How to make seafood congee (jook)

So, I finally had a visitor!

I have been living in Vancouver for 5 years and finally, finally a friend from back home came for a few days. One of my closest and oldest friends, Deb, came out for 5 days. We've known each other for 20 years. Nuts!

At any rate, we're both foodies who also love to drink. Sometimes I think food is better than sex. My friend, Odee, who is also a foodie doesn't really agree with me on that one. I wonder what Deb thinks. Never thought to ask her. But I digress. Deb's mom make the best frickin seafood congee. Deb is Cantonese so she calls it jook.

Back in the day, when I was still a New Yorker, I went to pick her up at JFK. Deb had decided to run away from the circus because she thought she could find herself in San Francisco. Unfortunately, that didn't work out very well as she ended up getting into west coast drugs, so she had to leave the west coast circus behind and come back to New York. The silly things we do when we're under the age of 25.

So, I pick her up at JFK in my parent's car at 1:30 AM because her 12:30 AM flight was late. I'm driving like a turtle racing the hare through the snow and we're both really exhausted. We speak to each other in zombie grunts and when we finally get to her mom's house, I remember waking up to the smell of something strangely delicious. Like, it's a warm, cozy smell of rice and oysters and salt. Looks gross as I type that out but the smell makes your stomach gurgle for want of food. I remember perking up and I wasn't even hungry. At that point, I just wanted to go home and go to bed but as Deb's mom is ladling the hot soupy mixture into bowls and as Deb is griping because she's tired but happy to be home and ready for comfort food, I changed my mind because I wanted a taste. We sit down in front of the TV and and I'm thinking I'll only have a couple of spoonfuls and be done with it as it's way past bedtime and I've got to watch my figure. The next thing I know, my bowl is empty and I'm wondering if it would be uncouth to ask to take some home. I ended up not asking for a doggy bag and I've never stopped talking about that seafood jook.

So fast forward, I don't know how many years later, and I'm now living an ex-pat life in Vancouver. My reason for coming to Canada has broken up with me after 7 years and my start-up company is going through start-up difficulties,but on a brighter note, we have a new President that inspires us and gives us some confidence, and I buy a condo and am adjusting to a new life of opportunity, change and transition... well, that's because I'm now out of the despair and depression phase... So, Deb has come to visit. And has finally taught me how to make that jook! She's only just learned how to make it herself and I can tell you, that I've googled and googled and could not find a decent recipe for congee. I've checked out cook books and I've tried one recipe and it's bunk. Not edible. I had to toss it in the garbage and I felt really bad about wasting food. Normally, if something I cook turns out to be not that great, I'll try to salvage it and eat it. That recipe I tried, and I only tried the one because they are all pretty well the same. Not this one.

This is the real Cantonese way:

Bone-in pork chop. salt crust both sides and leave overnight. The next day, rinse off the salt, soak in a bowl.

Kokuho rice - no ifs ands or buts. This rice is the poo. I've seen other recipes and they never say nuthin about any specific type or brand. Do not use jasmine or basmati or regular short grain rice - those were my mistakes. It must be Kokuho rice! and it must be 1 cup. Soak in a bowl for 3 hours min, rinse, drain, repeat until the water is no longer starchy.

Go to Chinatown and brave the dried bulk food stores. Deb and I scouted a few and settled on the one where we saw the most old Chinese people shopping from. We figure the older they are, the fussier they are are about value for money and besides, the product would be fresher. Note to self, the shop I went to that was super busy was on Main and the corner was Keefer, with the Ten Ren Tea store.

10 dried scallops, the big ones that are $49/lb. Soak in a bowl for 3 hours. The scallops need to be shredded or shreddable after 3 hours. Don't drain, save the scallop water for the soup pot.

1 handful of dried shrimp - the small/medium sized ones. My hands are small, so I had to do 2 handfuls. Same instructions as scallops.

5 - 10 dried oysters, medium sized, same as above.

Grocery store items:
Note to self again: Chinatown grocery store on Keefer.

1 package of salted radishes, chopped.
White pepper
chopsticks


After 3 hours of soaking, make sure the scallops are shredded, or shreddable. If not shreddable, then soak a bit longer, or force it. If it's a go, chop up the oysters and toss everything (pork + H2O, scallops + H2O, rice + H2O, shrimp + H2O, oysters + H2O) into stock pot. Deb uses a 6 quart pot, and I have a 9 quart pot. If it's a 6 quart pot, fill the rest with water and leave an inch. If a 9 quart pot, fill up to 2/3 full.

Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiled, lower the temperature to about 2.5 on the electric stove. Deb was shocked that gas stoves are not commonplace here. It took me a couple of years to get over that too... but hey, it's safer! Scoop off the scum and, this is an interesting trick, to keep the temperature consistent, place two chopsticks at the ends of the pot and place the cover on top.

Have another beer and walk away for 3 hours. The rule: do not stir the pot. The temptation is real and ready to want to stir over the course of the simmer, but the pot must be left alone. I think it's an ancient Chinese secret. Apparently, if you stir the contents, the rice will stick to the bottom of the pot. After three hours, we came back and we had to stir. The consistency wasn't quite there as the rice hadn't fully broken down so we let it cook for another hour and it was ready. It's supposed to take 3 hours. I think it took us a little longer because we were fiddling around with the heating and I'm still getting used to my stove since I've just moved into this apartment and also, Deb was getting New York neurotic on me because of the electric stove and how slow it is to heat compared to gas. Whatever.

The congee is delicious and I love how it warmed up my apartment with it's comforting smells of rice and seafood. Spoon out the pork and shred it up and toss it back into the pot. Mix it up and eat! Delish!