Soup – Kau Kau Kitchen

June 1, 2023June 1, 2023

Wonderful story of introducing a new food to a child

Image of lovage plant with mossy fence background

by Charlie Nichols

I “met” Charlie Nichols in one of the Facebook forums I frequent and was charmed by the way she introduced her daughter’s friend to new foods. ~Leilehua Yuen

Not mad but sort of a palate cleanse (pun intended) for all the stories we hear about culinarily conservative people turning their noses up at new foods. (Though maybe some of you might get mad about it because I added an ingredient normally not present—at least not in any I’ve ever had LOL.)

My daughter is having a sleepover tonight. Her friend is from Poland (we’re from the US). Her friend is a self-described picky eater and not very adventurous when it comes to new foods. (I personally relate, as I have emetophobia and panic disorder and trying new foods/other people’s cooking has always made me extremely anxious ever since I was a child. I even avoided sleepovers entirely because I didn’t want my friends’ families to think I was rude or didn’t like their food.)

I made miso soup and gohan this evening. She doesn’t like mushrooms (I asked first) so I left those out and made a separate pot for myself and my partner. But I did add wakame and tofu, two things she’s never had before.

I only gave her a small bowl and told her it was perfectly okay if she didn’t like it and didn’t want to finish it. (When I was a kid with my food fears, having an understanding host would have helped me feel much less anxious and I probably would have enjoyed way more dishes.)

Her mom has a big garden and grows lovage, a staple in their home-cooked foods. Before I met my daughter’s friend, I had actually never eaten lovage myself. But her mom is always so polite and she sent the girls with a big stalk of lovage.

I chopped up some leaves and put them in the pot I made for the girls, thinking perhaps having a familiar taste in the miso soup would be comforting and easier for her to try. I was surprised how it subtly changed the taste and it became sort of very fresh.

She and my daughter ate their bowls on the porch and I checked on them after and asked, “What’s the verdict?”

Her eyes were big and she had a big smile and said, “I like it!”

Success!

Obviously miso soup is one of the milder things to try, but still, when you have someone who is averse to stepping outside their culinary comfort zone but be willing to and they end up liking it, it always feels like a win. And being able to add the lovage felt sort of like a really respectful gesture, like she helped make the soup too.

December 31, 2021December 31, 2021

Thunder, lightening, and rain = soup!

It had been raining for weeks on end, and I just didn’t feel like shopping. The larder was getting bare! Trying to figure a supper to go with a winter storm:

Leftover nabe + miso, konnyaku noodle, kelp, black fungus, gourd, tofu, mushrooms. Whatever I could find.

December 31, 2021January 2, 2022

Jook, a perfect soup for cold rainy days

Jook (also known as congee) is a family affair. It’s made from the bones of the bird you ate as a family, everyone helps to cut up the giblets and scraps, and everyone takes a turn at watching the pot. At least, that’s how I was raised that it should be. Now, it is only two of us and our Fur Boi in the house. My father lives in his house with my stepmom, and my daughter lives in her house with her family, so such family-style cooking is rare these days.

I was talking on the phone with my dad this morning and I told him I would bring him jook that I had made from our Christmas bird. He was sad. “Oh, I saved all the giblets so we could make it together.” I must find pídàn, salted duck eggs, and fresh duck eggs to take in humility when I visit! Also good Scotch whisky.

Everyone I grew up around makes jook using broth, meat, and giblets to simmer the rice. I was in my 40s before I ever learned about “white jook” (congee)! My family are Nam Long from Zhongshan who began immigrating to Hawaiʻi around 1840, so our recipes date from the mid-1800s and morphed depending on what was available.

Jook

In a large stock pot or slow cooker, cook up turkey and/or chicken carcass with giblets. When the meat falls off, pick it apart and reserve in a separate bowl. Continue to cook the carcass until the bones soften. Smash them up thoroughly and continue to cook another hour or so. Strain the broth through a colander.

Add the meat and giblets minced fine, some chopped round onions, and crushed garlic to the stock. Add rice.

Continue to simmer until the rice “melts” and the jook becomes smooth and creamy, but you can still see grains.

Serve with minced chicken livers, thin slices of lup cheong, pídàn (lime-preserved egg), salt duck egg, minced mushrooms, minced scallion or spring onions, thin slices of char siu, or whatever other condiments you would like.