Jinzhai Red Cured Tofu 金寨红豆腐
Jinzhai Red Cured Tofu is featured among the local specialties of Anhui.
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Jinzhai Red Cured Tofu (金寨红豆腐) is not a plain bean curd but a winter preserve from Tiantangzhai (天堂寨) in Jinzhai County (金寨县), Anhui: tofu kneaded with pig's blood and diced pork, shaped into round cakes and cured in the sun or over smoke. It is also called dried tofu (干豆腐), blood tofu (血豆腐) and 'General's Tofu' (将军豆腐), and a China.com.cn feature names Tiantangzhai as its true home.
How it is made
Households make it in the last months of the lunar year. Pig's blood, diced pork, fresh ginger, ground pepper, garlic cloves and fine salt are worked into the tofu, which is kneaded and shaped by hand into round cakes. These are then sun-dried or smoked for a month or more. The China.com.cn feature credits the whiteness and delicacy of Tiantangzhai tofu to its water: the Qianfan River (前畈大河) there is the source of the Xipi River (西淠河), a tributary of the Huai (淮河), fed by spring water seeping from under rocks and old trees.
How it is eaten
The cured cake is cut into thin slices and seasoned, then boiled, steamed, stir-fried or dry-fried on a hot pan. It is eaten all year round and is served to guests at festivals or given to relatives and friends. It is now a signature dish of the Tiantangzhai scenic area. For the thousand-person hanging-pot banquet (千人吊锅宴) of the 14th Tiankuang folk culture festival (天贶民俗文化旅游节) at Tiantangzhai in 2026, which pairs hanging-pot dishes with the local 'eight bowls' (八大碗) banquet, Tiantangzhai red tofu is on the planned menu alongside dishes such as dry-fried fish and braised pig's trotters.
Where it comes from
Local legend dates the dish to the late Ming dynasty, more than 400 years ago. One twelfth lunar month, a family in Huangshihe village (黄石河村) at the foot of Tiantangzhai was making tofu and killing a pig for the New Year when pig's blood leaked through a hole in the bottom of a basin into the white tofu. A stranger named Hua appeared to the grandmother of the family, Zhu (朱), in a dream and told her to shape the tofu into round cakes and sun-dry them for a few days. The result tasted good, the method spread, and villagers built a temple to 'Ancestor Hua' (华祖); the place is still called Huamiao (华庙, 'Hua Temple').
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-23. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.