Hot Pot Hospitality: A Guide To Hosting A Steaming Success

Hosting a hot pot party is a fun and engaging activity that brings people together. It is a communal dining experience where guests gather around a bubbling cauldron of fragrant broth, cooking and dunking an array of raw vegetables, meats, and seafood. As a host, preparation is minimal – simply wash, chop, and arrange the ingredients, and your guests will do the rest!

To host a hot pot party, you'll need a vessel to keep the broth hot, such as a hot pot with a portable gas stove or an electric burner. Each guest should have a pair of chopsticks, a small ladle, a pair of tongs, and a bowl for their cooked food. For the broth, you can choose from a variety of options, including spicy, clear, chicken, or tom yum. It's best to have at least two kinds to cater to different tastes and dietary restrictions.

When it comes to food, the key is abundance and variety. Prepare a range of proteins, such as beef, lamb, chicken, and seafood, sliced thinly for quick cooking. For vegetables, mushrooms, daikon radishes, tofu, and bok choy are popular choices. Don't forget the noodles – thin varieties like vermicelli or chow mein are ideal, but thicker noodles can also be used if pre-cooked.

On the day of the party, set up the burner and vessel, and get the broth heating. Arrange the ingredients on platters around the hot pot, and don't forget to prepare sauces and condiments for your guests to customise their bowls. As your guests arrive, offer them a drink and some snacks while you bring the broth to a boil. Then, let the cooking and dipping commence!

Choosing the right broth

Know Your Options

First, let's explore the different types of broths commonly used for hot pot. The two most common types are the Sichuan spicy broth and the chicken stock-based mild broth.

Sichuan Spicy Broth

The Sichuan spicy broth, also known as Hong You Guo Di, is a popular choice for Chinese hot pot. It originates from Sichuan and Chongqing and is characterised by a high-fat content, often using beef tallow. This broth has a strong, sophisticated aroma and a distinctive mouth-numbing and spicy taste, known as Mala, which is iconic in Sichuan cuisine. To make this broth, you'll need dried chilli peppers, Sichuan pepper, spices like star anise and cinnamon, aromatics like scallions and garlic, and fermented ingredients like chilli bean paste and black beans.

Chicken Stock-Based Mild Broth

The chicken stock-based mild broth, or Qing Tang Guo Di, is a less spicy option that is light and easy to prepare. It typically consists of stock, aromatics, herbs, and sometimes vegetables. You can make a simple version with just water, scallions, and ginger, or use chicken, pork, beef, or mushroom stock for more flavour. This broth can be enhanced with ingredients like shiitake mushrooms, scallions, Chinese dates, and Goji berries.

Consider Your Guests' Preferences

When choosing a broth, it's important to consider the preferences of your guests. If you know your guests enjoy spicy food, the Sichuan spicy broth might be a good choice. However, if you have guests with more sensitive palates or dietary restrictions, the mild broth could be a better option. You can also opt for a vegan alternative to the Sichuan spicy broth by replacing the beef tallow with a neutral-flavoured cooking oil.

Think About Variety

To make your hot pot party exciting, consider offering a variety of broths. You can use a divided Yin Yang Pot to serve both the spicy and mild broths simultaneously. This way, your guests can choose their preferred broth and customise their dining experience.

Prepare in Advance

Preparing the broth in advance is essential for a successful hot pot party. Both the Sichuan spicy broth and the chicken stock-based mild broth require some preparation time. The spicy broth, in particular, benefits from an overnight refrigeration to intensify the flavours. Make sure to plan ahead and give your broth enough time to develop its full flavour.

Don't Be Afraid to Experiment

While the Sichuan spicy broth and chicken stock-based mild broth are the most common choices, don't be afraid to experiment with other options. You can try different types of dried chillies, adjust the spice level to your preference, or even create your own unique broth recipe. Hot pot is all about customisation and enjoying a variety of flavours, so feel free to get creative!

Prepping the food

Choosing the Ingredients:

• Meat: Beef, pork, and chicken are popular choices. Look for thinly sliced meat or cut it yourself. Freeze the meat slightly before slicing to make it easier. Lamb is also a traditional option.
• Seafood: Shrimp, scallops, squid, clams, mussels, and fish balls are common. You can also include thinly sliced fish fillets or pre-cooked seafood balls.
• Vegetables: Leafy greens such as napa cabbage, bok choy, spinach, and chrysanthemum leaves are popular. Other options include lotus root, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin or kabocha squash, daikon radish, tomatoes, corn, and mushrooms (enoki, shiitake, oyster, king oyster).
• Starches: Thin noodles that cook quickly are ideal, such as mung bean vermicelli, rice noodles, fresh white noodles, spinach noodles, shirataki noodles, and rice cakes (the thin ovals are best). Frozen dumplings are also a good choice.
• Soy Products: Include tofu (firm, frozen, or silken), dried bean curd sticks, soy puffs, and fresh tofu sheets/skin.
• Condiments and Sauces: Provide a variety of options such as Chinese sesame paste, peanut butter or peanut sauce, soy sauce, Sha Cha (Chinese BBQ sauce), Sichuan peppercorn oil, chili garlic sauce, Chinese black vinegar, toasted sesame seeds, fried shallots or garlic, scallions, and cilantro.

