For the holidays, a lot of people roast a turkey. Not everyone does, but it’s common in Hawaii to find it on the table on Thanksgiving, even during Christmas. Many home cooks have their own methods to produce the juiciest, tastiest bird for everyone. The restaurant was always closed for Thanksgiving so everyone spent it at home with family or friends.
This year, I brought up the question, “Why do we have to have a turkey? Why don’t we have something else?”
One sister jokingly said, “Burgers,” and I said, “Great! I will cook them!”
It didn’t happen; we had the turkey. I guess we hang on to this tradition. She was the one that made the turkey this year. She did a great job — juicy and moist — and I enjoyed it. Our family table can be one big mixed plate, as another sister made pinakbet, monggo beans, and pusit; my brother made ham, awesome! Mom usually does a lot of cooking, but we decided to let her relax this year; otherwise, there would have been Japanese dishes. I was asked to make mashed potatoes. When asked by someone not from Hawaii what we eat in celebration of the holidays, it can be a long story. That’s just who we are as a culture. We adopt Western ideas and then add our own ethnic dishes. A holiday potluck can be very interesting and so ono!
After carving up the turkey to eat, someone will keep the roasted turkey bones and that usually means turkey jook the next day. I wasn’t surprised that my mom took the bones this year, as she likes to make jook and never likes to throw something that you can make something out of away. She remembered that my Chinese grandpa used to add roasted chestnuts to the jook, and that’s what she does. I like to add a little turkey gravy to finish the jook; it makes it rich, so go easy.
I also made a vegetarian sourdough bread stuffing; that was the only leftovers we had, except for desserts, so I made the best of it. I put the stuffing in a pot and topped it off with cold kombu dashi I had, brought it to a boil then simmered it. The bread thickened the soup and it immediately reminded me of an Italian dish I had in Florence once, “ribollita.” It’s simply a dish from humble origins — a broth thickened with bread, tomatoes, and made to taste good. I remember hearing the story behind this dish. It made me think of our own plantation immigrant history. They fed their families with what they had and tried their best to make it tasty.
There was some old rice in the warmer. I put that in a pot and added water to make okayu; my mom used to make this for me when I got sick. When making jook or okayu, you are dealing with cooked rice and a liquid, so it will slowly swell up, absorbing all of the water or stock as it simmers until it becomes thick like a porridge. The liquid or stock can be anything, it is just appropriate to make a stock out of the roasted turkey carcass and scraps when you have it. I find jook, congee and okayu comforting, and always look forward to jook on the day after Thanksgiving. You can try substituting the liquid with things like ramen broth, a fish or seafood stock, leftover bouillabaisse broth, pho broth or oxtail soup. Let your imagination and taste buds go!
Rice can absorb a lot of liquid; it keeps swelling up and gets softer. I taste a lot when cooking, spoons at first, then maybe a cup when I’m happy with it. When you turn off the heat and the porridge cools, it will get thicker. All you have to do is add water, or your liquid, and bring it to a simmer again. In the process, you increase the volume, especially after everyone helps themselves. Of course, you have to season it again. It’s the porridge that keeps on giving.
“De la nada” means making something from nothing. When you are hungry, look at what you have around, improvise and give it a try!
Chef and restaurateur Alan Wong has wowed diners around the world for decades, and is known as one of the founders of Hawaii Regional Cuisine. Find his column in Crave every first Wednesday. Currently, Wong is dba Alan Wong’s Consulting Co.
