Cooking: attempted congee

[redbird]

adrian_turtle suggested that congee (jook) would be a soothing thing for a sick hobbit, specifically one with a sore throat sort of a cough. I had a reasonable amount of broth in the freezer, I had rice (of course), and I actually had both scallions and fresh ginger. So I tried it.

Conclusion: either 90 minutes on a low simmer isn't long enough starting with uncooked long-grain white ("Carolina") rice, or something else went wrong. I think I eventually wound up with a ratio of about 9 parts liquid to one part rice (I started at 8:1, but added some more water as I went. The reason I suspect the timing was wrong is that the rice still had significant form when I decided that I didn't care if it was congee, I was hungry.

It was a bit on the bland side: I think I'd counted too much on the flavor of the stock. Soy sauce helped. If I reheat what's left, I may throw in more ginger to simmer with it (or just let the bits of ginger that I threw in tonight flavor it more).

For meat, I had a little bit of leftover pork from a takeout order of moo shu pork a couple of days ago; it's not ideal, but it worked. (Red-rimmed pork would be better, as would duck or chicken, but you use what you have.

I'd give this one a C: it was edible, and I'm even thinking in terms of keeping the leftovers, but I'm thinking in terms of how to change it, rather than being satisfied with what I made. I also note that my stock (from duck bones, onion, carrot, and celery, mostly) made a rather yellower congee than I'm used to; anything done with a commercial chicken broth would probably be like that, only more so.

I wonder if I should grab a tangerine and throw in some (scrubbed) skin; many recipes call for a rehydrated bit of tangerine peel.

I know several good places to get congee; none of them is really local to me, making them less than useful for a sick person on a weekend.

Comments

[anne]

I use jasmine rice because it's what I have. 8 or 9:1, water, simmered in the crockpot on low overnight. I suspect that long-grain rice would take longer than shorter kinds, as well; I grew up on it, and I don't think it ever even clumped. (Although my mother is an exceptional cook, so maybe that's why.)

[trinker.livejournal.com]

I make Japanese-style rice porridge by starting with cooked rice.

And yes, a classic Western broth with carrots and celery is going to be yellower than the usual Chinese variety.

OTOH, this is Shirley Fong-Torres' recipe: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001097027

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Yes, the variety (and age) of the rice can have considerable effect on how fast congee gets creamy.

Unless using a slow-cooker/CrockPot overnight, I generally start with left-over cooked rice, with just rice & clear stock, then (about half-way through the cooking process) use a stick-blender before adding other ingredients.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I haven't made any for a long time, but I remember looooong hours of cooking.

It was a bit on the bland side.

Huh. All the juk I ate in Korea WAS bland. I thought that was its purpose. One can always add kimchi...