Not For the Weak of Stomach

There are many cultures that have some form of cook-your-own food at the table. In Japan you have shabu-shabu, in Korea you have barbeque, in France you have fondue, and in China you have hot pot. Two different regions of China are particularly famous for their hot pots, Hunan and Sichuan. In the United States, we often see something called “hot pot” in Chinese restaurants, but it bears little resemblance to the boiling cauldrons of delicious goodness that is hot pot (火锅).

In China, hot pot restaurants are often on the second floor of buildings, in big halls, with tons and tons of tables. When you sit down you are presented with an unintelligible menu (unless you are fluent in reading Chinese that is) of often hundreds of items. But it all starts with the selection of soup. My personal favorite choice is the dual bowl, which looks like a Yin Yang. On one side there is a white soup, usually made with ginger, mushrooms, tons of garlic, and a chicken broth; and on the other side there is the red soup, made with the same chicken broth as the white soup, but with the noted addition of tons and tons and tons of red chilis, oil, more garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, various spices, and lots more red chilis and oil:

From my experience, each individual hotpot restaurant has slightly different flavors. Some are hotter, some have more Sichuan peppercorns (which have an intensive nutty flavor and a numbing quality), and some have more cumin or other spices. Today I had an excellent specimen which was wonderfully sweat-inducing spicy, but also had tons of spice, and more garlic than I’ve seen in a long time. There was a balance to the hotpot at this place that made you want to keep eating forever, even when your stomach is so full you want to keel over.

After you choose your broth, you choose a selection of meats, vegetables, and noodles that are brought to your table in massive quantities as the delicious hell-broth boils at your table. Today I had a combination of lamb, spinach, Napa cabbage, black mushroom, tofu, sliced white yams, and finished it all with handmade fresh noodles.

Someday I hope I can find a hotpot restaurant in the United States, but until then I will have to indulge my obsession only when in China…