Stinky tofu: The Hong Kong street snack that'll send your senses spinning

Known for its smell but so much more, too.

Stinky tofu in all its glory. Source: iStockphoto / Getty Images

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In this digital age, where people eat with their eyes on social media, you'd be forgiven for scrolling past photos of stinky tofu. At first glance, it looks innocuous: golden cubes of fried tofu, glistening besides splashes of red-orange chilli and dark hoisin sauce.

But the joy of this popular street food can't be experienced by sight alone. It demands to be eaten; it demands to be smelt.

In Hong Kong, it'll follow you down the streets of Wan Chai, around the alleyways of Mong Kok and then slip its way past the ticket gates of the MTR with you.

It'll hit the highest register of your nose. The scent will waft down your throat before your eyes even see the food bubbling in a murky cauldron of oil beside the street.

This is cau dau fu (臭豆腐, chou dou fu in Mandarin). Translation? Stinky tofu.

Discover the joys of stinky tofu. Credit: Ange Seen Yang

Stinky tofu is bold – in both flavour and scent. You can find it at street vendors and night markets across East and Southeast Asia, with a loyal following in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, each with its own regional variant.

Its pungent scent, which has been described as funky, or like rotten eggs or wet socks, is thanks to the long fermentation process, sometimes lasting for more than a month. While the precise fermentation formula is a closely guarded tradition in some corners, the tofu is usually submerged in a brine made with vegetables, meat and fermented milk.

Stinky tofu is bold – in both flavour and scent.

Like its pungent food cousins (think blue cheese, durian and surströmming), stinky tofu is a feast for all of your senses. One bite into its lightly crisped skin reveals its soft, pillowy interior, usually warm from being fried to order.

Swirl it around some hoisin sauce and watch as the white-grey interior takes on a light brown sheen, coating your mouth with a sweet saltiness.

Stinky tofu has a mythical origin story. It's believed that during the Qing Dynasty, a Chinese scholar named Wang Zhihe failed the examination needed to enter the civil service. He then began selling tofu in Beijing. One day, he put his unsold tofu into a jar; after some time it fermented, and thus, stinky tofu was born. It became so revered that it went on to be served at the imperial Qing Dynasty palace.

You can buy frozen stinky tofu at supermarkets. Credit: Ange Seen Yang

In Taiwan, stinky tofu can be found dried, steamed, stewed and even barbecued. In China, the smell of stinky tofu is matched by the sear of the numbing Sichuan peppercorns and chilli it's served with. The show stopper must be stinky tofu from Hunan, specifically the capital, Changsha, with its characteristic charcoal black exterior. It's fermented in a brine made of mushrooms and bamboo shoots, among other ingredients, and is served with chilli and shallots.

Closer to home, lovers of stinky tofu can buy frozen stinky tofu, some which come with their own sachets of chilli sauce, toppings and soy sauce. Some come in vacuum-sealed sachets, ready to be eaten at room temperature, while others are frozen. Simply defrost and lightly fry in a wok of neutral oil to experience an echo of a street food classic.

In a digital age where food is experienced through oversaturated glossy photos or pixels behind a screen, stinky tofu is a pleasant reminder that good food encompasses all the senses.