What is HotPot?

Hotpot is less a dish than an experience, and it epitomizes the ethos of community dining that so many Western restaurants have recently embraced. Think of it as an adaptation of the stone soup fairy tale: you team up with a group of friends to cook a variety of ingredients—thinly sliced ​​meats, mushrooms, head-on shrimp, Chinese lettuces, fresh noodles, and more—in a single pot of simmering seasoned broth heated on an induction burner or electric stove. Once cooked to your liking, you dip it in the sauce of your choice and eat it.

These dishes are popular throughout China. There are many regional styles, especially in Beijing and the provinces of Sichuan, Yunan, and Canton. Chinese cuisine includes Mongolian and Manchurian hotpot, and Taiwan has its own regional style.

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Hot Pot History

The concept of Chinese hotpot (huǒ guō) is believed to date back more than 1,000 years, to the time of the Jin dynasty. The roots of hotpot can be found in the eating practices of the Mongolian horsemen who rode across the steppe into northern China. Legend has it that the Mongols used their helmets as vessels to simmer broth over open fires and cooked chunks of meat in that broth.

And their shields? They were used as a kind of pan to brown meat, of course. The Mongolian horseman knew how to pack light.

China resisted the Mongols. Heck, they even built the Great Wall to keep them out, which despite its splendor didn't quite succeed. However, the Chinese took a bit of the good with the bad and incorporated this style of eating, modifying it over the years for themselves. In the centuries that witnessed the growth of the Song dynasty, hotpot moved—and morphed—further south in China, with each successive region adapting it to its local ingredients and tastes.

Perhaps the most famous hotpot variation is the Chongqing or Sichuan variety. This style features a dark red broth bursting (and often bristling) with bits of 20 spices, chilies, and uniquely mouth-numbing Sichuan pepper (huā jiāo). In Beijing, and in other parts of the north, hotpot broth tends to be mild and, compared to its spicy cousins ​​to the south, a bit bland. In Manchuria, a kind of fermented local sauerkraut is used to add a bit of flavor, making the broth a bit bitter.

Over time, through the machinery of China's diverse culture and culinary methods, hotpot spread throughout the country, transforming from a treat enjoyed at home in winter to an almost basic state, which is eat throughout the year. You can find it now in establishments ranging from streetside hot pot stands to indoor formal events. And while regional differences apply and prevail, nowadays you can generally find any style of Hotpot you like almost anywhere in China, particularly in the larger cities.

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Hotpot Types

From north to south, east to west, there are dozens of different ways and styles to eat stew. These are some of the most popular.

The history of hotpot is long, and hotpot is a common style of eating from China to Japan, Vietnam, Korea, and other countries. Therefore, there are also many different ways to eat stew.

Within China, there are already some 30 different types of hotpot and at least five different regional styles. The most important distinction between styles of hotpot in China is that between the north and the south: while the north focuses more on meat, the south focuses more on spices and rich-flavored broth.

Although it is largely up to personal taste as to what one considers to be the 'best' stew (some may find fish head stew best, many probably won't), we've listed eight styles below that are generally very beloved and popular in China and elsewhere.

#1 Beijing-style hotpot

Traditional Peking hotpot is one of several types of hotpot within the “northern-style hotpot” category and is characterized by its simplicity and the use of Mongolian copper pots. Thinly sliced ​​lamb is one of the most important ingredients on the table.

This style of stew is very pure and focuses on the quality of the ingredients—tender, flavorful meat and fresh, leafy vegetables—rather than the broth. The ingredients are often cooked in clear water or lightly flavored broth, with some chives, goji berries, and ginger.

Virtually every traditional hotpot restaurant in Beijing will offer the Zhīmajiàng (芝麻酱) sesame-based dipping sauce, which tastes a bit like Tahini sauce (but stronger and sweeter). In southern China, Zhīmajiàng is somewhat less common.

