Chicken Broth Porridge 101

Hungryindc, this one's for you. No photos, since I have none from recent projects. I should have taken a photo when I did my turkey porridge. Sorry.

First, you have to roast your chicken. I suggest the Zuni Cafe method.

When you're done, save the bones. Little pieces of meat or tendon stuck on the bones is fine. When I'm only cooking for myself of JS, we just eat chicken off the bone and throw everything in a bowl. You'll need to figure out if you love the people you're eating with enough to do that, or whether you want to strip the meat off the chicken before you serve anyone.

Rinse any residual herbs and salt off the bones. It's not a huge deal, it just prevents the broth from having to many off flavors. Put the bones in a pot and cover with enough cold water to cover the bones. If you like, add a carrot, onion, and a stalk or two of celery. Cook, covered, until the water just starts to simmer. If you're going to be absent-minded about watching the pot, leave the lid off. You don't want the water to come to a complete boil.

Take the lid off and simmer for serveral hours, adjusting your stove so the water is always simmering lightly. This means tiny bubbles keep rising to the surface. If there's no visible movement you've got the stove on too low, but if you can hear the boiling it's way too high. Making chicken broth requires a copious store of patience. You need to skim the skum off the top of the water continuously. After three hours, start checking the bones. your stock is done when you can snap a thick bone (like a drumstick) in half easily. Usually I just taste the stock and use it when its strong enough. Don't add salt yet.

Strain out the bones and save the broth for when you're ready to use it. Freeze it if you have a lot and can't use it right away. You can use the stock for soup, or for porridge. For porridge, a cup of uncooked jasmine or Japanese short grain rice usually is enough for a quart of stock. Put both in a pot and simmer until the rice is cooked through. Jasmine rice will give you a thinner porridge that has a uniform consistency almost like watered down cream of wheat. It's like you'd get at a Cantonese restaurant. Japanese short grain (Botan, Calrose) is what my mom always used and will yield a much thicker, slightly sweet porridge with big visible grains of rice. I haven't often seen this in a restaurant, other than a few restaurants owned by Taiwanese owners who add sweet potatoes to their porridge. The simmering should take you at least 20 minutes, but an hour of cooking will really pay off if you have the time.