I love this thread so much I wanted to start a big hijack talking about international breakfasts. Instead I made this thread. Please join me.
Mmm. Breakfast.
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!
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.
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?
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:
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.
I love the preserved duck egg. Mmmmmm.
My Mom always cooked hominy with bacon…yea, I gotta get some of that.
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?
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?
- Texture - watery flob
- Flavourlessness of the congee
- Taste of the ingredients added to it - snakes’ tits and otters’ bollocks, I suspect
Love it. It’s nothing at all like the congee I have had.
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.
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.
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.