Is this Heaven? (Rice soup, Jook)
No, It’s AT&T Park. Huh, coulda swore it was heaven.
I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to write about my other obsession.
Sports
I love watching sports, playing sports, sports movies, talking sports…you get it. My first love is baseball, I live and die by the San Francisco Giants. When I think about my childhood a couple of things come to mind, going to games at the Stick with my Dad, watching Willie Mays patrol centerfield, and watching the fog roll in off the bay right onto the field. Field of Fog, not Dreams.
My Dad and I would take Muni and get to the park and watch bp. Back in the day, the outfield at the Stick was bordered by a chain-linked fence, not the stands that came when they enclosed it for football. As the sun set and night settled in, you could hear the wind whistle as it came into the park and swirled around the stadium.
In the fall we watched the Niners on TV while eating big bowls of steaming hot jook (rice soup) dotted with tiny pork meatballs and green onions. The perfect combo for those brisk autumn days. My passion for sports & watching the hometown boys is inextricably linked to memories of hanging with my Dad. Favorite movie? Field of Dreams of course, well gotta wrap it up, going to have a catch with Jamie.
Getting to the Game
If you have not been to a game at At&T Park, even if you aren’t a baseball fan, go, it’s always a good time, and the view is amazing!
Jook, also known as congee or rice soup. Perfect football season food, jook is comfort food. I make it when it’s cold outside, when anyone is sick and when they had had their wisdom teeth pulled!
Rice soup (Jook)
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked long grain rice medium or short grain will work too
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 T vegetable oil
- 2-3 slices fresh ginger
- 1 quart chicken stock 1 quart water
- 1 quart wqter
- 1/8 cup rice wine
- 2 chicken legs (whole leg) skinned if desired
- 1 russet potato cut in large chunks
Meatballs
- 1/3 pound ground pork or mixture of pork and chicken 1:1 or ground chicken
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp rice wine
- 1 tbsp salted preserved turnip finely chopped (chung choy)
- 1 tbsp minced cilanto and green onions
- dash of salt and pepper
Garnishes:
- green onions, sliced
- cilantro
- lettuce, shredded preferably iceberg
Instructions
Da Soup
- Heat oil in a stockpot, saute ginger slices for about 30 seconds, add rice and salt and saute for a couple of minutes. Add stock, water, wine, and chicken legs. Bring to a boil then lower to a strong simmer. Do not stir. Let cook for approximately an hour and a half until the rice breaks down and the soup looks a little thick.
- At the 60 minute mark, remove chicken and set aside to cool. Add potatoes to jook. Give it a good stir, bring it back to a simmer to finish.
Da Meatballs: My favorite addition to jook is little meatballs made with pork that my father added just before serving.
- Add seasonings to the ground pork add 1 T chopped salted preserved turnip (chung choy).
- Drop rounded teaspoons of the pork mixture into the rice soup, and continue to cook until meatballs are cooked through, approximately 5-10 minutes.
- Shred chicken and serve alongside other garnishes.
- Garnish with chopped cilantro, green onions and shredded lettuce. Serve immediately.