# Chinese breakfast? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 17, 2007, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-breakfast/430387 "2007-12-17T22:51:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-breakfast/430387/21 "2007-12-18T16:51:19Z")
I love this thread so much I wanted to start a big hijack talking about international breakfasts. Instead I made [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9284185#post9284185) thread. Please join me. Mmm. Breakfast. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-breakfast/430387/22 "2007-12-18T17:03:22Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] I’ve had congee and it nearly made me puke. [/QUOTE] On a cruise a few years ago I tried congee. When I went for breakfast there would be a line of Chinese/others getting congee. It was delicious! ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-breakfast/430387/23 "2007-12-18T18:11:56Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] I can understand it. Rice is quite a bland grain in comparison to wheat or oats. [/QUOTE] How many here are familiar with hominy grits? They are super-bland, too, until you add stuff into it (traditionally salt and butter). Congee seems to be in the ballpark, but with a different texture … which I’m guessing isn’t too far off from the popular Indian-restaurant desert kheer. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-breakfast/430387/24 "2007-12-18T19:44:55Z")
Congee is just like any other porridge – oatmeal, farina, grits … They’re all bland until you add something. Which part is the “yuk”? The blandness or the add-ins? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-breakfast/430387/25 "2007-12-18T20:10:33Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] Congee is just like any other porridge – oatmeal, farina, grits … They’re all bland until you add something. Which part is the “yuk”? The blandness or the add-ins? [/QUOTE] I love grits, Cream of Wheat, and the like … and order them now and then in restaurants. Most of the time, it was served absolutely plain, and it was left to me to add in the butter, salt, etc. I often think that people that dislike grits (and the like) have tried it totally plain, and were instantly turned off. The congee add-ins **Loaded Dog** described above: > [@](#): > > … little bits of _char siu_ bbq meat, and hard boiled egg, with a generous helping of soy sauce. That sounds like a great way to have grits. Essentially pulled pork and egg, with soy sauce to taste (don’t need much)? Throw in some butter, and that’s good eats to me. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-breakfast/430387/26 "2007-12-18T20:15:51Z")
I love the preserved duck egg. Mmmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![King\_Friday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@King\_Friday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Friday)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-breakfast/430387/27 "2007-12-18T21:59:12Z")
[QUOTE=bordelond] How many here are familiar with hominy grits? They are super-bland, too, until you add stuff into it (traditionally salt and butter). Congee seems to be in the ballpark, but with a different texture … which I’m guessing isn’t too far off from the popular Indian-restaurant desert kheer. [/QUOTE] My Mom always cooked hominy with bacon…yea, I gotta get some of that. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-breakfast/430387/28 "2007-12-18T22:13:31Z")
From what I’ve read, I’m having a hard time differentiating between what congee must be like, and a really gloopy risotto. Is that in the ballpark? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-breakfast/430387/29 "2007-12-18T22:27:01Z")
[QUOTE=dmatsch] Just looked up various recipes for congee. All I can say is … “yuk”. [/QUOTE] Actually, I think that would be “_juk_”. 🙂 **China Guy** : My Chinese friends (from HK) always called it “_juk_”, but wikipedia says that’s Korean. We always get a bowl of \*juk \*w/ Dim Sum. Any idea what’s up with that? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-breakfast/430387/30 "2007-12-18T22:34:24Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] Was it the texture?\* I can’t imagine the taste being particularly offensive to anybody. [/quote] 1. Texture - watery flob 2. Flavourlessness of the congee 3. Taste of the ingredients added to it - snakes’ tits and otters’ bollocks, I suspect > [@](#): > > \*Related question: how do you feel about Western-style porridge? Love it. It’s nothing at all like the congee I have had. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2007, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-breakfast/430387/31 "2007-12-19T01:23:15Z")
Even completely plain western-style porridge has quite a bit of texture and flavour (OK, some of the flavour comes from the milk) Rice is just not a very tasty grain on its own Oats and wheat are. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2007, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-breakfast/430387/32 "2007-12-19T10:33:22Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Actually, I think that would be “_juk_”. 🙂 **China Guy** : My Chinese friends (from HK) always called it “_juk_”, but wikipedia says that’s Korean. We always get a bowl of \*juk \*w/ Dim Sum. Any idea what’s up with that? [/QUOTE] In Cantonese it’s juk or jook or an approximation thereof. In Mandarin it’s “zhou”, which is distinctly different from “xifan” or rice soup. Juk if you continue to boil it becomes paste, and is widely used as paste. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2007, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-breakfast/430387/33 "2007-12-19T12:56:59Z")
Thai rice porridge is also called joak, most likely a carryover from China. The factory I worked at in Thailand had the exact same food, morning, noon and night, and people ate the same stuff most of the time, the exception maybe that soup dishes (simillar but not the same as Pho, usually made with fish or beef meatballs) were popular as a late night, after hours sort of dish. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-breakfast/430387.md?page=1)