Hot pot

Hot pot with grill surrounding it.

Hot pot (火鍋) is the name of a number of different meat dishes served warm. The best known internationally is a communal Asian dish consists of a simmering pot of water at the center of the dining table. A small gas or electric stove keeps the pot simmering. The diners place raw food into the pot and cook it themselves. Typically chosen food includes thinly sliced meat, leafy vegetables, mushrooms, wontons, egg dumplings, and seafood. While waiting for the food to cook, the diners will often sip hard liquor. The cooked food is usually eaten with a dipping sauce. Ths kind of meal is also referred to as shabu shabu ("swish swish").

Eating in the hot pot style is often done in the winter when the Asian people like to eat food that warms their bodies and lifts their spirits. In fact, the hot pot originated in the northern parts of China, where people have to fend off the chill early on in the year. It spread to the south during the Tang dynasty (A.D. 618-906). Later, the northern nomads who settled in China enhanced the hot pot with such meat as beef and mutton, and southerners did the same with seafood. By the Ching dynasty, the hot pot became popular throughout most of China.

History

Although steamboat is commonly associated with Chinese cuisine (steamboat being the Cantonese name for the meal) , the process has origins in Northern China, emerging in primitive forms over a thousand years ago. Mongolian nomads would cook meat and vegetables in a "Hot pot" over the embers of a camp fire, and it is this culinary tradition which has been adopted in various forms in many provinces of modern day China.

A Sichuan style Hot pot is markedly different from the style eaten in Taiwan, for example. Quite often the differences lie in the meats used, the type of soup base, and the sauces and condiments used to flavor the meat, to name a few. A southern style steamboat will usually feature seafood, where as this is rarely found in a northern style Hot pot. In Xishuangbanna, near Myanmar, the broth is often divided into a yin and yang shape - a bubbling, fiery red chilli broth on one side, and a cooler white chicken broth on the other.

Today, in many modern homes in Greater China and particularly in the big cities, the traditional coal heated steamboat or Hot pot has been replaced with electric or gas versions.

Common ingredients

Stock

• Water
• Chicken
• Salt

Meat

• Thinly sliced beef, pork chicken goat
• Fish pieces
• Prawns
• Scallops
• Mussels
• Meatballs
• Fishballs
• Offal, ear and other delicacies
• Squid

Vegetables

• Cabbage
• Choy Sum
• Snake Beans
• Bean Shoots
• Shallots
• Varieties of Mushrooms
• Ginger

Condiments

• Hoi Sin Sauce
• Soy Sauce
• Satay Sauce
• Chilli

This list is by no means comprehensive. Because steamboat and Hot pot styles change so much from region to region, many different ingredients are used. Whilst not being strictly traditional, one of the best things is to experiment with ingredients and sauces according to one's own tastes. The addition of South East Asian influences like coriander and lemon is a good example.

The Chinese steamboat is sometimes referred to as hot pot, not to be confused with the British hot pot.

Variations

In Beijing (Peking), Mongolian hot pot is eaten year-round. Frozen meat is shaved to near paper thinness and rolled into tubes and stacked high on serving plates. Meats used include lamb, beef, chicken, and others. The cooking pot is often sunken into the table and fueled by propane, or alternatively is above the table and fueled by hot coals. The cooking vessel is often bifurcated into a spicy broth compartment, and a non-spicy broth compartment. Meat or vegetables are loaded individually into the hot cooking broth by chopsticks, and cooking time is brief. Meat often only takes 15 to 30 seconds to cook. Vegetables are often cooked last to avoid absorbing too much spice. A peanut-based dipping sauce is usually offered. Note: After handling raw meat, chopstick ends should be immersed in the boiling broth for a few seconds to prevent self-inflicted food poisoning.

The Manchurian hot pot (東北酸菜火鍋) uses plenty of Chinese sauerkraut (酸菜) to make the pot's stew sour. In the Taiwanese hot pot, people eat the food with a dipping sauce consisting of sacha sauce and raw egg. The use of thinly sliced red meat in hot pot probably originated from the nomadic Mongolians. The Korean variation has a mini-grill next to the pot that is used to grill the meat.

One of the most famous variations, aside from the Canton hot pot (using chicken broth as soup base), is the Szechwan "Ma'la" (麻辣, Extreme Spicy) Hot Pot: the amount of pepper used in the hot broth can be so hot that it was said to dull one's taste's sensation for brief moments, hence "Ma'la". It was usually used to eat variety meats as well as sliced mutton filet.

Hot pot meals can get messy towards the end.

Cultural Significance

Eating hot pot with family or friends often gives the diners a sense of togetherness. Weilu — to 'circle' a hot pot — has a deep and profound meaning to the Chinese people, who are often Confucianistic and strongly emphasize unity with family and clan. The hot pot style of dining is often taken nice and slow; the diners often chat while they are eating together.

Hot pot is traditionally eaten as part of the Chinese New Year feast. The roundness of the pot is itself a symbol the unity of the family.

British hot pot

The dish referred to as "hot pot" (or "hotpot") in Britain is quite different, frequently found listed amongst the usual pub grub dishes. It is primarily a casserole of lamb, kidneys and root vegetables such as carrots, turnip and onions or leeks, covered with a layer of sliced potatoes. For more information, refer to Lancashire Hotpot.

See also

• Chinese Steamboat
• Shabu shabu
• Szechuan hotpot
• Huoguo