Yanling Hot Tofu 鄢陵热豆腐
Yanling Hot Tofu is featured among the local specialties of Henan.
Yanling Hot Tofu (鄢陵热豆腐) is soft, freshly made bean curd served warm from roadside stalls in Yanling County (鄢陵县), Xuchang (许昌), Henan. In Yanling a tofu stall almost always has an oven beside it baking sesame-covered hanging-oven flatbread (吊炉烧饼), and a Xuchang Daily (许昌日报) essay by local writer Wu Xiangyun (吴湘云) calls the pair a feature of the county's food culture. A 2025 memoir in a Henan health-commission newspaper recalls hearing it hawked on a street in Zhengzhou (郑州) as "Xuchang hot tofu".
How it is made
Stone-ground tofu in Yanling is set with sour whey (酸浆水). The whey is poured slowly into the boiled soy milk while it is stirred, until fine curds form; the curds sink into a soft curd, which is pressed in a wooden mould to drain. Wu Xiangyun notes that good yellow soybeans are chosen and that knowing when to add the whey is a skill. At the stall the tofu is kept sitting in the whey to hold its heat, which keeps it white and smooth, and it is cut to order.
Flavour and texture
The tofu should be fresh, tender and soft. Each bowl gets a silky layer of pale yellow bean skin on top and a layer of chilli sauce made with Chinese toon (香椿辣椒酱). Wu describes the tofu as acidic, balancing the alkaline flatbread. A village version from Yanling recalled in a Henan health-commission newspaper is dressed with a seasoned sauce, diced celery, liquid seasonings made from minced Chinese toon and from a herb called shixiangcai (十香菜), and sesame oil.
How it is eaten
A local saying holds that the tofu comes out on the streets after the second day of the second lunar month (二月二); stalls then run from early spring into late autumn or early winter, close to ten months of the year. A tofu stall and a flatbread oven usually stand side by side, and customers eat the two together, wrapping with the flatbread and scooping up the tofu. In the evening people on their way home from work stop at the stalls for a flatbread and a bowl of tofu. The tofu is meant to be eaten on the spot: taken home, it loses its texture.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-24. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.
Image credits & notes (1)
- Reference photo of a similar dish · 同类菜品参考照片A similar preparation is pictured; the local version may differ. 同类菜品参考照片，当地做法可能不同。Photo: Archon6812 · CC BY-SA 3.0Resized for the web; the photo itself has not been edited. Thumbnails may show a cropped view.
