As I type this, the snow is whooshing around like mad outside, a pot of jook is bubbling on the stove, and I’m wearing a sweatshirt my brother got me for Christmas that says: BUT FIRST BRUNCH*. In other words, I’ve achieved peak hygge. Since that New York Times piece came out I’ve since read at least half a dozen others about this Danish approach to life, and each article takes care to provide a pronunciation guide. I read it, mouth it to myself, then promptly forget it every. single. time. Doesn’t the word just beg to be pronounced “higgy”?
What I do know is that if hygge is the pursuit of cozy time, then I have been hygge-ing my whole damn life. The first order of business when I come home from a long day is to change into pajamas. On just about any day I would rather be burrowed under a quilt than perched at a bar. When I was about to turn 16, the birthday gift I wanted most desperately was ……. a fleece bathrobe. (I still own the ankle-length duck print one that my mom gave me that year.) A snowstorm just gives me the perfect excuse to live in my default mode, and revel in it.
I’ve been cooking a lot recently, almost all my meals, and I’m usually juggling a running list of recipes I’ve got lined up. Jook wasn’t in this week’s queue until I heard about the storm. But it just made sense.
My recipe is from my mom, who typically uses ham hocks and dried scallops to flavor her jook. My aunties use a whole lot of different things as the base of theirs: turkey bones after Thanksgiving, whatever’s left from a roast pig (whenever my family’s got a new baby or an engagement to celebrate, there’s usually a roast pig, and my Auntie Margie makes sure to claim the head right away), a stripped carcass from a Costco roast chicken. My mom’s default is usually ham hocks though, for whatever reason. And so that’s what I use.
The recipe is so simple:
Put your ham hock in a small pot of water, bring to boil just a minute to get the gunk out, then remove the ham hock and trim off the skin (I forgot this step in mine). Put one cup raw, uncooked rice, 10 cups of liquid (she’ll use a mix of chicken broth and water), ham hock, and rinsed dried scallops into a big pot. Cover, bring to a boil then lower the heat to a simmer. My recipe, transcribed from my mom’s directions over the phone, say: “The fire should be a gentle buh buh buh.” Watch the jook so it doesn’t bubble up and over. Let it simmer for an hour and a half or so and stir gently every once in a while to make sure nothing’s sticking to the bottom. Add more liquid if you want it to be thinner. When it’s nearly cooked, throw in whatever fixings you want. I added in shiitake mushrooms and foo jook, which are thin bean curd sheets.
*The sweatshirt really needs a comma in between the “first” and “brunch,” but it looks so cool I’ve forgiven the makers.
ETA:
