Chinese Hot Pot
If you go to China or a Chinatown, you have to try Hot Pot. It is in likeness to Swiss “Fondue,” in that there is a large bowl used communally in the center of the table that has a sauce used for dipping foods into. Fondue is most famous for melted cheese and chocolate for dipping, but there is a soup base used to cook meat and vegetables as well. Chinese hot pot takes this soup based communal bowl cooking to a whole new level. Eating Hot Pot is one of my favorite activities in China.
It is not an expensive meal, and you can find Hot Pot restaurants on almost every street in Beijing. The most popular style of hot pot is Sichuan, which so happens to be the most popular style of food in all of China. Hot Pot is usually eaten in groups of four, but more or less is possible.
Hot Pot can have any number of soup bases, depending on what the restaurant offers (or what you cook at home). At the average restaurant your choices are basically between spicy and non spicy, but some places offer all sorts of exotic flavors like curry, seafood, mushroom etc. The soup is then poured into a pot in the center of the table and various spices and vegetables are added to give it more flavor.
Next you get to choose what kind of dipping sauce you want to use. My favorite is 麻酱 – a sesame based paste, and then I add some onions and cilantro to it. You can choose sweet and sour, teriyaki, hot sauce, fish sauce, or any other number of sauces and spices that can be added. One of the most interesting spices that I had just last night as an additive to my sesame sauce was a tofu paste with chives. Many hot pot restaurants, especially for Taiwanese Hot Pot, have a table with the assorted sauces and spices that you can mix and match yourself.
Finally you choose what food you want to eat. The most popular meat here is lamb, but obviously it depends on your preference. The meat comes in very thin slices so they can cook faster and it is easily shared amongst a group. My favorite is tofu skins as they soak up the flavor of the soup and the sesame sauce really well. Other good choices are skinny mushrooms, potato slices, lettuce, and bean noodles (which are thin and slippery).
Some restaurants will offer drinks like soy milk and lemon water along with fruit while you are waiting. It’s a really good touch, so if you plan on having hot pot at home, I would suggest having something to entertain guests while the pot boils and everything gets prepared to eat.
Finally, we’re ready to eat! Grab your chopsticks.
You might be able to get away with eating hot pot without chopsticks, but I would HIGHLY recommend learning to use them before you eat Hot Pot – it just makes everything easier, not even necessarily just more authentic. Poking food in the pot with a fork would be quite frustrating when you could just use your 2 little wooden fingers to grab the mostly soft food, not to mention that most Chinese restaurants don’t have forks available anyway. Once you learn, you’ll get a whole bunch of compliments to boot.
When the soup starts to boil, you can start chucking food into the pot. When it’s ready (the meat will be darkened and the vegetables float / are soft) use your chopsticking skills, dip the food in your sauce and enjoy.
The place that I went to last night was called “海底捞” (Ocean fishing) – a famous Sichuan hot pot branch that actually doesn’t serve fish. They have a cool noodle performance, in which the noodles are then served after the main meal.
Hot pot restaurants are usually upbeat; as long as you don’t mind the noise it can be really fun. Hot Pot isn’t meant to be a private endeavor anyway, so make sure you’ve got your party hat on. It’s just as much about the overall experience as it is about the food.
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