Shaken & Stirred

The greatest thing about cooking is having the freedom to experiment. Once you know a few good recipes well, you can take them in any direction you like and before long, hey presto, you’re coming up with signature recipes all of your own. With this in mind, the team at Canteen have rustled up a couple of staples for you to master, in the hope that, once you’ve got the basics down, they can be put to use as the foundations for all manner of innovation.

For Kwame Mensah, Bar Manager at Canteen, that means throwing out any preconceptions about what one of the most traditional cocktails on his menu should taste like. For Shiqi Liu and Stan Yang of Juk Pou, it’s about using one basic ingredient, congee, as the basis for bright, bold flavours.

There’s no right or wrong way to approach either of these recipes. The objective is simply to have fun.

Rum old fashioned

“An Old Fashioned is a classic on any cocktail list but with lots of scope to make it your own. For me, the Old Fashioned offers a template for making a complex and enjoyable drink based on sugar, water, bitters and a base spirit of your preference. I like to add my own twist by replacing the bourbon with a warming spiced rum, ginger beer and chocolate bitters. Rum makes a great substitute to a Bourbon in an Old Fashioned thanks to its depth of flavour and its spice notes which, coupled with the ginger beer, makes a delicious combination. Give it a try!”

Ingredients:

• 50ml spiced rum
• 12.5ml demerara syrup
• 4 dashes chocolate bitters
• Dash of ginger beer

Garnish:

• Orange twist

Glassware:

• Rocks glass

Method In a rocks glass, pour the sugar syrup (ratio 1:2 water to sugar), 4 dashes of chocolate bitters and a dash of ginger beer.

Add 25ml spiced rum of your choice and stir. Add one large ice cube or a few small ice cubes and stir. When the glass is chilled, add the remaining 25ml of spiced rum and some more ice. If using one large ice cube, discard and add a fresh one.

Run the orange peel, peel side down around the rim of the glass. Twist to release the oils and drop the peel in the glass. Enjoy!

Juk Pou chicken & mushroom congee

“Congee is a blank canvas on which you can innovate anything,” says Juk Pou co-founder Stan Yang, who loves the dish so much that it forms almost half of his restaurant’s menu.

At Juk Pou, congee and youtiao – two staples in Chinese cuisine – sit alongside dishes of rice and noodle bowls of tender pork, honey BBQ chicken and Yuxiang tofu and sides of soy egg, roasted peanuts and pickled radish.

While Juk Pou’s flavours are complex, their output is pure comfort food, and the inspiration for the menu is all about evoking the food of their childhood. “I’ve grown up around the smell of congee while living with my grandparents,” says Stan, “and since then, whenever I miss home, I cook some to relive my childhood memories.”

Now you can share in Stan’s childhood too!

Method Prepare the plain congee a night before. Soak the rice in cold water with a dash of oil and a pinch of salt. The water should just cover the rice.

The next day, drain and add the rice to boiling water at a ratio of 8 to 1 (for every 1 cup of rice you will need 8 cups of water). Stir the rice continuously in one direction until it breaks down and becomes a thick porridge. This is plain congee.

Cut the chicken into thin slices and place it in a bowl. Add salt, crushed ginger, white pepper, a splash of soy sauce, and some cornstarch. Mix and massage the marinade into the chicken. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cut your mushrooms into small pieces. (If using dried Shiitake mushrooms, remember to soak it in water for 20 minutes before use).Set the plain congee on a medium heat, adding hot chicken stock and the chopped mushrooms. When boiling, slowly add the marinated chicken slices and stir until the pot is boiling again and the chicken is cooked through. Finally add some salt, white pepper and crushed ginger according to taste.

Turn off the heat, and pour the congee into a bowl. Top with your favourite pickles and garnish with the chopped spring onions and coriander.

Ingredients:

• Rice (any long-grain variety is fine)
• Oil
• Salt
• White pepper
• Ginger
• Cornflour
• Chicken (any part, your preference)
• Shiitake mushrooms
• Spring onions
• Coriander
• Chicken stock

We don’t really use an exact recipe for our congee (even in our kitchen) because it all depends on personal preference. So experiment and see what you like!