Tofu fermenté

A teaspoon of the brine seasons the whole pan; salty, funky, done.

One cube seasons an entire bowl of congee. Nothing else is required.

Mash it into the hot oil first; the funk lands on the leaf as pure salt.

Red furu stains and seasons the fat, and the wine in it tenderises.

Fermented bean curd stirred through is a Cantonese default for a plain leafy stem.

Both are sulfur-loud. Fried together they resolve rather than compete.

The cubes were aged in it. Adding more just puts back what evaporated.

Fat carries the ammonia away from the nose and onto the tongue.

Treat it as blue cheese: sugar is what makes stinking curd palatable.

Mash on toast and it behaves like Époisses that never had a rind.

Cheeseboard logic transplanted: crisp sweet fruit against salted mould.

Fortified sweetness against ammoniac salt is the Stilton pairing, redrawn.