How (and why) you should Hot Pot at home

You should be eating more hotpot, and you should be doing it at home.

I know hotpot is one of those cultural things that some of you might not “get”. If that describes you, we want to try to make you a convert – it’s a fun way to eat that takes an enormous amount of pressure off the cook. It’s like… if you smashed together a ‘one pot meal’ and a ‘cookout’ in the best possible way.

We wanted to stay away the firey Sichuan style of hotpot – it’s quite difficult thing to execute at home, and most people would just purchase a pre-made base if you want it (links to both Chef Wang Gang and the blog ChinaSichuanFood Sichuan hotpot recipes, in the pinned comment below). Instead, we wanted to talk about more ‘general’, not-spicy hotpots that can form a base for whatever hotpot you want to whip up.

EXAMPLE HOTPOT INGREDIENTS

You can find example menus at hotpot here:

https://www.zmenu.com/haidilao-hotpot-arcadia-3-online-menu/

and here:

Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot

1. Meats: Sliced beef, lamb, pork, fish. Poultry (cut into chunks).

2. Organ: duck tongue, intestine, beef tripe, liver, pork brain.

3. Meat products: Fresh pork/beef balls, spam, frozen meat balls, fish balls, quail eggs.

4. Tofu, tofu products, etc: firm tofu, frozen tofu, tofu puffs, tofu skins, seitan, konjac.

5. Seafood: clams, shrimp, squid, octopus.

6. Leafy veggies: water spinach, spinach, bak choy, napa cabbage, cabbage, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower.

7. Root/hearty veg: sweet potato, potato, yam, Chinese yam, taro, jicama, cassava, corn, chestnut, gobo, daikon, carrot.

8. Mushroom/fungi: king oyster, oyster, porcini, enoki, chestnut, button, shiitake, wood ear, snow ear.

9. Kelp: sea lettuce, kombu.

10. Starch: noodles, rice noodles, rice cake.

INGREDIENTS, PORK BONE BASE

– Pork bones (猪筒骨), 500g. We used the leg bone. It’s best if the bone’s got a touch of meat still on it. Ribs would also work fine.

– Hot, boiled water, 2.5L

– Ginger (姜), 2 inches, smashed.

– Dacong a.k.a. welsh onion (大葱), ~2-3 two inch sections -or- 1/8 of a white onion.

– Daikon Radish (萝卜), 500g. Peeled and cut into ~2 inch chunks.

– Seasoning: 1/2 tbsp salt, 1 tsp chicken bouillon powder (鸡粉), optional 1/8 tsp white pepper powder (白胡椒粉).

PROCESS, PORK BONE BASE

1. Soak the pork in cool water for 30 minutes.

2. Move to a pot of cool water, cover, and over a high flame bring to a boil. Boil for ~2 minutes, then remove.

3. Give the pork a quick rinse under running water.

4. Fry the pork bones in ~1/2 tbsp of oil until lightly browned, ~2-3 minutes. Add in the hot, boiled water, the ginger, and the onion. Bring to a boil, then down to a simmer. Cover, simmer on low for at least ~1 hour.

5. Add in the daikon, then cover it back up. Simmer for one hour more.

6. Season, then move over to your table.

INGREDIENTS, GUIYANG PICKLED GREENS & BEANS HOTPOT

– Dried lima beans (芸豆) -or- kidney beans (腰豆), 120g.

– Pork belly (五花肉), 200g

– Soy sauce to marinate the pork belly, 1 tsp.

– Aromatics: 3 cloves garlic, ~2 inches ginger (姜). Both minced.

– Suancai, Chinese pickled mustard greens (酸菜), 150g. Minced.

– Stock, 4 cups; Bean cooking liquid, 2 cups.

– Corn, 1 ear. Cut into ~four pieces.

– Tomato, 1. Cut into slices.

– Green garlic (蒜苗) -or- scallion (葱), 2 sprigs. Cut into one inch sections.

– Seasoning [skip if your stock is already seasoned]: 1/2 tbsp salt, 1 tsp chicken bouillon powder (鸡粉)

Note – if your stock is already seasoned (e.g. if you were using the broth above) do not season twice.

PROCESS, GUIYANG PICKLED GREENS & BEANS HOTPOT

1. Rinse your dried beans, and soak in the fridge overnight.

2. Add your beans to 2 liters of boiling water. Cover, and cook on medium low for ~2 hours, or until the beans are soft enough to mash.

3. Remove the beans. Reserve half, then take the other half of the beans and mash them. Reserve two cups of the bean cooking liquid.

4. Medium flame, fry the pork belly for ~5 minutes, or until it’s browned and’s started to release some lard. Remove, reserve.

5. Flame still on medium, fry the garlic/ginger in the rendered fat until fragrant, ~30 seconds. Then add the minced suancai pickled greens, and fry for another minute until fragrant. Then add in the minced beans and fry for one minute more. Remove and reserve.

6. Add the 2 cups bean liquid and 4 cups stock. Mix in the mashed bean mix from step 5 together with the remaining beans. Bring to a boil.

7. Season, skim, add in the corn, fried pork belly, tomato, and green garlic.

Footage:

Mark Wiens’ shabu shabu video: youtube.com/watch?v=f7HIc3B0BLI&t
Wang Gang’s family meal: youtube.com/watch?v=V-7RL7nlcj0
Food Ranger’s fly restaurant video: youtube.com/watch?v=5TG3iimkEME

And check out our Patreon if you’d like to support the project!

http://www.patreon.com/ChineseCookingDemystified

Outro Music: คิดถึงคุณจัง by ธานินทร์ อินทรเทพ
Found via My Analog Journal (great channel): https://youtu.be/GHaL5H-VYRg