When you move to Los Angeles from small town USA, the culture shock is great. The weather, the cultural diversity, the dominance of the entertainment industry, and the abundance of revealing clothes is all quite astonishing. What’s more, if you want to know anything about food and are curious by nature, every day in Los Angeles can be an opportunity to move outside of your culinary comfort zone.
For this week’s Project Food Blog Challenge (more about that in a bit), the contestants were asked to create a classic dish from outside their comfort zone. What better dish to make than Jook, a rice porridge comfort food from a culinary culture I know very little about.
I first learned about Jook from Jonathan Gold, one of our city’s most famous culinary journalists (and the only winner of the Pulitzer for food writing). Gold is what you’d call L.A.’s poster boy for strip-mall ethnic food. His craft for sculpting words and ability to describe uncommon meals in the most mundane locations has created something of a culinary fad where LA food lovers seek out the most unusual, ethnic eats across the city in our city’s trashiest of locations.
All this is to explain how it came to be that this white girl from Massachusetts has been craving a Korean comfort food I’ve never even tasted before.
Rice porridge, or Jook in Korea, Congee in China, Okayu in Japan, is a popular comfort food throughout all of Asia. Known for its restorative powers for both the sick and the hung-over, the slow-cooked rice dish is a savory oatmeal that’s eaten for breakfast, a late night snack, or during the lean times. Jook is a creamy porridge that’s both comfort food and a kind of blank canvas for all sorts of great flavors and textures. Slow simmering short grain rice for several hours in water or chicken stock results in a creamy pap that is the perfect food delivery device for the flavors and textures of sesame oil, fish sauce, crunchy pickles, spicy condiments, herbs, meat, seafood, and even a fried egg.
Eating a dish for the first time on a very empty stomach is often the best way to imprint a taste in your memory. I’ll never forget that crusty French bread slathered with rich butter that time I was a starving student in Paris. Nor will I ever forget the flavor of Congee after a day of shopping at the Korean market and rushing around to be ready in time for this Project Food Blog Challenge.
But oh! The jook! It was just beautiful the way the soft fried egg oozed onto the porridge. Or how the sesame oil pooled onto my spoon with a drop of salty fish sauce, creating a fishy vinaigrette. And the salty crunch of the bacon and pungent hit of chopped scallion gave every bite a satisfying texture. The soft porridge is the kind of comfort food that–regardless of your cultural heritage–you immediately want to adopt once you’ve tasted it.
Jook (or Congee) Rice Porridge
Adapted from a recipe from Mark Bittman of the New York Times
*Note, this recipe calls for short grain rice, a polished, rounded rice that’s available in Asian markets.
Ingredients
1 cup short grain rice
4 cups homemade chicken stock
1 4-inch piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
4 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in warm water (save the water for reconstituting the jook) and chopped with the stems removed
Toppings
Sesame oil
Fish sauce or soy
¼ cup chopped scallions
¼ cup crispy bacon, roughly chopped
a fried egg
Shredded nori
Wash short grain rice and put it in a stock pot with two cups of the chicken stock. Bring to a boil and then add the remaining chicken stock and two cups of water. Bring to a boil and then reduce the temperature to low. Partially cover and simmer for approximately 1 ½ hours, being careful to stir the porridge every so often. Add additional water as necessary (several cups)
Add the chopped ginger and chopped shiitake mushrooms. Simmer for an hour more, adding the mushroom water whenever the jook gets too dense. When done, joopk will look creamy and like loose oatmeal.
Serve jook in individual bowls. Drizzle with at least a teaspoon of sesame oil on each and season with soy or fish sauce. Add your favorite toppings.
Please be sure to swing by Food Buzz to cast your vote on SEPTEMBER 27, 2010.
And a big thank you all for voted for me through the last round.
Thanks!
Aw, I love this. Because I’m Korean. And because I’m also residing in LA, and a big fan of Jonathon Gold. And also because you added bacon and a runny egg in there, my two loves. 🙂
This looks lovely!! I love a runny yolk on anything. What a great project for a lazy Sunday. I can’t wait to try it. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thanks Rachael! That means a lot coming from a woman of such fine tastes. Believe me, Jook is PERFECT lazy Sunday food. And Monday morning breakfast!
You just scored my vote. I love jook (and Jonathan Gold). GREG
PS … and you too.
Not only do I love this post, I think I’ll make your recipe tonight! I’ve read about Jook, but now you’re making me want to COOK and TASTE it. That is my highest compliment. As always, loved your writing.
Looks delicious. I am loving all the Korean entries this week.
Your photos are making me hungry! I can totally relate to coming from a small town to LA–the Asian food is so amazing! Thanks for demystifying another traditional dish that I need to try–you got my vote 🙂
Great post! Great Blog! Voted for you! Good luck!
I love reading your posts! Voted.
(see my entry here: http://www.foodbuzz.com/project_food_blog/challenges/2/view/869)
What a find. Looks like a great recipe and your pictures are gorgeous. I can totally see trying this. Thanks!
-Butter
(from runningonbutter)
This looks so tasty! As soon as this heatwave is over I’m going to take a stab – nicely done!
I had no idea you were an East Coast gal…should have figured that is why we get along so well. This Jook looks awesome. Soft eggs like this have my vote, of course! Congrats on round two & stepping outside your comfort zone 🙂
“The soft porridge is the kind of comfort food that–regardless of your cultural heritage–you immediately want to adopt once you’ve tasted it.” — That is the very reason that I love adventuring into unknown territory and tasting new things! There are so many wonderful foods out there to discover. Love this post!
I have never had jook before. Thanks for sharing. I want to try it! Good luck in the competition! Fantastic post!
Seriously-no need egg, no need bacon, no need ginger, no need nori, no need sesame oil……THIS IS A SIMPLE DISH.
Otherwise with all this stuff, its just wet fried rice.
Here’s our take on jook, aka congee or okai:
http://quarrylanefarms.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/get-your-wang-on-harm-ha-ong-choy-jook-and-shumai/
The simplicity of this dish is the true magic.
Quarry Lane, thanks for the note. I agree, the simplicity of the dish is what’s so appealing about jook/congee/etc. Based on the fact that just about every Asian culture has their version of the dish, everyone has an opinion on how this dish should be made. I’m all for having an open mind to other culture’s take on the classic.
I love Jook! You described it perfectly and this sentence just captured my appetite: “Slow simmering short grain rice for several hours in water or chicken stock results in a creamy pap that is the perfect food delivery device for the flavors and textures of sesame oil, fish sauce, crunchy pickles, spicy condiments, herbs, meat, seafood, and even a fried egg.”
Great entry, I voted for you!
Mmm. My favorite congee has salted pork and thousand year old egg. It is my comfort food. Simple, and delicious, but it doesn’t get more exotic than that!
Great description of the flavors and taste of your dish! Great post and good luck in round 2!
A hot bowl of congee with a drizzle of soy sauce is one of my favorite dishes to get when eating dim sum in china town. Armed with your recipe, I’ll be making this at home too 😀 You get my vote!
it never occured to me to “americanize” jook, but this would be the way to do it! 🙂 we voted for you!