Han Oak’s visionary has a great recipe for serving your crowd.
Peter Cho, the revered Portland chef behind the restaurant Han Oak, is known for adding personal flourishes and easygoing charm to Korean cuisine. “Tableside cooking is a really important element and a focus for us,” Cho says. “I think all American homes should have a Korean grill and a hot pot to gather around.” This recipe, excerpted here from Koreaworld: A Cookbook, is a great one to have on hand for a quick meal after a larger feast. It developed as a final course of a hot pot meal or to use up existing stock. “It translates really well to home cooking,” Cho says.
Bottom-of-the-Pot Butter Juk
Serves 2 to 4
Ingredients:
• 4 C anchovy or other flavorful stock
• 1 C cooked white rice
• 1 egg
• 2 T unsalted butter, cubed
• Two or three 6-inch squares roasted nori seaweed, cut in ribbons
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• Kosher salt and ground black pepper
• Salmon roe, caviar, Dungeness crab meat, and/or sliced raw scallops, for garnish (optional)
Preparation:
In a medium saucepan, heat 1 cup of the stock over medium heat. Add the rice and egg and stir together with the stock until fully incorporated but the egg is not scrambled. Add the butter and stir as it slowly melts to emulsify. Turn up the heat to high and slowly add the remaining stock, one cup at a time, while constantly stirring (risotto style) until most, if not all, of the stock is used. The result should be a porridge-like consistency with a slightly thickened texture from the egg and butter. Season with the seaweed, lemon zest, and salt and pepper. Garnish with one or more of the luxurious toppers if you like and serve.