#2 Chongqing Hotpot

Chongqing could certainly be called the "hotpot capital" of China: five out of six restaurants in Chongqing are said to be hot spots. According to the Chongqing Hotpot Association 重庆火锅加盟 (yes, there is an association), the city has more than 20,000 Hotpot restaurants owning 50,000 franchises nationwide. The history of the hotpot is somewhat controversial, but if you ask the people of Chongqing, the hotpot originated long ago in their city, by boatmen along the Yangtze River.

The great-tasting broth and numbing spiciness (málà 麻辣) is what Chongqing hotpot is best known for. The stew soup base uses premium butter as a special ingredient, giving the broth a very rich flavor that pairs perfectly with the hot red chili.

Among the many ingredients used in Chongqing hotpot, this spicy hotpot is often eaten with fresh máodù (毛肚, cow stomach). For the dipping sauce, sesame oil is commonly used to balance out the spice.

It's the Sichuan pepper that gives Chongqing its "numbing" spiciness that makes the lips and mouth tingle a bit. Research has shown that a molecule in peppers activates touch receptors in cells, making it feel like your lips have vibrated rapidly!

#3 Yunnan Hotpot

Yunnan Hotpot has become especially popular throughout China in recent years, and is an absolute personal favourite; It's still very much a 'Chinese' hotpot, but it also has clear South East Asian influences. Vegetarians will also like this style of stew – this stew is fine to eat without meat due to its rich brothy flavor and focuses on fresh vegetables and different types of edible mushrooms or flowers.

Fresh, fragrant and spicy are the words that best describe this style of stew, which also has a variety of different sauces mixed with sesame oil and chili. Mint is a staple in Yunnan province, and along with the flowers and other ingredients, the smell of Yunnan stew is simply irresistible.

Yunnan Hotpot restaurants often have a variety of excellent side dishes as well, such as fresh mint salad (凉拌薄荷) or Yunnan-style fried crickets (!).

#6 Shabu Shabu しゃぶしゃぶ／呷哺呷哺

'Shabu Shabu' is Japanese; is an onomatopoeia for the sound meat makes when it sizzles in boiling water. Naming Shabu Shabu as a distinctive style of hotpot is a bit problematic, as it means different things in different places.

First of all, Shabu Shabu is simply a Japanese nabemono stew dish of thinly sliced ​​meat and vegetables boiled in water. What makes this hotpot different from Chinese hotpot is mainly the use of more Japanese ingredients and different sauces.

Second, Shabu Shabu is also 'Taiwanese hotpot' as Hotpot is also commonly known as Shabu Shabu in Taiwan due to Japanese influence.

Third, Shabu Shabu (呷哺呷哺) is a popular Chinese hotpot chain established in 1998 that serves hotpot as a type of fast food; each customer gets their own little pot and can select a selection of toppings and sauces at fairly low prices that will be served immediately and can be eaten on their own during your lunch break. The small, individual style of hotpot is now quite common throughout China and makes eating hotpot easier (and cheaper) for people at just 30 yuan ($4.5) or so.

#7 Tibetan-style hotpot

Tibetan flavored stew is a kind of light stew, characterized by the use of yak bone (牦牛骨) for the broth and yak meat, which is eaten together with various tofu and various vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, etc. .

A spicy Tibetan dipping sauce usually comes with this stew. The special thing about Tibetan stew is its juicy meatballs.

#8 Vietnamese-style hotpot

The Vietnamese version of hotpot is made by placing a large metal pot of simmering broth in the center of the table. Various ingredients are placed in the broth and cooked at the table, and the dish is especially popular after a night of heavy drinking.

Typical ingredients for this type of Hotpot include chicken or pork, seafood, thinly sliced ​​beef, tofu skins, wontons, mushrooms, fish cakes, vegetables, or egg dumplings. The pot is usually filled with fried garlic cloves, chilies, fish sauce, sugar, ginger, lemongrass, and tamarind paste before adding the broth.

