Train your brain and hands to make a living: Victory Tofu Stall
Hualien Markets - Exclusive Interview with Victory Tofu Stall
#Fuxing Market
Text/ HUNG Tzu-Hsuan
Translation/ LIU Yi-Chun
Photography/ HUNG Tzu-Hsuan, WANG, Chin-Tien
The plain-looking Taiwanese pastries and the golden tofu are spread all over the table at the stall.
At the first glance, you might think this is a traditional tofu stall under the light of warm yellow and cold blue interlaced, revealing the refinement through time.
It is indeed a tofu stall, but it is way more than that.
The foods they want to eat personally, the favorite food of their family, and the tastes that the customers look forward to.
Those are what Victory Tofu Stall cares about.
This is what you called yolk pastry!
“The word ‘yolk pastry’ is meaningful. First, the crust should be crispy. Second, the red bean paste and egg yolk must be smooth. The red bean paste cannot be crispy, or it will be too dry to eat.”
Brother Wang, who talked about his own yolk pastry, had a kind of attitude as if he hoped the whole world could taste the “legitimate yolk pastry." His voice gradually gets even louder: “Many people don’t understand, most of them think it’s not a big deal as long as it’s edible. People used to be poor and didn't care about whether it’s tasty or not. They never thought about what the authentic ‘yolk pastry’ is.”
“All egg yolks are different. Let me put it this way, the internal structure is like a mother giving birth to ten children, so they won’t look the same! The child's appearance will vary, but they may look similar when they grow older. This can also apply to yolk pastries."
The subtle differences between eggs challenge the master's skill in controlling fire.
“The crust made with care will crack evenly on the surface. If the crust is not cracked, it is not cooked, and it will become ‘soft yolk.’ How can your pastry be crispy this way? It won’t be qualified as a crispy yolk pastry. It is simply a soft yolk pastry!” Brother Wang continued to complain: “There is also ‘hard yolk pastry.’ If the fire is too powerful, the egg yolk inside won’t be cooked. It will turn into iron eggs after unfreezing.”
“Previously, the crust was made of lard, but now we use soybean oil for vegetarian customers. If the crust is made of butter, you can smell it right away. Its smell is too strong, so you won’t be able to smell the egg yolks and red beans. Then you don't even know what's in it when you’re eating.”
The exquisite crust should be paired with sweet and soft bean paste.
“It takes a lot of effort to make the red bean paste, you must stir it until it is half dry, so that it will be just loose and smooth. Banten red beans have a special aroma, and the taste is definitely different from the ready-made black bean paste. It is best to buy the paste with recognizable raw ingredients. You can see the skin of red beans no matter how well-cooked they are. It is the best evidence! And the sweetness should be moderate, if it is not sweet enough, it will smell bad, because we don't add preservatives.”
The unique harmony of the ingredients' aromas and tastes are what drives Brother Wang to realize the taste of yolk pastries that he desires the most.
“Maybe there are people with better skills...I’m not the most skillful one. I follow the traditional instructions. At first, I was too lazy to make it myself, but the yolk pastries became too hard. I was shocked by the taste, so I started to experiment with my own method to revise the recipe by myself.”
It all comes from grandpa’s love for grandson
“My son likes to buy cakes for his son. However, the cakes are often too sweet, too weird. I know it is unhealthy after eating it. For the sake of my grandson, I decided to bake myself.”
Eggs, flour, caster sugar. The simplicity of “Cake for Grandson” comes from grandpa’s love.
“I will definitely slap him if I am his father, but he is my grandson.” The grandpa was scrolling the videos on his mobile phone to show us his beloved grandson who was just learning to walk. He said, “On that day, the cakes were just out of the oven, so I put them aside to wait for them to cool down a bit. Then my grandson started to eat the cakes when I didn’t notice! I doubt if it was really that delicious. He was merely curious about the cakes. He even acted innocent after eating.”
“Our family started the business of processed baked goods in the 1970s, so nine out of ten siblings could bake. In the golden period, the military and public education in Meilun and Zhongxiao Street, and the military hospital in Beipu were all our customers. In summer, I’d bake half-naked because of the hot weather. It’s a memory that I will never forget.”
The once active baking family quietly ebbs in the times of changing. Now, the craftsman who walked through the beautiful years with determination and persistence, continues to shine in his own daily world.
You must sell what the customers want
“I have been selling chicken for 19 years, and then we shifted to selling tofu when the tofu stall next door closed in 2002.”
Brother Wang, who was described by the neighbors as “master of changing careers”, has an interesting philosophy of survival. Soon after he transitioned, he started to make the tender baked tofu which required a high technical threshold. He said, “You must sell what customers want. My customers obviously want to eat soft ones, why are the whole market making crispy ones? So, I took the challenge and it turned out good.”
“At first I just thought, ‘I made it! I am awesome!’ But when I fried the soft tofu, the edges and corners were gone. It’s easy to fail, and it takes a long time. I got stuck here all morning. No wonder no one wants to sell soft tofu.”
The challenges did not scare off Mr. Wang, but instead inspired him to do more research and development.
“It took me a year to explore how to fry soft tofu, and then I thought of this "all-in-one net" method. I made this net myself, so each one looks different. In order to survive, I kept improving my skill.”
The soft tofu is carefully arranged at the same distance on the net made by Brother Wang himself, and when the net is immersed in the oil pan, the soft tofu becomes sweet, tender and golden.
"Most of our orders are from restaurants. They reach us by themselves!”
We love to drink it ourselves
Mr. Wang’s wife usually works at the front desk for customer service. When she takes a rest, she will serve herself a bowl of soy milk cooked with mountain spring water to heal their mind and body with its gentle sweetness.
“I go to Fuxing Mountain once a week to fetch mountain spring water and use the mountain spring water to make soy milk.”
You go all the way to the mountain to fetch water for making soy milk?
“Because we love to drink it ourselves!” Brother Wang and his wife, who was holding a bowl of soy milk, laughed together in the mist of the boiling soy milk.