Talk:Mapo tofu

Picture

I'd like to change the main picture of the article to this one: http://dheera.net/photos/view.php?q=china/chengdu/img_2352.jpg It is a picture I took myself in Chengdu's 陈麻婆 restaurant, instituted in 1862 supposedly by the Mapo herself, and is by far considered to be the most authentic place to have the dish. Let me know if there are objections. Dheerav2 (talk) 02:47, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Meaning of name?

If some speaker of Chinese would verify the bit about the meaning of the words "mapo doufu", I would appreciate it. Alls I knows is what I reads in the cookbook. --JdwNYC 01:00, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

The meaning of the name: Also in response of the ariticle "Mapo Dofu" below

From what I have read in Chinese sources, and from the stories I have read when I was younger (I am Chinese), the "Ma" in "Mapo" is not the last name of the female cook who invented the dish. The last name of the female cook is "Chen", which is her married name (her husband's last name), and her original family name was Liu. She has visible pockmarks on her face, which is why people call her "Mapo". The word "Po" is not strictly used for old women, it is also a respectful title for a female. The Chinese wiki did say that there are many versions of the story about the origin of Mapo Dofu, however I have to say I have never seen the explanation of "Ma" as the lady's last name in Chinese sources.

The Chinese wiki itself sited the most popular story: Mapo Dofu was invented in Qing Dynasty by the wife of a restaurant owner, Liu (Traditional: 劉氏 / Simplified: 刘氏). The name of the restaurant owner is Sen-Fu Chen (Traditional: 陳森富 / Simplified: 陈森富), and the restaurant is located near the Wan-Fu bridge, north of Chengdu, Szhechuan. The restaurant was renamed to "Chen Mapo Dofu Dian" (Traditional:陳麻婆豆腐店 / Simplified: 陈麻婆豆腐店, Dian=Restaurant, eatery).

The original restaurant is said to have existed until 2005, when a big fire burnt the place down. They have since relocated the restaurant. The restaurant have evolved, of course, and is not what it used to be, but it is still famous for its Mapo Dofu dish. It is given the honour as one of the "China Time-honored Brand" (中华老字号) by the Chinese government. Its official website can be found at http://www.chenmapo.com. I have to warn you though, the English version of the website gives far less detail than the Chinese version, just compare the two "History" pages that contained the story of the restaurant.

Junashi -2008/12/18- —Preceding unsigned comment added by Junashi (talk • contribs) 07:20, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Mapo Dofu

Whether Ma was pockmarked or not, Mapou only means "Old Lady Ma" and not "Pockmarked Ma" as was indicated. Also the "numb"ness explaination is not more commonly accepted. It is merely another guess. I have fixed this.

DoùFu

I can verify that Doùfu is pinyin for "tofu" in English. For more information on 豆腐, I recommend checking out zhongwen.com[1]:

doù[2]

fu[3]

I also wanted to say - PF Chang's is testing a MaPo DouFu dish that's awesome. I'd be curious if anyone else had tried it, and if it is anything like the authentic version.

--Legaia 21:08, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Who the fuck cares what the pinyin is, nobody calls tofu "doufu" in the west. The english word for soy curd is tofu. --24.12.189.115 00:07, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

Ignore the culturally illiterate idiot above. The word we use in English, "tofu", is from the Japanese, though the food was invented in China. The word "doufu" in mainland China sounds like "doaf".

--Toddfast 05:03, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

Many English words taken from the Japanese often misleadingly imply that the product originated in Japan. For instance, Sudoku is an American invention and Shiitake is originally a Chinese mushroom -- many culinary texts erroneously explain that shiitake is Japanese. This occurs because the Japanese have a habit of simply using the sounds of the original word in the Japanese language and vice versa when the Japanese want to express certain things into the English. On the other hand the Chinese have a tendency to find words in the foreign language to explain an originally Chinese item. For example, before the Japanese popularised "tofu" into English, the item was just called "bean curd" in Chinese restaurant menus in the US and the UK. Other examples are "Chinese Mushrooms" for shiitake, "Chinese Chives" for Jiu3 Cai4, "Chinese Tamales" for Zong4 Zi, "Chinese Ravioli" for Jiao3 Zi and noodles or "Chinese Pasta" for Mian4 -- even though most of the time the Chinese have had the item far longer than the foreign versions used to describe the Chinese ones. On the other hand Anglicized Chinese words are relatively rare, Kung Fu and Kowtow come to mind. "Losing face" is a Chinese idea completely expressed using English words. --Daveycool 06:18, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Recipe link is vegetarian

The first recipe link is to a vegetarian version. This isn't very authentic or representative of the standard dish. If no-one objects, I'll delete it and replace it with this

http://www.roseskitchenette.com/?p=41 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.105.255.36 (talk) 15:27, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

• i would suggest keeping both. a lot of people talk about the "authenticity" of this dish but this is one of those dishes that you can hardly say much of what "authenticity" means since it has evolved so much over places and times. i even know Chinese people who prefer making the dish without meat. if anything, authenticity of this dish comes from the sauces and sichuan peppers and not the meat or what type of meat.

• the most authentic recipe i've found yet is this http://www.rasamalaysia.com/2007/09/recipe-ma-po-tofu.html . by the way, it doesn't matter what meat (or even no meat) mapo tofu uses, that is not what makes it authentic. the real signature flavour of mapo tofu comes from using the right type of 辣豆瓣酱 （in particular you want 郫县豆瓣） and spices and sauces mixed in the correct way. Sichuan peppercorns are essential as well. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 18.138.1.34 (talk) 18:22, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

• Okay, what external link nazi decided to remove ALL the recipe links without posting here? I demand a reason or I will add them back in a few days. (and no, this is not self-promotion and none of the recipe links are mine; I just feel that having a good, representative recipe link to food articles is always a good thing). 18.138.1.34 (talk) 03:38, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Persistent spammers are blocked on a regular basis. OhNoitsJamie ^Talk 05:14, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Pork not authentic?

The article asserts that versions containing minced pork instead of beef aren't authentic Sichuan, but virutally every version I've ever eaten (including in China, though admittedly not in Sichuan province) uses pork. I've also known chefs from Sichuan who use pork in their versions. Can someone else make a good argument for beef being the "real" Sichuanese recipe? Rpine75 (talk) 00:50, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

• There isn't. Pork, beef, or even chicken, may be used. Probably the most common version would be pork, as beef is not eaten by devout buddhists. InfernoXV (talk) 04:00, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
• see my comment above; as i mentioned, the choice of meat (or even vegetarian) varies greatly and may have even changed over time so it is not that which makes the dish authentic. vegetarian mapo tofu is just as "authentic" as beef or pork mapo tofu, but mapo tofu that does not use Sichuan pepper (which you will find tons of in American Chinatowns) is really unauthentic. that's my take on it.

Okay, I went ahead and made a minor edit to reflect that pork -or- beef are both "traditional" ingredients. I agree that the real deal mapo doufu needs to have Sichuan pepper. Rpine75 (talk) 05:24, 3 May 2008 (UTC)