Pork Congee (粥)

Congee, known as zhou in Mandarin and juk in Cantonese, is a rice porridge popular in many parts of Asia. I recall my grandparents making it from time to time, but my memory for what theirs was like has faded over the years. Until today, I had never attempted to make it, but the cold weather inspired me to give it a go. My research turned up a lot of variation in how it's made, particularly in the rice-to-liquid ratio and the length of cooking time. I'm going for the Cantonese version, which seems to feature one of the lowest (1 to 20) ratios. Over the cooking time, the rice breaks down and thickens the broth. As first attempts go, I think the congee turned out very well, though I have some tweaks in mind going forward and plan to document those.

My recipe here is based on a combination of the basic juk from ArChan Chan's Hong Kong Local cookbook and the pork congee from Chinese Cooking Demystified. I also consulted a few other sources on the internet. As mentioned above, the 20-to-1 ratio appears to be the standard for Cantonese-style juk, which comes to 1/2 cup rice to 10 cups liquid. I think next time I will increase the rice a bit to get a heartier result. Some recipes out there go as low as 7 to 1. The key to achieving the proper texture in the porridge is by breaking down the rice. Traditionally, this is done with a very long cooking time, but some modern recipes (including Chan's) start by freezing the rice overnight to speed that up. Freezing is known to break down fibers in food. Normally, this is a bad thing, which is why people typically advise not thawing and refreezing meat, but here it works to our advantage.

Congee can start with plain water but often uses stock. Here, I made a simple pork stock from a shoulder bone I had in the freezer. When I break down a shoulder for char siu and other things, I save the bone with a good amount of meat left on it. The meat gets super tender and we sometimes just eat them with a little soy sauce and scallions (known as "pork snacks" in our house). It's natural to toss them in the congee. I made the stock the day before and kept it in the fridge. The rest of the seasoning is simple and can be adjusted to taste - salt, white pepper, ginger, scallion, and MSG (if you want). Congee is a bit of a blank slate and there are many possible add-ins and sides. Century eggs are a popular option. I didn't have them on hand, but will be on the lookout.

Ingredients

Pork Stock

• 1 pork shoulder bone with some meat left on
• 10 cups water
• 3 scallions (white parts)
• 3 slices ginger

Congee

• 10 cups stock (add water to the stock)
• 1/2 cup rice
• 1/2 Tbs. kosher salt (or to taste)
• 1/4 tsp. white pepper (or to taste)
• 1/4 tsp. MSG (or to taste)
• Ginger, julienned (to taste)
• Sliced scallions (green parts)
• Soy sauce (to taste)

Instructions

Rinse the rice three times, transfer to a bag, and freeze overnight.

Separate white and green parts of the scallions. Roughly chop the white parts and reserve the green parts for garnish later. Combine pork, water, scallions, and ginger in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and skim off any scum that floats to the top. Reduce heat to low and cook until the meat easily pulls away from the bone, about 2-3 hours. Remove meat and shred. Toss with a little soy sauce and set aside in the refrigerator.

Top up the stock with water until back to 10 cups (mine reduced by about half). Add the frozen rice and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Lower the heat to medium-low. Cover with the lid slightly ajar and simmer for 1 hour. Stir occasionally. Uncover, turn heat up, and cook another 20 minutes. Add salt, white pepper, and MSG and whisk together. For the last 5 minutes, add the pork. 

Ladle into bowls and garnish with ginger and green parts of scallions.