Beef Porridge (소고기죽): A taste of home

In Seoul, in the neighborhood where we used to live, there were numerous jook (죽) restaurants nearby. These are tiny little shops that specialize in all the different varieties of jook, and it's relatively cheap to eat there - about $5 gets you a huge bowl of jook, a couple of side dishes and you're set for a nice lunch. They also offer a lovely take out service, so if you're a loving wife, and your husband falls ill, you can quickly make a run to one of the shops and come home with a piping hot bowl of jook. (And you can even pretend its yours by pouring it into one of your house bowls and serving it.) Husband LOVED going to one of the jook places on any given weekend, and I would be somewhat annoyed, because it is, after all, relatively simple food and they are charging $5 for it. I COULD make it for him at home, if he only asked. But he often refused saying that mine didn't "taste like the shops" and I would mutter, under my breath, comments such as, "Well, I don't put MSG in mine" or "They over salt their jook" and "What do you know." I gave up trying to cook jook for him, and periodically I would end up at one of the shops with husband as he savored a bowl of someone else's rice porridge, while I watched.

Back in the US, the "wonderful world of jook" has tragically disappeared. Sometimes Husband goes to the local Chinese dimsum place and gets an order of the plain jook and brings that home and eats it, but it isn't quite like the Korean version. This morning, I asked Husband, "Is there something you want to eat?" and he replied, "I want the jook in Korea." It is one of the more frustrating answers I get, because I do not MAKE the jook in Korea. After telling him, "I have pasta, pasta salad, fried rice in the fridge" he decided to eat something and ate with no apparent enjoyment.

I felt a bit sorry for Husband. He loves his food, he loves his simple good food, and here in the US, he can't get the Korean food he loves most as often as he'd like. I decided to pack him his lunch, and decided I'd make a quick jook for him. This one is modeled after one that we used to eat at one of our favorite restaurants in Seoul, Hanwoori.

Beef Porridge (소고기죽)
Serves 3-4

1/4 lb beef, chopped (I used some unmarinated bulgogi cut, thinly sliced ribeye)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced (or pushed through a press)
2 cups cooked rice (I just used what I had in my rice cooker)
4 cups of water
2 carrots finely chopped
1 teaspoons of salt
4 leaves of Korean perilla leaves (kaetnip 깻잎), julienne
2 scallions finely chopped
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Place a heavy pot over medium heat, and add the oil, garlic and beef. Saute until the meat is browned and then add 4 cups of water. Add the rice, breaking it up into the water so it is all incorporated. Add the carrots and salt and bring the water to a simmer. Stir occasionally so the rice doesn't stick, and allow to simmer for 15- 20 minutes. Add perilla leaves (깻잎), scallions and sesame oil. Stir and serve.

Enjoy with kimchee!

Printable recipe

Comfort in a spoonful

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