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Chinese Hotpot : A Tutorial

By now, you've probably realized that hotpot in its most basic form is a straightforward concept. When you walk into a hotpot restaurant, your steps to hotpot bliss will roughly follow the process below:

Choose your broth: Your options often include plain, spicy (Sichuan style), or sour broth. If you're not sure, a reliable option is to choose a yin-yang split pot where you can enjoy two different looks at once. This will also give you some relief if you suffer from the attacks that are likely to accompany a particularly spicy broth.

Pick Your Toppings: Main components range from meat and seafood, sliced ​​greens and vegetables, quick-cook noodles, and tofu, all pre-sliced ​​and arranged on skewers or small plates to speed up a quick getaway to your table. Some hot pot restaurants will have a menu, while many others will operate an open buffet style where you choose your own ingredients, at your own pace.

Cook Yourself – Place skewers and slice food in the boiling broth. If your pot is divided, you can cook the meat and vegetables separately, but it's perfectly fine to cook them together. The idea is to put the ingredients that will take the longest to cook first (eg meat and tough vegetables) and then add the lighter ones (eg noodles, bean sprouts).

EQUIPMENT

Before I talk about the ingredients, let me first explain what equipment, cookware, and tableware you would need for a hot meal.

• A tabletop heat source. It can be a portable gas, electric or induction burner. If it's gas, make sure it's suitable for indoor use when you plan to have food inside.
• A pot or wok that sits stably on the heat source. It should be shallow enough so that diners can easily scoop out the cooked ingredients. If you want to go the extra mile, buy a divided pot (Yuan Yang Guo, 鸳鸯锅) that has a wall in the middle to separate two different types of broth (usually spicy and mild). It is also known as Hot Pot Yin-Yang (since it resembles the Yin-Yang symbol).
• Dishes to contain various foods.
• Bowls for dipping sauces (usually one bowl per diner). And some small side dishes in case you don't want to dunk everything in the sauce.
• Chopsticks. Use the wooden or bamboo ones. Plastic chopsticks may not be suitable for high heat (Hotpot broth is above boiling). Whereas metal ones would get too hot to hold. Extra-long hot pot chopsticks are available in Chinese stores, but are not required.
• Slotted spoons (optional). They are useful for fishing slippery items. But you can definitely survive without it. A long-handled spoon or a pair of tongs will also work.

How to prepare the broth

Hotpot broth (Guo Di/锅底) is the liquid in which various foods are cooked. Hotpot from different regions requires a different broth. They range from the simplest version with just water and a few aromatics (for example, Beijing style) to the complicated one that involves a long list of ingredients and lengthy preparation (for example, Sichuan style).

a divided pot filled with spicy and mild broth

I would like to introduce two types of Hotpot broth that are most popular in restaurants today: mild broth and spicy broth.

The mild broth

Also known as clear broth (Qing Tang Guo Di/清汤锅底), it is a simple combination of broth, spring onions, ginger, and some optional dry ingredients, such as shiitake mushrooms, Chinese dates, goji berries, etc. The broth can be meat (chicken, pork or beef), mushrooms or tomatoes.

Spicy broth

This is the classic Sichuan style, also known as red oil broth (Hong You Guo Di/红油锅底). Typically, you mix a pre-made concentrated soup base, either store-bought or homemade, with water or broth. The soup base consists of chilies, Sichuan peppercorns and other spices, fermented ingredients such as Sichuan chili bean paste, aromatics, and beef tallow (or regular cooking oil for vegetarians).

Buy the soup base

You can find packets of soup base for both the mild and spicy versions. With them, all you need to do is dilute the contents of the packet with water. Your Hotpot broth is ready in a few minutes. Renowned brands include Hai Di Lao (海底捞), Little Sheep (小肥羊), Lee Kum Kee (李锦记), Qiao Tou (桥头), Da Hong Pao (大红袍), De Zhuang (德庄), etc.

Ingredients

There are so many things that can go into a Hotpot, if not everything! Here I am listing items that are common and typical of Chinese hot foods and can be found in Chinese/Asian stores outside of China. But this is by no means a complete list.

