River of Life cook finds joy in feeding people from the heart

There are many parallels between the way Hilda Gibson remade her life and the way she makes gravy — building the flavors layer by layer, giving it constant attention, and controlling the fire … tasting frequently to balance the sweet and salty.

“Cook slow and take time to merge the flavors … before you know it, it’s wonderful,” says the food service manager at River of Life Mission in Chinatown.

Once addicted to drugs and incarcerated, she came to the mission homeless eight years ago, and worked her way up from a kitchen helper to being in charge of feeding everyone. Today her greatest reward comes from pleasing over 200 “guests” of the Christian mission, most of them without a home. After lunch, one or two of them will stop by the kitchen door to say thank you.

“I like cooking, but I like more the response I get from the guests. They always say: Mission food is always good,” she said.

Longtime kitchen helper Morgan Grant, 84, is one of many who applaud Gibson and her food — simple dishes like chicken long rice, beef stew and corn chowder. What’s more impressive, he said, is that River of Life largely depends on donated supplies and has a limited range of ingredients for Gibson to work with when the mission is open on weekdays. Grant also praised Gibson for carefully following food safety standards.

In 2011, a year after she came to the mission house, general manager Shervelle “Shevy” Gardner encouraged Gibson to enroll in a cooking course at Kapiolani Community College, and she became a mentor and friend. Gibson, who was in her early 50s at the time, said she didn’t want to go.

“I thought I wasn’t smart enough to learn. I was old already.”

But she gave it all she had. She’d leave the house at 4 a.m. to catch the bus, and arrive an hour early to prep her cooking station and review her lessons.

“Somehow I aced it!” said Gibson. She also won the respect of her much younger classmates, and the professor. It was a big change for someone who had never received any compliments in her life until then.

In addition to developing self-worth, it was at KCC that she learned a secret ingredient to making all her gravies and sauces: chicken bouillon powder — “In school they call this the magic powder!” But it takes a perceptive palate to know how much to use, and she acquired the knack from cooking as she grew up.

At the mission, Gibson’s corn chowder is everyone’s favorite, including the staff and guests. That, too, is seasoned with chicken bouillon. It took Gibson an hour to create the roux (a base) for the chowder, using half oil and half flour. With a constant eye on the heat level, she kept her whisk moving to ensure lumps didn’t form, and brought the roux to a satisfying thickness. “It’s just patience,” she said.

When the mixture acquires a bit of color and a rough texture, it’s cooked.

“It starts to smell like popcorn. I like to put a little bit butter for flavoring,” she said. Then she added milk, steamed potatoes, bacon and onions.

The roux is the foundation for all the other gravies and sauces she makes. Gibson said she loves the creaminess of anything with gravy.

“The finished product is amazing — oh yeah!” she said, after tasting a spoonful.

The blessing of the roux recipe is that it can be turned into different dishes by varying the ingredients, Gibson said. By adding curry and coconut milk, she can make curried chicken, or with tomatoes, a beef stew. Roux and a tomato base create spaghetti sauce. Everything she makes is “seasoned well and made with love … ‘cause any kind of energy I feel is going into the food.”

The mission allots Gibson a small budget to shop for ingredients, so she chooses the most economical foods, and she depends largely on what’s been donated. That may mean making chicken long rice without ginger, or chowder without the celery. But thankfully, the mission receives a good supply of onions regularly, and she caramelizes them to add nuance to the dishes.

That reliable chicken powder also adds a richness to chicken long rice, because she simmers the dried noodles in a broth instead of plain water, til they fatten up. The broth, and her trick to use “a zap of vinegar” in the mix, deliver noodles with a savoriness all of their own, she said.

On one rare occasion, a box of canned corned beef was donated, and Gibson knew right away that her guests would love it stir-fried with onions and shoyu. “Growing up, that’s what they ate, Hawaii people!”

If she had an unlimited budget, “I would love to cook them pork chops and gravy,” she said, calling it another comfort food.

To Grant, who started volunteering at the mission a year before Gibson arrived, the kitchen manager is an unsung hero. He watched Gibson’s “genuine transformation” from being a lost soul, right out of prison (for four years), to someone who efficiently runs a kitchen that feeds hundreds daily.

Gibson “changed her life so radically. I can remember the day she came in, and we grew together working at the mission. She’s been a tremendous witness for Christ with all the volunteers. She is so pleasant, helpful and patient,” Grant said.

Next week: Chocolate With a Mission delivers gourmet candies to benefit the needy. To donate food, call 524-7656 or visit riveroflifemission.org.