Hot Pot A Hot Choice for Winter
In cold weather, there’s nothing like hot pot – nourishing, fun, convivial and imaginative. Almost no skill is required. Just dip the colorful array of meats, seafood, vegetables and bean curd into the boiling water. It smells delicious. Noodles are commonly cooked in the nutritious soup at the end of the meal.
Eating hot pot or huoguo (literally “fire pot”) is convivial activity, enjoyed by friends and families drawn together by a delicious, healthful meal.
In a hot pot restaurant, gas-fueled or electric pots are provided, usually one per table, occasionally one small one per person.
Order your meats, seafood and vegetables raw. Dip them in the boiling soup to cook, then dip in various sauces. What’s left is a nourishing soup. Drink that too.
Hot pot restaurants may offer special-tasting soup stock (tangdi) and sauces, but the main courses are nearly all the same – an assortment of raw food. So the secret is freshness.
It is said that hot pot originated in what is now the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (mutton, of course) and then became an integral part of north China cuisine.
Sichuan Province in the southwest is famous for its spicy chili hot pot. Cantonese light shacha hot pot is popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
