Blood Tofu Patties

Blood Tofu Patties

　　Blood Tofu Patties are a unique food that has been cherished by the people of Quanzhou since ancient times. There is no historical record of when they first began to be made and eaten. According to elders, the recipe has been passed down from generation to generation, and some say it has existed ever since the locals started curing cured meats.

　　Legend

　　Legend has it that long ago, during a severe drought, a tenant farmer named Jiàngǒu, unable to pay his land rent, fled with his wife and children to hide from debt until New Year’s Eve, when he finally sneaked back home. To celebrate a decent New Year, he ground a whole stove full of tofu and borrowed two pounds of meat from his neighbor. Seeing how poor the family was, the neighbor gave him a basin of freshly slaughtered pig blood. Jiàngǒu chopped up the pork, planning to make meatballs for the New Year feast (in Quanzhou, especially in rural households, making meatballs for the New Year symbolizes family reunion). Suddenly, a debt collector sent by the landlord arrived to demand payment. Jiàngǒu and his family were thrown into panic, fearing the pork would be seized. In haste, they dumped the chopped pork into the pig blood. When the debt collector entered and saw the basin of pig blood, he assumed the tenant had butchered a pig to celebrate the New Year and therefore had money but refused to pay his debts. He pressured the farmer to pay his rent. The farmer explained the situation and pleaded desperately. The debt collector retorted: “The master gave you land to farm, yet you refuse to pay your rent at year’s end — you can’t even tell right from wrong, good from bad.” Jiàngǒu replied: “I do know right from wrong, good from bad. It’s just that the drought has been so bad that I couldn’t pay my rent.” He promised to pay it back the following year. The debt collector narrowed his eyes and posed a challenge: “Red is red, white is white. White is tofu, red is blood. If you want to farm this land again next year, turn the tofu into blood.” For a farmer, land is everything — without it, life becomes very difficult. Thinking quickly, Jiàngǒu dumped a whole stove of soft tofu into the basin of pig blood. He then grabbed and kneaded the mixture in the blood with both hands, mashing all the tofu. “There,” he said, “the tofu has turned into blood.” At a loss for words, the debt collector left dejectedly. Jiàngǒu and his wife, seeing a basin of pig blood mixed with chopped meat and tofu — impossible to separate and too much to eat all at once — decided to mix everything together. They added salt, chopped green onions, and mashed garlic, kneaded it into balls, and shaped them into small patties to eat. What they couldn’t finish, they placed in a grain sieve. To prevent spoilage, they hung the sieve above the hearth to smoke. Over time, these blood tofu patties took on a cured flavor and became incredibly delicious. The recipe gradually spread among the people, and through centuries of refinement, the technique has continuously improved — evolving into today’s Blood Tofu Patties.

　　Preparation Method

　　The best time to make them is during the lunar month of December, ideally around the time of the pig slaughter for the New Year. First, grind a full stove of soft tofu (about 5 pounds of soybeans per stove), press it dry into firm tofu (the drier, the better). Then take a large bowl (about 1 kilogram) of fresh pig blood, chop 3–5 pounds of pork (preferably lean shoulder meat, with a lean-to-fat ratio of 5:1), add five-spice powder, fine salt, and an appropriate amount of flour or starch. Mix everything together into a dough-like consistency, then shape it into small balls with diameters of 0.8–1.2 cm. Place them in a grain sieve or basket and hang them in a ventilated area for 5–7 days. After that, move them to hang above the hearth to be smoked (just like cured meats), at a distance of 1.5–3 meters from the fire source. After about 30 days of smoking, when the outside turns blackish-yellow and the inside is reddish like meat, they are ready to eat.

　　How to Eat

　　The prepared Blood Tofu Patties have an excellent flavor, combining the smoky taste of cured meat with the crispy texture of tofu. They can be sliced thick and cooked together with cured meat, or sliced thin and steamed with spices. They also make a wonderful gift for friends and relatives. Once cured, they store well — either by hanging above the hearth for prolonged smoking (though finished products should be kept farther away from direct smoke), or stored in the refrigerator or in a dry place.

　　Regions Where It’s Popular

　　All towns and villages in Quanzhou, with current popularity especially high in remote areas such as Wenqiao, Daxijiang, Dongshan, Baibao, and Jiaojian.