This noodle dish will help you master the dark art of tofu

Recently, a colleague confessed to being tofu-challenged. She had tried cooking it years ago and was so disappointed in the results she never tried again. But a stellar dish of crispy tofu in a Laotian restaurant prompted her to want to get back on the horse. So she asked me: What are the secrets?

Tofu is a complex product, with multiple varieties and strategies to match, depending on the dish. But for what she was after, I boiled down my tips to this: Drain and press out as much of the moisture from the tofu as possible so it can soak up the flavors of a good marinade, then coat it in cornstarch and pan-fry it. Or skip the marinade in favor of an after-frying glaze, using hoisin or teriyaki sauce or something like it. Or do both, adding flavor before frying and after.