good syrup. This one was spot on.

The star at Dachi are their famous tofu skin that I just saw being made. The little parcels are fried till they are nice and crispy and served four in a portion. Remembering what my airbnb owner told me, I tried the first one straight without any sauce. It was devine. The outer layer was crispy, then as I bit through the inner layers they were smooth and silky and bursting with flavour. The soybean aroma from the workshop had stayed inside this little parcel and every mouth full was an absolute delight. Yum. Don’t forget to watch the video below!!