Feel free to improvise, mix and match whatever you like. Make it protein-heavy, or exclusively vegetarian. It is completely up to you.

Before the Hotpot party starts, you can prepare the ingredients ahead of time (up to a day if you use the fridge for storage). By preparation, I simply mean washing them if necessary and cutting (or tearing) them into small pieces for easy cooking.

Meat

Beef, lamb, or pork, choose well-marbled cuts if possible. Cut it into thin slices against the grain. To make cutting easier, place the meat in the freezer until it is half frozen. You can find sliced ​​meat for Hotpot in the frozen food section of Chinese stores.

Precooked meatballs, thawed if frozen

Canned meat, also known as Wu Can Rou/午餐肉 in Chinese, sliced

Fish and seafood

Fish, choose a boneless fillet and cut it into thin slices. Such as halibut, catfish, cod, sea bass, pangasius, etc.

Shrimp, with or without skin/head

squid, sliced

fish balls. Ready-made ones are available in Chinese stores.

Fresh fish or shrimp paste, shape into balls during the meal

Other shellfish, such as crabs, clams, mussels, etc.

SOY-BASED INGREDIENTS

four types of soy-based ingredients

Tofu (silky, smooth, or firm), sliced

frozen tofu, sliced

Tofu puffs (fried tofu)

Pressed tofu sheets (Dou Fu Pi/豆腐皮), cut into wide strips

Dried Tofu Skin (Fu Zhu/腐竹), pre-rehydrated

MUSHROOMS

various mushrooms

Oyster mushroom, separated into small sections

king oyster mushroom, cut lengthwise

Enoki mushroom, ends removed and cut into small bundles

Shiitake mushroom, fresh or dried (pre-rehydrated)

Shimeji mushroom, without ends

GREEN LEAFY VEGETABLES

napa cabbage, bok choy and lotus root

lettuce Napa

Chinese cabbage

choysum

gai lan

Crown Daisy (Tong Hao)

water spinach

Watercress

ROOT VEGETABLES

potato slices, sweet potato and daikon

potato, peeled and sliced

Sweet potato, peeled and sliced

Daikon (white radish), sliced

Lotus roots, sliced

DRY INGREDIENTS

rehydrated kelp and wood ear mushroom

Kelp (A type of seaweed). rehydrated and cut into strips.

Wood Ear (A type of mushroom). rehydrated beforehand

NOODLES AND DUMPLINGS

three kinds of noodles

Fresh wheat noodles, e.g. alkaline noodles

instant ramen

Fresh rice noodles and sliced ​​rice cakes

Mung bean noodles, pre-soaked

Sweet potato glass noodles, previously soaked

Hand pulled noodles. Have the dough made, rest and cut into strips. Scoop out one noodle at a time and place in the broth right away.

Dumplings or wontons, homemade or store bought. Make sure you only cook a few at a time.

DIPPING SAUCE IDEAS

After cooking food in broth, it is common to dip it in a sauce for added flavor (although not required). Formulas are numerous and often dramatically different between regions. That's why some hot pot restaurants have dipping stations where you can mix and match different ingredients to create your own.

four bowls of hot sauce for dipping

Here is a list of seasonings, aromatics, fresh herbs and nuts that can be included in a Hotpot Dipping Sauce:

Sauces: light soy sauce, black rice vinegar, oyster sauce, shacha sauce (Chinese barbecue sauce)

Pasta: sesame paste, peanut butter, fermented tofu

Oil: sesame oil, chili oil

Spices: chili powder, ground Sichuan pepper

Aromatics: minced garlic, cilantro, spring onions, fresh chili

Nuts: toasted sesame seeds, roasted peanuts

HOT POT MEAL PREPARATION PROCEDURE

cooked tofu, mushroom and beef puff pastry in a slotted ladle

Wash and cut all food. Arrange them on plates. You can have different ingredients in the same dish but make sure not to mix meat, fish and shellfish with others.

