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Thanksgiving isn’t officially over in Hawai‘i until the next day, and that’s not just because of Black Friday. Some might say it’s sacrilege, but I believe the day after Thanksgiving is actually the main event, at least where I live. This isn’t to say that we don’t celebrate the big T-Day in the islands—we do. Many families build an imu (underground pit) and roast their turkey outdoors. We make all the sides and gather around the table just like families do in other parts of the country. However, speak the words turkey jook to most locals in Hawai‘i, and you’ll quickly see why the day after is equally if not more exciting. This comforting, savory rice porridge is our most beloved day-after-Thanksgiving dish. Not only is it a great way to use up your leftover turkey—carcass and all—but it is also the ultimate dish to follow a big day of feasting (read: it’s easy on your tum).
Introduced to the islands during Hawai‘i’s plantation era by Chinese immigrants, turkey jook is a rice porridge, made primarily of a little bit of rice and a lot of homemade turkey stock. You may know this umami-packed creamy porridge as congee, but in Hawai‘i, all of our favorite local Hawai‘i Chinese–influenced dishes, like chow fun and wonton, carry Cantonese names. So we call it jook, using the English translation of the Cantonese name for rice porridge.
Starting in the 1850s, many people immigrated from Canton, now known as Guangzhou, to Hawai‘i to work on sugar plantations. Groups of Japanese people, hailing from mainly Yamaguchi, Hiroshima, Fukuoka City, and Kumamoto; Portuguese, from the Azores and Madeira; Koreans, from Incheon; and Filipinos, primarily from the Ilocos region and the Visayas followed in subsequent years. Because of these waves of immigration, you find dishes from all of these specific regions folded into our beloved local Hawai‘i food culture.
What I love about turkey jook is that it’s an extremely forgiving and infinitely adaptable dish. It also feels extra special, because it’s not every day you roast a turkey. In my house we eat jook for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or as an afternoon snack. Rice porridge is a glorious reprieve after the richness of buttery biscuits and pies galore. The delicate, umami-layered flavor of the rice is punctuated by the brightness of ginger and the peppery notes of cilantro to deliver a well-balanced bowl of comfort.
The total time on this recipe might cause alarm, but don’t worry, it’s almost all hands-off. Jook is pretty much a “throw things in a pot and let them do their own thing” kind of dish. In my house, we break up the work by getting the turkey stock started at night, immediately following the T-Day feast, while we take care of the dishes and free up some stomach space for pie. I also quickly shred the leftover turkey meat because I’m already in the mode of cleaning up and putting everything away in the fridge. At this point, sadly, the kitchen smells like a million different things, so it’s hard to appreciate the gorgeous scent of turkey and ginger wafting from the pot, but I promise you that getting the stock done the night of Thanksgiving is well worth it. And you’ll get a do-over on the scent train the next day when you throw in your rice and shredded turkey.
For the stock, you should have picked up nearly everything you need for your usual Thanksgiving dishes, but you will want to plan ahead and source some chung choi–I particularly like Kui Fat’s salted turnip balls or strips, and some dried shiitake mushrooms if you don’t have them in your pantry. The chung choi adds a depth of flavor and aroma, plus a little smoke and funk that you can’t quite replicate with any other ingredients. You’ll gain the local nod of approval if you add it in, but don’t let it keep you from making this dish. You can leave it out if you don’t have any luck tracking it down.
Each bowl of turkey jook is infinitely customizable, and you can turn your other Thanksgiving leftovers into fun toppings. Do you have crispy onions from that green bean casserole? That’s an excellent option. Leftover brussels sprouts? Chop them and throw them in a pan to get nice and crispy, then add them on top. It is my hope that this comforting, soothing dish becomes a new tradition in your kitchen—and that you play around with it to make it your own.
