Scalded Tofu Shreds 烫干丝
Scalded Tofu Shreds is featured among the local specialties of Jiangsu.
Scalded Tofu Shreds (烫干丝) are fine shreds of pressed tofu scalded in boiling water, piled up and dressed with soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger and dried shrimp. In Yangzhou (扬州) they are a standard plate at morning tea (早茶), usually ordered alongside the buns and pastries to give the meal more savoury flavour. In 2020 Yangzhou Daily reported that the Fuchun Teahouse (富春茶社) had begun serving it in small, medium and large portions.
How it is made
The writer Zhu Ziqing (朱自清), in his essay on Yangzhou, described the method: a large square block of white pressed tofu is cut quickly into thin slices and then into fine shreds, which are put in a small bowl and scalded with boiling water. The water is pressed out, the shreds are shaped into a cone, sesame soy sauce is poured over and a pinch of dried shrimp and dried bamboo-shoot shreds goes on the tip. Kaiwind reports that a skilled Yangzhou chef splits one piece of pressed tofu into seventeen layers before cutting.
An essay in Laonian Ribao (老年日报) recalls a cook at the Fuchun Teahouse slicing the tofu into more than twenty sheets, then lifting the shreds in and out of boiling water three times, a step called 'taoshui' (套水) that drives off the raw bean taste. The shreds are stacked into a pagoda, sauced, scattered with ginger shreds, dried shrimp and bamboo-shoot tips, and finished with a spoonful of hot oil.
Flavour and texture
The shreds are fine, smooth and clean-tasting. The Laonian Ribao essay names the soy sauce as first-draw sauce sun-brewed in the hottest weeks of summer and the sesame oil as freshly stone-milled. Kaiwind treats scalded shreds as a cold dish, set against boiled tofu shreds (煮干丝), which are cooked in stock, brought to the table in it and taste richer; the scalded version stays light.
In Yangzhou teahouses
A Yangzhou saying pairs each old teahouse with its speciality: Fuchun for buns, Yechun (冶春) for tofu shreds and Gonghechun (共和春) for its jiaomian noodles (饺面). A Qing-dynasty poem by the Xing'an layman (惺庵居士) already describes Yangzhou teahouse guests with piled threads of tofu 'with added toppings'.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-24. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.