Preparing the Ingredients:

• Wash and cut the vegetables into bite-sized or manageable pieces.
• For seafood, cut into bite-sized pieces for quick and even cooking.
• Drain and cut tofu into bite-sized pieces.
• Soak noodles in warm water as per package instructions.
• For meat, if you have whole cuts, place them in the freezer for 20-30 minutes to firm up, then thinly slice.

Plating and Presentation:

• Arrange the prepared ingredients on separate plates or platters, keeping similar items together (e.g., meats, seafood, vegetables, tofu, dumplings).
• If using whole cuts of meat, slice them thinly before serving.
• Place the prepared ingredients around the hot pot on the table.

Cooking Instructions:

• Bring the broth to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
• Start by adding ingredients that take longer to cook or will add flavor to the broth, such as hardy vegetables, mushrooms, and meats.
• Add leafy greens and quick-cooking items as desired.
• Cook each ingredient according to its recommended cooking time (see the above sections for details).
• Use metal hot pot baskets or wire ladles to retrieve cooked items from the broth.

Remember, hot pot is all about customization and variety, so feel free to adapt and choose ingredients that suit your taste and dietary preferences!

Setting the table

Each guest should have a pair of chopsticks, a small ladle with a built-in strainer to cook their food in the broth, a pair of tongs to hold more delicate items, a bowl for their cooked food, and some small condiment bowls to mix their own sauces.

You can also provide long chopsticks and slotted spoons for guests to use to cook their food.

Before your guests arrive, prep the space by setting each place with the items they'll need. You can also pre-cook dried noodles and chicken, and add potatoes, carrots or other long-cooking vegetables to the broth. Plate the raw meat and vegetables and place them in the middle of the table, around the hot pot.

Cooking the food

The beauty of hot pot is that it's a choose-your-own-adventure meal. You can choose your own ingredients and cooking style, but there are some general guidelines to follow.

Firstly, it's important to have a variety of options for your guests. This includes a mix of vegetables, proteins, and starches. For vegetables, you can choose leafy greens such as napa cabbage, baby bok choy, and chrysanthemum greens, as well as harder root vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and daikon radish.

For proteins, you can offer beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and seafood options such as shrimp, squid, and fish fillets. It's important to thinly slice the meat to ensure quick cooking. You can also offer pre-cooked options like beef balls, pork balls, and fish balls, which just need to be heated through.

Starches are a must-have for a hot pot meal. Options include mung bean vermicelli, rice noodles, fresh spinach noodles, shirataki noodles, rice cakes, and frozen dumplings.

Now, let's talk about the cooking process. The key is to only add a small amount of food to the pot at a time. This ensures that the broth temperature remains high enough to cook the food properly. Add the ingredients that take the longest to cook first, such as hardy vegetables and mushrooms.

Meat and seafood should be added next, allowing the broth to boil for at least 30 seconds to one minute after adding these ingredients to ensure food safety. Finally, add the starches, which just need to be heated through.

Remember, hot pot is all about personal preference, so feel free to experiment and find what works best for you and your guests!

Drinking and eating etiquette

Hot pot is a communal dining experience, so the more the merrier. It's an interactive, playful, and dramatic way to bring people together. It's a great honour to be invited to a hot pot dinner, so guests should be made to feel special.

Hot pot is a very social event, so drinking and eating should be done together. It is customary to offer drinks to guests as they arrive. It is also important to have an abundant, overflowing table of food. This signifies abundance and celebration, and any leftovers are a symbol of the host's wealth and generosity.

It is traditional to drink baijiu, a fruity, high-proof sorghum whiskey, during a hot pot. This is usually drunk as shots, with a toast, and it is customary to say "Gan bei", which means "bottoms up" in Chinese. This can be repeated several times during the meal. It is also traditional to drink beer and wine, and these should be kept coming throughout the meal.

Guests should be provided with two pairs of chopsticks each: one for cooking and transferring food from the pot to their bowl, and one for eating. It is important to sanitise the chopsticks by dipping them in the boiling broth before using them to eat.

When it comes to the food, guests should only cook the food they plan to eat. It is important to be patient and wait until the broth is boiling before adding food, and only a small amount of food should be added at a time so as not to overcrowd the pot and lower the temperature. Meat, in particular, should be cooked for only a short time and not left in the broth.

At the end of the meal, it is customary to drink the broth, which will be rich and aromatic.

Frequently asked questions