Have the dipping sauces mixed together and dispense into individual bowls. Keep something extra in case someone needs an adjustment or a top-up, e.g. chives, coriander, fresh chili, chili oil, salt, etc.

Place the heat source and pot in the center of the table. Pour in the broth. Make sure all cables are well routed to prevent tripping.

Place food plates around the pot and sauce bowls, chopsticks, napkins and drinks for each diner.

Turn on the heat. Once the broth comes to a boil, you can begin to place the food in the pot. The water in the broth evaporates as you eat. So make sure you have extra hot water ready to top up when needed.

PRO TIPS

WAIT FOR THE BROTH TO BOIL

A little patience is required to enjoy Hotpot. Add items for dipping only when the broth begins to boil. Don't put too much food in at once as it drastically lowers the temperature of the broth so it will take longer to cook the food. Ideally, the broth should remain simmering throughout the meal. Reduce heat slightly if it is boiling violently.

COOK TASTY FOOD FIRST

Although there are no set rules about what to eat first, it is generally recommended to cook umami-rich foods first, such as meat, seaweed, mushrooms, etc., as they make the broth more flavorful.

chopsticks holding a piece of meat over a hotpot

DO NOT OVERCOOK CERTAIN INGREDIENTS

For optimal tenderness, it is essential to cook meat, fish, shellfish, etc. for a brief period. If you leave them in the broth for too long, they will become tough and chewy. They are usually ready as soon as their color changes.

COOK ITEMS WITH STARCH ON THE END

Starchy foods tend to thicken the broth, so it's best to cook them at the end of the meal. Also, don't leave them in the broth any longer than necessary. This rule applies to potatoes, sweet potatoes, all kinds of noodles and dumplings.

STAY HYGIENIC

When eating a Hotpot, the chopsticks have two missions: to collect the raw ingredients to add to the broth, and to fish for the cooked food to eat. Therefore, diners must follow a hygienic procedure: keep the tips of the chopsticks in the boiling broth for a few seconds just after handling raw food (especially meat, fish and shellfish).

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Best Hotpot Restaurant in Madrid

xiaolankan

Xiaolongkan is a franchise that has its roots in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan. The Legazpi store opened its doors in August 2020 in the midst of a pandemic and marks the company's debut in Spain. Just a stone's throw from Madrid's Usera Chinatown, all of the food, from the ornate decor to the complimentary orange slices after you eat, is designed to perfectly replicate a Chinese hotpot eating experience.

Xiaolongkan has more than 800 store in China. It has become one of the most popular hot pot chains in the country, with wait times often reaching several hours.

The star of the show is its broth made with beef lard, Sichuan chili peppers, and Sichuan peppers, which give it the distinctive mala 麻辣, or spicy, flavor characteristic of the region.

But what makes the chain stand out is its décor, which is inspired by the wood paneling of traditional Chinese houses.

This combination has made Xiaolongkan incredibly popular in China, where there's even a joke that people will go as far as dating a waiter just to land a coveted table.

liuyishou

Founded in 2000, Liuyishou Hotpot has grown from a single location on a small street in Chongqing, China, to more than 1,200 locations in China, Canada, the US, Dubai, Singapore, Australia, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, France and Spain, and has become one of the largest stew chains in the world.

One of their specialties is traditional Chongqing-style hot pot broth, prepared with special butter (in the shape of a cow!), hot red chilies, Sichuan peppercorns, and many other exotic herbs and spices. Fair warning, this is one super spicy broth! The kind that builds up over time and leaves your mouth feeling exhilarated and numb.

chaotianmen

Founded in 1935, it is a traditional brand in Chongqing and an intangible cultural heritage of Chongqing.

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Hot pot: much more than food

Hot pot isn't just a culinary experience, it's an exercise in social connectedness. The more the merrier, and it's a way to get to know people in a more intimate way while sharing a meal.