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I wrap it in a clean towel, put a plate on top, and set a kettle full of water on top of the plate. Let it sit for about 30 minutes. That will get out quite a bit of the moisture.

Yes, drain the tofu! Are you pressing the tofu? I sometimes press it overnight when I want a really firm texture. Have you tried tempeh or seitan? Seitan in particular seems very meat-like.

for faster draining microwave the tofu for 3 min after wrapping in paper towels.
you could try Chinese smoked tofu. they are very firm.

For me tofu isn't really a meat substitute. It's good WITH meat (that way you eat less meat)!
I love ma po tofu and bacon-wrapped tofu.

My college cafeteria had this tasty dish; cold silken tofu topped with tender shredded chicken breast (sake-steamed) and julienne-d Japanese cucumber, served with peanut sauce. I can also eat a whole silken tofu with zasai (pickled mustard tuber, I don't know the real Chinese name). they go together so well...

There is a product called "pressed tofu." You can find it at Asian markets, more easily if that market is Chinese owned/operated or more international that smaller single-ethnicity markets (I'm thinking of my favorite Korean grocer who doesn't carry anything, but Korean or Japanese items/ingredients)
From the sound of your description, pressing tofu at home will not produce the same texture as the stuff that is sold as "pressed." You'll know it's the pressed kind bc it's not packed in water.

What I do a day ahead: Pop tofu out of container, and wrap it up with with paper towels (about 3 layers). Place tofu on a plate, then put another plate on top of it, and maybe a weight if the plate is too light. You'll have dense tofu by the morning.

If you deep fry this and serve it with a little bit of soysauce, grated ginger and scallions... OMG good. Or, cut it up into small cubes, deep fry it, and make a mock sweet-and-sour chicken (or general tso's chicken) with your favorite recipe.

You can buy freeze-dried tofu at Japanese markets. It's called "Kouya Tofu", usually used for stewed dishes.

buy firm or extra firm tofu...

then you cut it into pieces and squeeze the moisture out of it... place it in a sheet pan lined with a few layers of paper towels, place the tofu pieces, cover with a few additional layers of paper towels. Place another sheet pan on top and weigh down with a few dictionaries or heavy books. Do this for about 1 hour and ay the 30 min mark, change the paper towels.

you can try these tofu recipes... cashew tofu stirfry, toston sandwich...

Madelyn
KarmaFreeCooking

I'm with wookie - it sounds like you want pressed tofu; it's much denser than firm or extra firm tofu. You can find it in Asian supermarkets, and it's sort of vacuum packed in plastic with just a little bit of liquid.

@joyyy: Falafal is great! Thanks for reminding me!

Funny story about falafal ... the first time I made this was actually when I was teaching someone (a college friend, who was also my roommate for that year) how to cook. I knew how to cook well, but not many vegetarian dishes; she didn't know how to cook, but was a vegetarian (Sort of ... not a very orthodox one, at least. I remember seeing her, after a few drinks, wolf down a sausage bratwurst at a downtown alley vendor cart after midnight ...). So I agreed to teach her to cook, while I would learn new vegetarian things to cook, and falafal was the first thing we made. It turned out great! I thought we were going to have a kind of tradition going, but after the following week's "gnochhi-disaster mess" ... we kind of dropped it.

Marinating will add some moisture, but you don't marinate tofu like you would a london broil; think of it more like fish, with a rather quick marinade of maybe an hour. In addition, you don't really want *all* of the liquid to be pressed out of the tofu, otherwise you'd be stuck with curds of hard crumbly soybean paste, not very appetizing. Marinating it essentially pulls some of the packaging liquid out and replaces it with flavorful liquid.

This Can't Be Tofu! has a helpful section on the different types of tofu and how to use them.

@ ajbetz, I was at a middle eastern lunch place in downtown Boston frequented by the assorted tools of the financial district one midday and I heard a banker ask his friend what part of the animal he supposed falafels came from.

I agree with those who press and then fry the tofu (I do mine in a non-stick skillet with a tiny bit of oil). I also second the person who suggested seitan. I admit, I haven't eaten real meat in quite some time, but the first time I tried seitan (in a stir-fry), I had to do a double-take (double-taste?) to make sure someone hadn't slipped me a piece of chicken!

I actually like tempeh a little bit more than tofu (well, at least the tofu I make ... which isn't all that great). It is a lot denser, and it has a pleasant 'nutty' flavor (nutty would be the best way to describe it). Whole Foods has 8 oz. tempeh packs that are pretty inexpensive ... I think for around $2, and that can easily feed 2 people when mixed with something like noodles or veggies. They are unflavored, which is great because I can season it any way that I want to. The seasoned or marinated tofus and tempehs in the health-food sections of grocery stores look tasty, but unfortunately can sometimes cost as much as a New-York strip steak!

I don't think I've ever had seitan, but it sounds pretty interesting, especially since it appears to be made from gluten / wheat flour (which, for some reason, I always have on hand), and since I can make it at home without any special equipment ... I'll have to buy a bag of wheat flour and give it a go!

@ajbetz - DON'T buy wheat to make seitan, unless you want to spend a few hours washing it under running water. This old-fashioned process is supposed to make the tastiest seitan, but requires lots of patience. Just buy vital wheat gluten, which is often used in baking bread, so it's pretty common. I really like the recipe for Italian seitan sausages that Julie Hasson put up on Everyday dish.

Found out on wikipedia: seitan prouncounced "Say-ten", or "satan" ... would you say it is "sinfully delicious"?

(Har, har...)

Just to keep things going ...

I found out a little more about seitan making / purchasing ... apparently, seitan (or sub-forms of it) are used as ingredients in many commercial vegetarian offerings; it is used in many of the products by Morningstar, and it is the principal ingredient of "Tofurky" (Funny, because I thought tofurky would be tofu-based). At least now I can be a little more comfortable with the idea of "wheat meat" ... a couple years ago, as an experiment, my wife and I tried one of these tofurky loaves (terrines is a more accurate description for them), and I really, really enjoyed it! I was skeptical at first, but that's probably why many people don't buy them ... not because they taste bad.

All I can contribute is the time my Mom & I put tofu in stir-fry and told me Dad it was tofu. He called the "chicken" delicious and is none the wiser 10 years later.

Im so lucky that I'm a meatlover who loves meat substitutes!