Dining wrap: This comfort food is getting all the buzz

It’s jook time! Rice porridge is hot (literally and figuratively) right now, and whether you call it jook, congee, lugaw, arroz caldo or just plain tasty, eating a steamy, creamy bowl of this comfort food for breakfast, lunch and dinner has been our obsession lately.

The New York Times recently posted a tasty jook recipe (nyti.ms/2Y9nTgG, available to subscribers) with ginger and turmeric, but the recipe is endlessly configurable. Make it your own with a six-minute egg, fried onions, sprouts and chile crunch — the condiment of the season. Roasted chiles, garlic, onion, herbs and chile oil can make it sizzling hot or mildly warm, but it’s all about the crunch. You can order chile crunch from Chef David Chang’s Momofuku Culinary Lab (shop.momofuku.com) or pick up a decent version at Trader Joe’s.

For the rice porridge, you can skip all the work by picking up Chef Jamilah Nixon-Mathis’ Thai rice porridge with lemongrass, ginger, broth and Khao mun gai sauce (a zippy fermented flavor bomb) for $7 at Jam’s Joy Bungalow. 150 Weeks Way, Sebastopol or 101 E. Cotati Ave., Cotati. jamsjoybungalow.com.

Petaluma

Black licorice ice cream is here to stay, at least through November, according to Mariapilar Ice Creamery in Petaluma.

The ash-colored seasonal ice cream has a creamy, anise-like flavor that’s been a hit with locals. Not so sure about the taste? As with other oddball ice creams like avocado, purple yam and olive oil, it’s surprisingly mellow. Not a fan? Peppermint Swirl is the next seasonal release. Available at Penngrove Market, 10070 Main St., Penngrove.

Around the county

Diving into a container of Laura Chenel Thyme and Rosemary marinated goat cheese, it’s easy to see why it’s one of the finalists for the 2022 Good Food Awards.

For more than a decade, the annual awards have been a launchpad for the nation’s best artisan charcuterie, coffee, cider, cheese, chocolate, fish, pickles, preserves, spirits and other small-batch products. Of nearly 2,000 entries from 42 states, Bay Area producers got many of nods of approval, including North Bay producers Journeyman Meat Company (Estate Beef Teriyaki Snack Sticks), Marin Sun Farms (Smoky Pork Jowl Bacon), Bellwether Farms (Whole Milk Basket Ricotta), Coturri Winery (Aeplz Cider), Sonoma Sauces (Mango Pinto Grigio Sauce) and Spirit Works Distillery (Straight Rye Whiskey). See all the winners and a finalist pop-up shop at goodfoodfdn.org.

Argus-Courier Dining Writer Houston Porter contributed to this article.