Artist's Palate: Ryan Gander's mizutaki

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Ryan Gander’s mizutaki
Pictured are ’Parallel Cards’, an art project by Gander with Europa and Rasmus Troelsen. ’Rainbow’ chopsticks, $32, by Takashi Kamijo, from MoMA Store. Chopsticks rest, $4, by Muji. Bowl, price on request, by Mud Australia, from ABC Home
(Image credit: Zachary Zavislak)

Ryan Gander's practice involves a lot of playful puzzles, cultural collisions and meta-versions of reality. Through his sculpture, installations, photography, books and lectures, he combines disparate cultural objects into stories without the assemblage ever coming to a closed and final resolution. Mizutaki, in contrast, is an assemblage of Western consommé and Chinese chicken soup that resolves itself quite straightforwardly into a warming broth that sits bubbling on your table.

Ingredients
Serves 4
3 cups kombu dashi soup stock
450g boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
1 tofu, cut into small blocks
900g hakusai (Chinese cabbage), chopped
8 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed
1 negi, or 1 leek, rinsed and diagonally sliced
1 shungiku (chrysanthemum greens)
ponzu sauce for dipping

Method
Put kombu dashi soup stock and chicken in an electric pan or donabe pot. Heat the soup and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam or impurities that rise to the surface. Turn down the heat to low and simmer the chicken until cooked. Add other ingredients in the pot and simmer until softened. Serve some ponzu sauce in individual small bowls.

INFORMATION

Photography: Zachary Zavislak. Interiors: Jeanne Lurvey